The proposed Cooks Cove development will rob the Rockdale-Arncliffe area of valuable public greenspace and threaten the habitat of migratory birds from as far away as Siberia, local environmental groups say.
They appealed to residents to “speak up” and submit a written comment on the development application (DA) before the January 27 deadline.
The developer rejected the claims, saying state and federal government environmental agencies had approved the plans.
Development approval has been sought for privately owned Kogarah Golf Club to move south and build a new, 18 hole course over public land, including Barton Park and the St George Stadium site, at a cost of $100 million.
The club’s existing course would become a residential precinct, with 5000 apartments, a 750-seat stadium, adjoining field, riverside park and cycleway.
A new group, Save Barton Park, has joined Wolli Creek Preservation Society, Cooks River Valley Association, Mudcrabs and Botany Bay and Catchment Alliance in opposing the project.
Representatives gathered at Landing Lights Wetland with Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi and St George Greens secretary Brent Heber to voice their concerns.
Ms Faruqi said the community had little time to look at the DA, which was lodged “just before Christmas”.
“There is huge concern this piece of of public land will be handed over to the golf course,” she said.
“That would not just limit public access, it would actually reduce public land and greenspace in this area.”
Ms Faruqi said Landing Lights – officially named Riverine Park Wetlands – was covered by international migratory bird agreements.
“It provides an amazing habitat for so many birds and animals,” she said.
Ms Faruqi said, while the DA might say Landing Lights Wetland would be retained, it would lose its vital buffer, including the Spring Street Wetland, a degraded mangroves area which is to be relocated.
“Spring Street Wetland needs to be rehabilitated, not filled in,” she said.
“The mangroves provide a buffer zone and, without them, Landing Lights will just disappear.
“You can’t have an isolated piece of wetland around which golf is being played, and maintain it as a wetland.”
Film maker Sumi Skellam, who produced The Corridor, a documentary on the F6 road reservation, said the government had a duty to preserve the wetlands.
“We should certainly not have people walking around hitting golf balls – I don’t think any bird would come near the space,” she said.
“Birds and animals cannot be forced to go into a habitat created for them. It has to be right for them and they need to feel safe.”
Ms Skellam said many residents who used the area for fitness, cycling and dog walking would be “locked out” once it became private land.
Brian Shaw, of the Botany Bay Catchment Alliance, said it was “appalling to see a club which probably has declining membership being given a great swathe of public land to build a new golf course”.
Veronica, a convenor of the Save Barton Park group, said their website, savebartonpark.com, provided further information and advice on writing a submission.
DEVELOPER RESPONDS
A statement from Cook Cove Inlet Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of John Boyd Properties, said the golf course relocation was consistent with planning controls that had applied to the land since 2004.
It said locating the golf course near the wetlands and migratory birds had been considered on several occasions by state and federal environmental agencies.
The statement said the federal government had considered the matter under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Approval had been given in 2007 and, in October 2016, the department had concluded further consideration was not required.
The statement said the golf course layout had been designed in collaboration with ecologists to ensure appropriate separation to the Landing Lights Wetland.
An extra 1.71 hectares of new saltmarsh habitat would be created, around Muddy Creek, creating new opportunities to attract wading birds.
The statement said stage one of the project was completed in 2009 when new and upgraded sports and recreation facilities were moved from Barton Park to Scarborough and Rockdale Bicentennial Parks.
“Hundreds of children and adults had benefited from the new facilities,” it said.
The statement said the redevelopment of the existing golf course site would include a new football stadium, playing fields, children’s play facilities and dog walking, and would also open up more than one kilometre of Cooks River foreshore to the public.
Land in the southern precinct would remain in public ownership, to be transferred to Bayside Council for a proposed 99-year lease to Kogarah Golf Club.
The statement said the DA was being exhibited for 51 days, whereas the requirement under the law was 30 days.
Two “neighbour information sessions” had been held on-site and a third would be held in late January.