Court where we made another presentation, arguing that conditions of the City of Charles Sturt development plan had not been met. We again raised the issue of the pile driving and how the developer failed to take notice of the independent assessor. We pointed out that the ground water which was being extracted at 82,000 litres per day was spewing relentlessly onto the sand at Henley Beach. We argued that this development application was putting the community at risk. We used the ‘at risk’ argument and council’s own development plan in our effort to stop the building’s height reaching five levels. The day after we made the presentation, the developer withdrew the application. However, in 2018 the Baju/H2O residential and retail development at Henley Beach is still located directly opposite Henley Square. Today the development consists of two huge apartment blocks four levels high with two levels of undercroft car parking providing over 60 apartments and 40 speciality shops. These developments have been done ‘through the back door’, using the ambiguity of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act (2016) and ERD Court to obtain decisions that, we argue, destroy the character, streetscape, culture and social fabric of Henley Beach. It is catastrophic when you realise that currently 82,000 litres of ground water are illegally pumped out to sea, creating stained rivulets on the beach sand, and that this has happened every day for the past seven years. WACRA is in touch with the recently elected Liberal Government’s Environment Minister, with Charles Sturt Council, with our local member of parliament, and also the head of the Department for Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR), awaiting a resolution of the problem. That struggle continues. Kenzie van den Nieuwelaar also talks about high-rise construction of the Baju/H2O developments near Henley Square. High-rise construction of the Baju/H2O developments Kenzie van den Nieuwelaar
On a personal level, the most stressful event and fight for me was the high-rise construction of the Baju/H2O developments near Henley Square. This development dominated WACRA’s agenda in 2011. We sought to amend the development based on a number of issues, including the sheer bulk and scale of the project and the fact it would change the amenity of the area forever. Despite council’s refusal of the development, it was approved in the Environment, Resources and Development (ERD) Court. This was incredibly disappointing and frustrating for all those involved in the fight, and to make matters worse we had to suffer through months and months of construction. The cost of this was high, with noise, dust and traffic congestion just a few of the effects which dominated our lives throughout the construction phase. For me the worst was the use of pile driving, where the construction company elected to sink the giant pylons into the ground by hammering them in from a great height. This meant that we were subject to constant banging day in, day out, but worse, our houses shook with each hammering and after three months, cracks started to appear in a number of houses surrounding the site. I never thought I would ever want to leave my home or Henley Beach,
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