As a long-term resident of the area, I have significant concerns regarding this proposal. The development fails to respond appropriately to the site's unique characteristics or the broader urban and environmental context. Rather than complementing the existing character of the area, it introduces a scale and form of development that is fundamentally inconsistent with its surroundings and risks setting an undesirable precedent for future development.

The long-term impacts extend well beyond the site boundaries. The visual bulk, environmental footprint, increased energy demands, and the loss of one of the area's few remaining open green spaces will have lasting consequences for the amenity and character of Wolli Creek. Once this land is developed, the opportunity to preserve or repurpose it for uses that provide meaningful public, recreational, or ecological value will be lost permanently.

What is particularly difficult to reconcile is the proposed replacement of the former golf course. While many residents accepted that redevelopment of the site was inevitable, there was a reasonable expectation that it would deliver broader community and economic benefits—such as employment opportunities, mixed-use development, public facilities, or enhanced public open space. A commercial precinct that actively contributes to the local economy and community would at least provide a tangible public benefit.

Replacing this land with a data centre, however, offers very limited community value relative to the scale of its impacts. It removes a significant open space while creating a largely inaccessible industrial-style facility that provides minimal activation, limited employment once operational, and little contribution to the public realm. The community is effectively being asked to surrender a valuable landscape for a development that serves infrastructure needs without delivering a commensurate local benefit.

For these reasons, I strongly urge the local community to object to the proposal and encourage other residents to carefully consider its long-term implications. Decisions of this magnitude will shape Wolli Creek for generations, and it is essential that development on such a strategically important site delivers outcomes that genuinely balance economic growth, environmental responsibility, and community benefit.

My family and I are residents of Arncliffe and object to this proposal, in particular thedevelopment of a data centre at former Kogarah Golf club for many reasons:
1. The proposed development would entail permanent loss of open, green space on the Cooks River foreshore.
The development site is essentially a triangle bounded by the Cooks River, the M5 motorway, and a busy 8-lane road (Marsh St). The development plan clearly shows industrial facilities dominating the riverfront, and the intended Pemulwuy Park fronting onto two busy traffic corridors. Far from “unlocking” the Cooks River foreshore for publicly accessible open space (EIS p. 166), the development
would BLOCK the Cooks River foreshore from publicly accessible open space. Public access to the riverside is constrained to a narrow corridor over which solid, uninterrupted walls of warehouses and distribution centres would loom up to 70m high. This poor integration of the public spaces is unsatisfactory and flies in the face of all other precinct plans for the Cooks River Catchment that
emphasise the importance of connecting the river and foreshore with other public open space and associated river and foreshore activities.
2. The proposed development will lead to a loss of vegetation and local biodiversity. The biodiversity report understates and downplays the existing vegetation and
other site attributes that provide habitat and foraging areas for a range of species, including the Grey-headed Flying-fox (GHFF), which is a threatened species. The Turrella/Wolli creek GHFF camp is a permanent camp of National Significance located only 2 kilometres from the site, and the existing vegetation at the former Kogarah Golf Course site provides a productive, nearby source of
food. Because the GHFF do not have to travel far from their camp, they expend less energy in the foraging process. This also reduces the risks associated with navigating a highly urbanised environment. These are all plusses for the health and welfare of the species. Three hectares of GHFF foraging habitat will be removed by the proposed development at the former Kogarah Golf Course site. This is significant in the local context yet downplayed in the EIS. Furthermore, species of Fig such as those currently on site are a significant food source for GHFF. The application includes plans to translocate these trees. This is a process with highly uncertain outcomes given the age and size of the Figs, so it is not credible to claim it is an effective mitigation strategy.
The biodiversity surveys conducted were insufficient to gauge the usage of the site by a range of animal species. They were of limited duration and were primarily diurnal. For example, we dispute the claim that the surveys “represent a comprehensive list of bird species utilising the land.” Comprehensive lists are not compiled over such a short period of time. We are aware of reports from regular watercraft users of the river that White bellied Sea Eagles frequent the site. This and other observations by regular bird surveyors and others would reveal the extent of species that would likely have been documented with more adequate survey methodology. It is also known that at least one Powerful Owl roosts within a 2 km radius of the site. This species could well hunt or roost at the site during daytime, as it provides suitable habitat. The owl may well have been detected with greater use of nocturnal surveys and longer day-time surveys. In short, the river and its wider catchment have enormous ecological importance for our city. We ignore this at our own peril, and to the detriment of other species that inhabit the land.
3. The cumulative impacts of the proposed development have not been adequately addressed. Whilst the application acknowledges the potential for cumulative impacts, specific impacts are not discussed or quantified. This area of Sydney is already highly developed. There is limited open space available to nearby residents and others in the LGA and wider catchment. The ongoing development of Wolli Creek (the suburb and precinct) with high-density residential towers has reduced public access and connection to the river and its foreshore.
The proposed Cooks Cove development will have the same effect, and it would therefore compound this problem.
Additionally, a substantial portion of the public space reserved for Pemulwuy Park is currently a construction compound for the stalled M6 Project Stage 1. This compound has already had a significant impact on the former Kogarah Golf Course site: vegetation was removed, and habitats were altered and destroyed when it was reduced to what could fairly be called ‘scorched earth’. This site will be vacated and remediated some unspecified time in the future. The proposed Cooks Cove development will entail yet more removal of vegetation and habitat destruction on top of the M6 works. Thus, it would entail significant cumulative impacts in this respect as well.
4. Proposed data centres on the site pose additional environmental concerns. Data centres are an industry that is taking hold in Australia without due consideration to (among other things) their intensive use of water and energy and their contribution to global warming.
5. The proposed development fails to adequately address the risk of tidal inundation coupled with sea level rise from climate change. Modelling for predicted sea level rise by the end of this century shows that the entirety of the proposed development’s footprint will be underwater at high tide. Furthermore, according to the Cooks River Alliance, the Environmental Impact Statement does not adequately address the risk of tidal inundation despite
extensive data and analysis being developed through the Cooks River Coastal Management Program (CMP). We note that the proponent of this proposal has not engaged with the Alliance regarding the inundation data obtained in the
CMP, and the project documentation does not provide a clear strategy for managing these future impacts.
In summary, the proposed development continues a long history of using Cooks River foreshores primarily as sites to locate industry. This history has given rise to many of the problems that currently beset the river. The Cooks River is one of Sydney’s natural assets: it is essential to community wellbeing, biodiversity and climate resilience, and it should be treated accordingly. Major developments should leave the places they touch better than they find them. This proposed development fails that test and risks repeating errors of the past.
Please go out for more consultation on this

