Biodiversity Assessment
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BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT RESIDENTIAL AGED CARE FACILITY, 7 MARTIN CLOSE & 42 STRONACH AVENUE, EAST MAITLAND June 2020 Project Number: 20-172 Document Verification Project Title: 20-172 Fresh Hope Care Maitland Project Number: 20-172 Project File Name: 20-172 Fresh Hope Care Maitland BA Revision Date Prepared by (name) Reviewed by (name) Approved by (name) Final 29/04/2020 Freya Gordon Mitch Palmer Mitch Palmer Final v1 18/05/2020 Mitch Palmer Minor Changes Minor Changes Final v1.1 11/06/2020 Stephanie Anderson Mitch Palmer Mitch Palmer NGH prints all documents on environmentally sustainable paper including paper made from bagasse (a by-product of sugar production) or recycled paper. Biodiversity Assessment RESIDENTIAL AGED CARE FACILITY, 7 MARTIN CLOSE & 42 STRONACH AVENUE, EAST MAITLAND CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ......................................................................................... 1 1.1 PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND SCOPE .....................................................................................................1 1.1.1 Definitions.............................................................................................................................................. 2 2 STATUTORY CONSIDERATIONS.................................................................................................. 4 2.1 NSW ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT ACT 1979 (EP&A ACT) ...................................4 2.2 NSW BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION ACT 2016 (BC ACT) ....................................................................4 2.2.1 Significance of Impact ............................................................................................................................ 5 2.3 BIOSECURITY ACT 2015 ........................................................................................................................5 2.4 NSW FISHERIES MANAGEMENT (FM) ACT 1994 ..................................................................................5 2.5 ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION ACT 1999 (CWTH) .......................6 2.6 STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING POLICY (COASTAL MANAGEMENT) 2018 ..................................6 2.7 STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING POLICY (KOALA HABITAT PROTECTION) 2019 ...........................6 2.8 WATER MANAGEMENT ACT 2000 (WM ACT) ......................................................................................7 2.9 MAITLAND LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN (LEP) 2011 .......................................................................8 3 METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................... 11 3.1 DATABASE SEARCHES AND LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................. 11 3.2 FIELD SURVEY .................................................................................................................................... 12 3.2.1 Field survey .......................................................................................................................................... 12 3.2.2 Weather conditions ............................................................................................................................. 12 3.2.3 Flora ..................................................................................................................................................... 12 3.2.4 Fauna ................................................................................................................................................... 14 3.3 LIMITATIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 15 4 RESULTS ................................................................................................................................. 16 4.1 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT .................................................................................................................. 16 4.2 FLORA ................................................................................................................................................ 16 4.2.1 Plant Community Types and flora species ........................................................................................... 16 4.2.2 Threatened Ecological Communities (TECs) ........................................................................................ 21 4.2.1 Threatened Flora ................................................................................................................................. 21 4.2.2 Priority Weeds ..................................................................................................................................... 21 4.2.3 Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems ................................................................................................. 22 4.3 FAUNA ............................................................................................................................................... 22 4.3.1 Threatened fauna ................................................................................................................................ 22 NGHPty Ltd | 20-172 Final v1.1 | i Biodiversity Assessment RESIDENTIAL AGED CARE FACILITY, 7 MARTIN CLOSE & 42 STRONACH AVENUE, EAST MAITLAND 4.4 EPBC MATTERS OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE ..................................................... 23 5 ASSESSMENT OF IMPACTS ...................................................................................................... 24 5.1.1 Loss of Vegetation ............................................................................................................................... 24 5.1.2 Impacts to Two Mile Creek and riparian land ...................................................................................... 25 5.1.3 Threatened Ecological Communities ................................................................................................... 27 5.1.4 Threatened Flora ................................................................................................................................. 27 5.2 FAUNA IMPACTS ............................................................................................................................... 27 5.2.1 Habitat Loss ......................................................................................................................................... 27 5.2.2 Loss of Hollow-bearing Trees and Logs ................................................................................................ 28 5.2.3 Threatened Fauna Species ................................................................................................................... 28 5.2.4 Injury and mortality ............................................................................................................................. 28 5.2.5 Wildlife Connectivity and Habitat Fragmentation ............................................................................... 28 5.3 IMPACTS ON RELEVANT KEY THREATENING PROCESSES .................................................................. 31 6 MITIGATION MEASURES ......................................................................................................... 32 6.1 AVOID AND MINIMISE ....................................................................................................................... 32 6.2 SAFEGUARDS AND MITIGATION MEASURES ..................................................................................... 32 7 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 35 8 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 36 APPENDIX A DATABASE SEARCHES .............................................................................................. A-I APPENDIX B FLORA AND FAUNA SITE LISTS .................................................................................. B-I APPENDIX C THREATENED SPECIES EVALUATIONS ........................................................................ C-I APPENDIX D TEST OF SIGNIFICANCE (BC ACT) ............................................................................... D-I NGHPty Ltd | 20-172 Final v1.1 | ii Biodiversity Assessment RESIDENTIAL AGED CARE FACILITY, 7 MARTIN CLOSE & 42 STRONACH AVENUE, EAST MAITLAND TABLES Table 1-1 Summary of affected properties and lots ....................................................................................... 1 Table 1-2 Description of proposal site ............................................................................................................ 2 Table 3-1 Database searches for threatened species and communities, groundwater dependent ecosystems and priority weeds ........................................................................................................................................11 Table 3-2 Weather conditions at the time of surveys..................................................................................12 Table 3-3 Potential threatened flora species that were actively searched for ............................................13 Table 4-1 Identified vegetation communities ..............................................................................................17 Table 4-2 Identified priority weeds ..............................................................................................................21