WITHDRAWN - Orange LEP 2011 Amendment 11 - Orange Airport

AMENDED PLANNING PROPOSAL (October 2016)On 17 October 2016, Council submitted an amended planning proposal seeking reduce the scope of the original planning proposal from a project area of 200ha to 114ha to rezone land around Orange Airport for the purposes of an industrial and technology park.The amended planning proposal seeks to rezone approximately 114ha of land directly adjacent to the Airport Terminal, bound by Forest Road and Aerodrome Road, known as 'Project Area Stage 1'. The amended proposal relates to land currently zoned SP2 Infrastructure (Airport), RU1 Primary Production and E3 Environmental Management. The amended proposal seeks to rezone 75ha (out of a 114ha project area) to zones IN1 General Industrial and B7 Business Park, while the remaining 39ha (out of 114ha project area) is proposed to be zoned RE1 Public Recreation.Council also submitted additional supporting documents to satisfy Gateway conditions and seeks to proceed to community consultation based on the amended planning proposal. ORIGINAL PLANNING PROPOSAL (November 2015)In May 2015 Council originally proposed to rezone approximately 300ha of land zoned E3 Environmental Management and SP2 around the Orange Airport to facilitate industrial and business uses. A small amount of land zoned RU1 was also involved, by virtue of the location of the contour line that delineates the E3 Environmental Management zone (water catchment)and RU1 Primary Production land.On 20 May 2015 The Department requested Council provide additional information and justification in terms of strategic, environmental, social and operational issues. The proposal has been held in abeyance until Council provided the further information, received 6 November 2015. The site is situated approximately 15km south east of Orange CBD on the Cabonne-Orange LGA boundary, and is bounded by Huntley, Forest and Beasley Roads around the Orange Airport. The village of Spring Hill (Cabonne LGA) is located to the south east of the site. The locality of Huntley directly adjoins the northern boundary. The general locality supports a combination of small lot agricultural holdings and lifestyle development. The soils in this locality are highly productive and the area has a history of intensive horticulture and livestock grazing enterprises, although is now also used for rural lifestyle purposes. The site is located in the Orange drinking water catchment and zoned E3 Environmental Management, RU1 Primary Production and SP2 Infrastructure (Airport). The E3 zone is the roll-over Standard Instrument equivalent of the 7 Environmental Protection zone under the former Orange LEP 2000 and generally refers to rural land at a certain contour that is identified as drinking water catchment. Orange City Council rezoned additional land around the airport in 2014 as part of Orange LEP 2011 Amendment 1 to facilitate an extension to the runway. On 6 November 2015 Council submitted a body of work being addendum following the Department's advice of 20 May 2015.The most significant change to the planning proposal compared to the May 2015 version is the reduction of the area under investigation to 200ha, from the previous 300 ha. The anticipated yield is approximately 160 ha of employment generating land (IN1 and B7), to be released in three stages. The Stage 1 release is located around the southern side of the Airport near the Terminal and results in approximately 55 ha of E3/RU1 zoned land being rezoned, with 26 ha of IN1 General Industrial zone, and 33 ha of SP2 land rezoned to B7, and the residue of 27 ha to RE1 Public Recreation. Stage 2 comprises approximately 50 ha of SP2 and 23 ha of E3 land north of the runway to be zoned B7, and 46ha of E3 land to be rezoned to RE1. Stage 3 involves 77 ha of SP2 land being rezoned IN1, and 8 ha of E3 land included to complete the layout. The figures provided in the Master Plan regarding the amounts of land being rezoned are indicative; Council has suggested the amount of land to be rezoned is 200ha, with 160ha of employment generating land. However, from the mapping provided in the Master Plan, it is evident that over 210 ha of employment generating land, in three stages, is proposed. It is also indicated that a railway siding will be developed adjoining the Main Western Railway to the east of the site. However, there is no proposed change to the land use zoning maps at this stage as the proposal is long term. The planning proposal now has the following supporting documents: - Draft Master Plan including staging program. - Update to the Blayney Cabonne Orange Rural and Industrial Lands Strategy (BCO Strategy) concerning alternative industrial land. - Economic study of industrial land in Orange and justification for the land at the airport- Detailed environmental assessment of the site, including servicing requirements (traffic, water, sewer etc), constraints assessment, contamination assessment, development and construction summary, emissions mitigation measures.The proposal affects land that is identified as BSAL, or Biophysical Strategic Agricultural Land. Most of the 'rural' land in the locality is zoned E3 due to the Orange water catchment. Council has provided advice on informal consultation with agencies and neighbouring Cabonne and Blayney Councils, as well as landholders in the Spring Hill locality.