EUMUNGERIE residents have had their say about a controversial sand mine proposed for just outside the village at a community meeting on Monday night.
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Almost 30 people attended the meeting, including representatives from Dubbo City Council, the Dubbo Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC), and the owner of the site and the applicant, to discuss the Development Application (DA) for a sand quarry on Coolbaggie Forest Road. The DA was lodged with council in December, 2014, and a vote on whether to grant conditional approval is scheduled for council's August meeting.
Eumungerie resident Chris Samson said most of the residents felt satisfied their concerns had been noted.
"The meeting went well," Mrs Samson said.
"The Planning and Development Committee (PDC) of council gave a brief summary of the DA before residents had the opportunity to ask questions. These ranged from contamination from the site to the [Coolbaggie] creek, the effect on flora and fauna, truck sizes, weight and loads, as well as recognition of Aboriginal artifacts, road concerns and site rehabilitation."
A major concern for residents was the shifting of the quarry site 80 metres further south from the original proposal, following concerns salinity and acidity levels were too high for the sand to be suitable for its intended use in landscaping and construction. The site is now closer to Coolbaggie Creek, where Mrs Samson and many other residents get their drinking water.
"My personal issue was moving the site closer to the creek. We have two spears in the creek directly opposite the site," Mrs Samson said.
"I'm concerned [that] if the original site was rejected and was above the new one, what's to stop it from leeching and contaminating our water from run-off and seepage?"
Twenty operational conditions have been recommended if the DA is approved, including an Erosion and Sedimentation Control Plan.
Deputy mayor Ben Shields, who chaired Monday's meeting, said the Planning Development Committee would now look at the DA once again before it was put to a vote at the ordinary council meeting on Monday, August 24.
He said concerned residents still had until the end of July to have their say.
Mrs Samson is satisfied with the council's response to her concerns, as well as the operational conditions tied to the DA.
"I'll be happy with it if it goes either way. We'll be happy if the applicant follows the conditions of the DA," Mrs Samson said.
"We're very happy with the council's response - we felt we weren't being ignored. We couldn't have asked for more."
