A petition has been gathered with 1000 signatures asks that Port Stephens Council refuse plans for a dual-occupancy home within koala habitat, adjoining the Mambo-Wanda Wetlands.
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The six hectare site was controversially sold at auction last year to Maitland property developer Paul Unicomb as a dispersal of surplus Department of Education land.
Mr Unicomb has lodged plans with the council to partially develop the land which has met widespread opposition from residents on the Tomaree Peninsula.
“Our aim to start with is to stop this going through,” Mambo-Wanda Wetlands Conservation Group secretary Kathy Brown said.
“From there, we want to get the land back.”
In the video below, mayor Ryan Palmer accepted the petitions and a further 500 written objections to the development application. Listen to what he had to say.
“Our immediate priority is to ensure that this DA for two dwellings and a long access road is refused by council,” Mrs Brown said.
“The proposed development is clearly inconsistent with the objectives of the site’s zoning for environmental conservation.”
The Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter, Scot MacDonald, has previously described the sale by his government as a mistake.
Despite Mr McDonald’s invitations to Mr Unicomb to buy it back negotiations have cooled.
