Page 1018 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 2018

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(2) The Molonglo Stage 3 area, including the Molonglo River Corridor, was and is considered important with respect to its environmental characteristics and landscape setting. Urban development in Molonglo 3 was included in the Strategic Assessment on matters of NES approved in 2011 by the Commonwealth under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The approved NES Plan is included in the current s211 EIS exemption application being considered by the planning authority. The approved NES Plan provides for development within the Molonglo Valley area including in Molonglo Stage 3. Among other things, the approval of the strategic assessment established the ACT Government’s commitments to adaptively manage and offset important areas including the Kama Nature Reserve, Patch GG and the Molonglo river corridor. Previously in 2008, environmental characteristics and landscape setting were originally considered through the Territory Plan and the National Capital Plan rezonings of parts of the Molonglo Valley area for urban purposes.

(3) The Molonglo River Draft Reserve Management Plan (the draft plan) was released on 8 February 2018.

The Molonglo Valley NES Plan was approved by the Australian Government Department of the Environment in December 2011. In accordance with this agreement, the reserve management plan was to be finalised by 7 April 2014. A draft plan was prepared meeting this timeframe.

The draft plan was not released for public consultation in 2014 as the new Strategic Bushfire Management Plan for the ACT was being released the same year and consequential changes to the draft plan were required to ensure consistency with the Strategic Bushfire Management Plan. Following revision of the draft plan, further consultation was required with key stakeholders to ensure that the proposed revised policy adequately addressed relevant fire management issues.

Additional consultation was also required to resolve whether the Kama Nature Reserve Buffer zone, required under the NES Plan, was a matter to be determined in the draft Plan. This consultation occurred during 2015.

As a consequence of this consultation, an additional section was added to the draft plan providing functional criteria to guide the design and management of the Kama Nature Reserve buffer zone for the mitigation of urban development edge effects.

(4) The steps taken to complete the Molonglo River Reserve Draft Reserve Management Plan (draft Plan) including dates of when each stage was commenced and completed are outlined below.

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