A tree on Alternative Way in Nimbin is under threat of being removed for housing development - and Lismore councillor Vanessa Ekins said the community has one last chance at saving it.

Cr Ekins said the large tree, along with another near it, was originally to have been protected. But the developers now want to modify the existing development application to remove it.

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Over the last year, Cr Ekins said councillors had already received numerous complaints from concerned residents about the large trees and the 60 lot housing development being too close to them.

While the Development Application (DA) has already been on public display and numerous public submissions were received in response to it, Cr Ekins said the developers now wanted to divide up the housing lot on which the trees stands - and potentially build a road to access a pump station.

“We can still stop changes to the development,” she said.

“I urge concerned community residents to ring or email their councillors before July 15 when we are likely to discuss and potentially approve the DA modification.

“We need the public to urge councillors to change their vote in chamber and say they don’t want the tree removed.

“It’s a powerful thing to ring a councillor – they respond to phone calls.

“We lose 200 mature trees from our urban area every year and even though we plant some, it takes a long time to replace a 150 year old tree – that’s six human generations.”

History

The Nimbin housing 60-lot subdivision has already seen stages 1-3 completed, but stages 4-7 are still underway.

The large tree under threat was originally thought to be a 150 year old River Red Gum – a koala food tree - and developers were told they had to retain them and create protection zones around them, after public objections were made.

Cr Ekins said Council sent an arborist to inspect the two trees and discovered they were actually Sydney Blue Gums, which are not koala food trees.

The arborist also found that one of the trees had structural defects and a history of large limb failure, which could cause potential risk to life if a branch fell. 

“My argument is leave the tree, move the road around it and make the area a park for people instead of being greedy and making an extra housing lot,” Cr Ekins said.

“Even if they are not koala trees, they still provide habitat because they contain hollows – which are rare. 

“Some of the submissions Council received also say how the trees are important and highly visible in the landscape.”

Cr Ekins said if councillors voted to keep the DA as it was, Council staff would then be able to ask the developers to prepare a tree remediation plan.

“This would make sure enough space was cleared around the tree so there was no asset damage and shows we value the trees.”

If you want to contact your Lismore City Councillors, visit Council’s website for their contact details: https://www.lismore.nsw.gov.au/cp_themes/default/page.asp?p=DOC-ZZF-64-48-20