$280m Smiths Beach plan progresses

Property magnate Adrian Fini has taken to the federal environmental regulator seeking approval to modify 18 hectares of the site earmarked for his $280 million coastal village at Smiths Beach.

According to the documents, lodged with the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment, more than 11 per cent of the 40-hectare site would need to be permanently cleared to make way for a 65-room hotel, 61 holiday homes, campgrounds, a wellness centre and a new surf club.

That includes the permanent removal of 4.52ha of native vegetation to build infrastructure and just over 11ha of partially modified vegetation is required to cater for proposed landscaping and bushfire management, with 1.3ha of existing degraded areas to be revegetated.

But more than half of the vegetation area set to be cleared or modified is home to the threatened Western ringtail possum, with sections also used for foraging by the Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo, Baudin’s Black Cockatoo and the Forest red-tailed black cockatoo.

Environmental consultant Strategen outlined various proposed mitigation measures to minimise the impact, including selective tree retention and the revegetation of existing informal tracks and fire access tracks.

The remaining 18.52 ha of native vegetation will be avoided and retained in public open space and within the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park.

The application highlights that the plan represents a far more sensitive option than that previously approved residential subdivision containing 536 dwellings at the site, which has been earmarked for development for more than two decades.

The bulk of the vegetation retention has been achieved through better dispersed housing, with the average lot size having more than tripled from 539 square metres to more than 1,800 square metres.

Still, the project has drawn the ire of the prominent community group which had lobbied against the previous plans, with concerns about its impact on the ecologically sensitive hedland.

The submission comes after the development application was lodged with the state government’s expedited planning pathway.

According to the documents, the project is expected to be completed by mid-2023.