New height requirements suggested for the next stage of Newport Geographe would make the project unworkable for the developers Aigle Royal.
The developers submitted a structure plan for the site, after which the City of Busselton suggested enforcing a new ground level.
Aigle Royal had proposed developing Newport Geographe with a minimum finished floor level of 2.5 metres above the mean sea level, however, the City of Busselton suggested 3.8m.
This would increase block elevation at Newport Geographe 1.8 to 2m taller than any property in Busselton, including those at Port Geographe and existing homes on the boundary.
The height suggested by the city is based on findings in a report titled Design storms for WA Coastal Planning which identifies tropical cyclone scenarios along WA’s coast and extra-tropical storm hazards.
The city stated the event could be a storm that would involve ocean forces and coastal processes that had at least a 0.2 per cent probability of occurring or a one in 500 chance.
Aigle Royal senior project manager Jim Karakatsanakis said if the height requirement was enforced they would have to look at the feasibility of the project which could mean increasing the amount of canals.
“We were hoping not to increase the amount of canals out there, from a sustainability point of view dry lots are better than wet lots,” he said.
Mr Karakatsanakis said to meet the requirements they would need to bring in more sand which was expensive and hard to find in Busselton and it would create practical issues for people living on the canals.
“If we add 2m to the current level people would need a ladder to get down to their boats – it is unworkable – it is crazy, it really is.”
City of Busselton director of planning and development services Paul Needham said the planning policy set by the state required floor levels in new development areas be set above the 1 in 500 year storm surge level.
Mr Needham said Aigle Royal’s concerns would require careful consideration and they would make a recommendation to the WA Planning Commission.
He said the issue would be outlined and discussed in a report which would be prepared by city officers and considered by council in February.
The requirements raised concerns for the Port Geographe Landowners Association, with chairman Dr Dennis Gee stating the new height requirements would create investor uncertainty and stall the project once again.
The group are opposed to the new height requirements with Dr Gee stating it would be a tragedy if the current development lapsed because of overly prescriptive and unrealistic regulations.
“Port Geographe already has the most elevated residential land development in the city. Unjustified imposition of the new standard is unfair, discriminatory and out of touch with reality,” he said.
In his submission, Dr Gee said State Planning Policy 2.6 offered guidelines to planners which were not legally prescriptive.
“Based on technical and scientific grounds, there is scope for the city to prescribe balanced and sensible finished floor levels for stage two of Newport Geographe,” he said.
“The likely rise of sea levels in Geographe Bay over the next 100 years, based on empirical observations such as tide records of Bunbury Port (0.12 metres per century) does not justify a major planning response that threatens the disruption of the social and economic fabric of Port Geographe, and indeed all of Busselton.”
Dr Gee said there were flaws in the report because a surge level based on a 500-year average recurrence interval was not consistent with practice in relation to other sources of water in WA.
He said there was a significant difference in height between the levels for 100 and 500 year events, and questioned the ability to quantify this in view that useful meteorological records only went back 120 years.