CANBERRA LIGHT RAIL – COMMONWEALTH PARK TO WODEN Preliminary Environmental Assessment 18310 Canberra Light Rail – Commonwealth Park to Woden 1.0 2 July 2019 www.rpsgroup.com PRELIMINARY ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT Document Status Version Review Purpose of document Authored by Reviewed by Approved by date 1 Final Belinda Bock Angus King Gareth Thomas 2 July 2019 2 3 Approval for issue Gareth Thomas 2 July 2019 pp This report was prepared by RPS Manidis Roberts Pty Ltd (‘RPS’) within the terms of its engagement and in direct response to a scope of services. This report is strictly limited to the purpose and the facts and matters stated in it and does not apply directly or indirectly and must not be used for any other application, purpose, use or matter. In preparing the report, RPS may have relied upon information provided to it at the time by other parties. RPS accepts no responsibility as to the accuracy or completeness of information provided by those parties at the time of preparing the report. The report does not take into account any changes in information that may have occurred since the publication of the report. If the information relied upon is subsequently determined to be false, inaccurate or incomplete then it is possible that the observations and conclusions expressed in the report may have changed. RPS does not warrant the contents of this report and shall not assume any responsibility or liability for loss whatsoever to any third party caused by, related to or arising out of any use or reliance on the report howsoever. No part of this report, its attachments or appendices may be reproduced by any process without the written consent of RPS. All enquiries should be directed to RPS. Prepared by: Prepared for: RPS Manidis Roberts Pty Ltd Major Projects Canberra Angus King Marcus Sainsbury Senior Manager – Environment Director Planning and Design Canberra Light Rail – Commonwealth Park to Woden www.rpsgroup.com Page ii PRELIMINARY ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................... 6 Background ................................................................................................................................ 6 Purpose of this preliminary environmental assessment .............................................................. 6 Key features of the Project ......................................................................................................... 7 Key environmental aspects identified by the assessment ........................................................... 7 Next steps .................................................................................................................................. 8 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................. 9 1.2 Purpose of this report ................................................................................................. 13 1.3 Structure of this report ............................................................................................... 13 1.4 PEA Study Area ......................................................................................................... 14 1.5 PEA development ...................................................................................................... 14 2 STRATEGIC CONTEXT, OPTIONS AND BENEFITS ...............................................................15 2.1 Strategic planning context for the Project ................................................................... 15 3 PLANNING AND LEGISLATION ...............................................................................................22 4 PROJECT DESCRIPTION ..........................................................................................................32 4.1 Overview .................................................................................................................... 32 4.2 The Project ................................................................................................................ 34 4.3 Project timeframe ....................................................................................................... 38 5 PRELIMINARY RISK ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................39 5.1 Overview .................................................................................................................... 39 5.2 Outcomes of risk assessment .................................................................................... 40 6 KEY ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ..............................................................................................42 6.1 Aboriginal heritage ..................................................................................................... 42 6.2 Historical Heritage ..................................................................................................... 47 6.3 Ecology ...................................................................................................................... 55 6.4 Noise and vibration .................................................................................................... 57 6.5 Traffic and transport ................................................................................................... 59 6.6 Urban design, landscape character and visual amenity ............................................. 62 7 OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS .....................................................................65 7.1 Property and land use ................................................................................................ 65 7.2 Social and economic impacts ..................................................................................... 67 7.3 Planted trees.............................................................................................................. 69 7.4 Surface water and flooding ........................................................................................ 77 7.5 Groundwater .............................................................................................................. 78 7.6 Contamination, soils and geology .............................................................................. 79 7.7 General Environmental Considerations ...................................................................... 83 7.8 Other projects and development ................................................................................ 85 8 EPBC REFERRAL ......................................................................................................................87 9 CONCLUSION AND FURTHER ASSESSMENT .......................................................................88 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................90 ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................................92 Canberra Light Rail – Commonwealth Park to Woden www.rpsgroup.com Page iii PRELIMINARY ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT Tables Table 2.1: Key Australian Government plans relevant to the project ..........................................................16 Table 2.2: Key ACT Govenment spatial plans ............................................................................................17 Table 2.3: Key ACT Government Infrastructure Plans ................................................................................20 Table 2.4: Key ACT Govenment Transport Plans .......................................................................................20 Table 3.1: Recommendations from the Joint Standing Committee .............................................................29 Table 4.1: Proposed stop locations along the alignment ............................................................................35 Table 4.2: Operational features of the Project .............................................................................................37 Table 5.1: Summary of the ratings from the environmental risk assessment for each environmental aspect ....................................................................................................................................................40 Table 5.2: Status of environmental aspects for Commonwealth Park to Woden light rail extension ..........41 Table 6.1: Knowledge gaps: Aboriginal heritage .........................................................................................45 Table 6.2: Summary of listed historical heritage items and values located within or adjacent to the Study Area ...................................................................................................................................................48 Table 6.4: Primary sources of noise ............................................................................................................57 Table 7.1: Land uses along the Project alignment ......................................................................................65 Table 7.2: Demographic characteristics (ABS, 2017) .................................................................................67