Please don't undo the hard work that has been done on the river to rehabilitate its health. Nobody in the community wants noisy, destructive data centres in Australia, let alone in our inner city. I sincerely hope this project sinks to the bottom of the Cooks where the idea belongs.

I strongly oppose the proposed $2.9 billion Kogarah Golf Club redevelopment by Stockland and John Boyd Properties, and urge the Department of Planning to reject the current proposal and undertake improved consultation with the wider Inner West community.
The project fails to meet the state's sustainability standards and lacks meaningful benefits for the surrounding area.

A primary concern is that data centres are historically insular, high-resource operations that do not organically contribute to the local community. They consume massive amounts of energy and water while creating very few long-term local jobs once operational. Furthermore, this proposal offers no concrete pathway to Net Zero operations, relies heavily on grid-stressed electricity, and fails to rule out polluting diesel backup generators.

The submission demands the project be rejected or drastically redesigned around these key pillars:
• Community and Culture: Address the completely inadequate community consultation process, which falsely claimed engagement with local environmental groups.
• Climate and Flood Risks: Account for modelling that shows the entire development footprint will be underwater due to sea-level rise and storm surges by 2100.
• The Cooks River Legacy Fund: Force the developers to financially contribute to the river's health, establishing a stewardship group to naturalise riverbanks and restore local saltmarsh habitats.
• Environmental Protections: Mandate a minimum 100-metre riparian corridor to shield the river from a towering 70-metre-high wall, preserve the existing tree canopy to fight urban heat, and enforce large-scale rainwater harvesting.

A project of this historic scale must not be allowed to proceed as a closed-off, environmentally damaging development. It must be redesigned to leave a lasting, positive ecological and recreational legacy for the community.

I object to the proposed development of the Kogarah Golf Course. I object for the following reasons, the height of the proposed buildings, the inclusion of a data centre, and the destruction of the habitat and the threat to the local flora and fauna.

The proposal indicates the developer has requested a building height of 70 metres, up to 23 floors. The size of the proposed logistical buildings at this height is unacceptable. These will block views, sunlight and will ruin the aesthetics of the area, that local residents have grown to know and love as they call Wolli Creek home. Massive warehouses simply do not fit in the area, particularly in what was once a beautiful green space, something that is harder and harder to find in Sydney. The surrounding road system will be unable to handle the increase in the associated traffic, the local roads struggle now.

It is easy to find online the issues that come with the building of a data centre, issues that affect the local area. The increase in water use, the noise and most importantly the massive amount of electricity to be used, that affects the cost to local residents. These negatives far outweigh the positives that such a building provides.

The area supports such a variety of birdlife and other wildlife. It’s something that makes Wolli creek and the cooks river what it is. The proposal indicates that there is a severe risk to the area in regards to this, despite the mitigation strategies that are proposed to be in place. Once destroyed, these animals and the area will never fully recover.

As a local resident, I strongly object to the proposal for the redevelopment of this area.

Its oversized.
There will be no access to the river.
It will cause traffic problems with over development.
There needs to be more green space

Data centres are loud and disruptive to their surrounding environment. They also negatively affect the water supply around them. This affects the nearby wildlife AND the neighbourhood that is very close by. I live in Kogarah and this would directly affect me.

I strongly opposed the kogarah golf club development. There is limited open space in Sydney, and once it is built upon, it can never be brought back. This prime piece of green space should not be used for a data center. It should be for everyone.

I object to this proposal due to concerns regarding its scale, potential environmental impacts, and inconsistency with the character of the local area. The redevelopment appears to prioritise intensive development over the preservation of existing open space and community amenity. There is also insufficient information demonstrating how increased traffic, noise, and environmental impacts will be effectively managed. Given the site's significance and proximity to residential areas, I do not believe the proposal has adequately justified the extent of the redevelopment or demonstrated a clear net benefit to the broader community. I recommend the proposal be reconsidered and substantially revised.

- BIKEast support the public space allocation
- BIKEast urge connecting the existing surrounding walking / cycling directly - including making the Giovanni Brunetti bridge safer.
- NSW Government must fulfil the requirements of delivering the strategic cycleway corridor section from Wolli Creek to Brighton Le Sands.
- BIKEast urge the consideration of previously submitted feedback.