SATTERLEY Property Group has launched a last-minute bid to reopen its North Stoneville townsite appeal before the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT), seeking to introduce a management model that would restrict future residents from planting trees on their property.
As reported in North Stoneville SAT hearings conclude (Echo News, January 9), hearings on the North Stoneville development appeal concluded in early January with all parties waiting for the tribunal’s decision, expected to come in later in the year.
The request to reopen the appeal was heard last Wednesday, April 1 where Satterley requested the judge consider the implementation of a survey strata across the majority of the 535-hectare Perth Hills site.
The request seeks to include the strata arrangement as an option to secure a low bushfire risk classification, as part of Satterley’s tribunal appeal material for the proposed townsite.
Under the proposal, North Stoneville homeowners would be required to enter into a strata agreement and adhere to by-laws mandating the ongoing management of vegetation on private properties.
The move would potentially prohibit approximately 3000 future residents from planting certain trees and vegetation to ensure fuel loads are managed in the case of a bushfire.
The Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) and the Shire of Mundaring joined community group Save Perth Hills (SPH) in formal opposition to reopening the appeal.
A total of 73 grounds for objection were lodged, including concerns that a survey strata had never been applied to an urban estate of this scale for fire management in Western Australia.
SPH chair Debra Bishop said the group opposed reopening the case to hear arguments surrounding the survey strata, noting the community had been waiting 35 years for a resolution.
“This strata idea means residents would need to sign up, pay for a strata arrangement and agree to a strata by-law to maintain, in perpetuity, Satterley’s required ‘low bushfire risk level’ that’s needed to get the proposed North Stoneville townsite approved,” she said.
“This approach is a striking contradiction to Satterley’s North Stoneville promotional material, which, since 2018, has emphasised the concept of promising to protect and respect the unique environment, and retaining the local character of the Perth Hills.
“Now Satterley wants to ban thousands of future hills’ residents from planting anything deemed to potentially increase the inherent bushfire risks.
“Save Perth Hills fears this would mean moonscaping an area larger than Kings Park to be forever devoid of hills’ environmental amenity, shading, cooling, and habitat-providing trees and vegetation.”
Echo News put questions to Satterley about what this restriction would entail including what types of plants would be restricted and how it would be enforced, but the developer declined to comment.
The tribunal is currently considering the reopen request and is expected to deliver a decision in late April.
