The fill on the site is stockpiled in readiness for more even redistribution to create falls that will be required to meet water management objectives.

The fill is very similar to existing soils on the site and comes from an excavation in the centre of Byron. It is ideal for fill material to match existing soils.

Council has previously approved a separate DA for the temporary stockpiling of the fill material, with appropriate environmental controls.

Overall, the fill will have an average height of one metre. The maximum height, under the Bayshore DCP, will be 1.8 metres at the centre of the site, to allow for some flexibility in the final design. The fill will slope back to existing surface levels along the boundaries of Bayshore Drive and the north easten side of the site.

The average height of the existing ground level is well below both the sewer access road and Bayshore Drive. The general perimeter level towards the wetland will be 0.7m – 0.8m higher that the adjoining natural level.

The site is close to the West Byron Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). DCP 2002 indicates a buffer of 400 metres from the plant, but it does not indicate that this buffer should be measured from the property boundary. Previous interpretations of the 400m separation in other projects in NSW have been from the actual sewage plant not the STP site boundary.

Residential areas of the site are more than 400 metres away from the STP and the odorous parts of the STP are much further away from Bayshore.

An odour report undertaken for the development indicates that the upgraded STP will not present any odour problems for residents even with the anticipated reduction in the 400 metre buffer in the Settlement strategy.

The boundary between the 4(a) Industrial zone (located on the western side of the site closer to the STP) and the 2(v) Village zone is the line of the 400 metre buffer from the plant itself, as originally interpreted by Council when the land was zoned in 1989.