Cowaramup residents have voiced disquiet at the scale of planned residential development for their sleepy hamlet, as well as the eased requirements on developers eyeing the township.
Those concerns came to a head this week with the close of consultation around a second major subdivision seemingly stripped of a promised retirement village and new commercial spaces.
The latest submission from developer Rod Dixon updates an existing structure plan to remove the lifestyle village and add a “key workers accommodation village” running behind the Cowaramup Districts Club precinct.
The subdivision west of the highway was slated to feature up to 243 homes and an extra 660 residents. It adds to a proposal for farmland between Wirring and Palmer roads measuring 41ha and eyeing up to 1000 new residents across 372 lots plus a grouped dwelling site for up to 32 homes.
Parkwater Residents Association committee member Lisa Bell said the latest project removed commercial lots along the highway in favour of an ugly 500m noise barrier.
“The revised structure plan will result in poorer outcomes for the community,” Ms Bell said.
“It looks like the love child of Subi Centro and soul-destroying suburbia, and would undermine the rural village feel of Cowaramup.”
Residents said too many trees and not enough cycle paths were included in the latest plans that also removed proposed sporting club facilities.
Ms Bell and other residents said they accepted new homes would come, but design had to be more sympathetic and to scale.
Cowaramup resident Anne Marsh said she had lost faith in the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River to address sensitive growth.
“We hate what the Shire is allowing to happen to Cowaramup, the constant opening of land to developers,” she said.
Her own quiet block in Cowara Heights was now “disrupted” by a neighbouring subdivision and traffic had increased, affecting children commuting to school as well as knock-on effects for native wildlife, including black cockatoos and ringtail possums.
Shire planning and regulatory services manager Matt Cuthbert said the local government hoped submissions from the public included any specific concerns from residents, including the slated removal of the originally planned lifestyle village.
Asked about the scale of housing earmarked for Cowaramup given Shire character studies and focus on lifestyle and amenity, Mr Cuthbert said residential development aligned with the town’s 2005 town site strategy which considered “the long-term needs of the community and the desired character of the township”.
“Structure plans provide details of development in specific locations and are often prepared years or decades in advance of a subdivision taking shape, so it’s not unusual for these plans to be amended to ensure they meet current needs,” he said.
Changes to density codes in the proposal would also “use the land more efficiently to reduce the need for other areas to be developed”.
Source Agencies
