REDLAND City Council has questioned claims that koala activity is low on land earmarked for Ormiston College’s proposed campus expansion, warning the conclusion may not be supportable without further investigation.
Council confirmed it has only been asked to provide comments as a submission to the Deputy Premier, Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning and Minister for Industrial Relations, in response to the college’s Ministerial Infrastructure Designation (MID) application.
Under the MID process, the decision on the development rests with the State Government, bypassing Council’s usual planning assessment and removing third-party appeal rights.
Council said an ecological report accompanying its submission included an assessment of current koala activity on the site, which concluded usage levels were “low”.
However, Council noted that historical data from the Atlas of Living Australia indicates significant koala presence in and around the site over the past four decades.
“Based on this, the applicant’s conclusion of low koala usage of the site may not be supportable, and Council has suggested that further investigation be undertaken,” a Council spokesperson said.
The private college has applied for an MID to deliver a range of new facilities, including a 50-metre Olympic swimming pool, a new boarding house, an indoor sports complex, junior sporting fields and new classrooms.
The proposal would involve clearing more than 650 trees, many of them mature eucalypts within a mapped koala priority area.
Council also outlined the project’s planning history, confirming it previously rejected a development application for the same proposal.
Council received a development application for an extension of the Ormiston College Sports Precinct on December 14, 2020.
On January 4, 2021, Council advised the applicant that the proposal involved interfering with koala habitat in an area classified as both a koala priority area and a koala habitat area.
Council said the development was prohibited under the Planning Regulation 2017, Schedule 10, Part 10, Division 2, Section 16A, and as a result the application was not accepted and all material was returned.
Ormiston College headmaster Michael Hornby said the school was committed to delivering world-class facilities for students while working closely with the local community and environmental groups.
He said the college had already made substantial changes to its original masterplan following extensive community consultation in 2023, including feedback from residents and the Koala Action Group.
“We have reduced the overall footprint in this area based on feedback received by residents and the Koala Action Group,” Mr Hornby said.
“The plan has removed some of the development we had originally proposed to allow for more trees on our school site.”
Mr Hornby said the proposed facilities were central to the school’s long-term vision.
“The 50m Olympic pool is a key part of the sporting infrastructure planned at Ormiston College,” he said.
“We have a proud sporting history and want to ensure our local students have every opportunity to fulfil their potential – whether on the sporting field, in the pool, academically, in the arts or as future leaders.
“It is important our kids have the best facilities, resources and infrastructure to succeed in an ever-changing world.”
He said the college was focused on balancing growth with environmental responsibility and had committed to increasing onsite habitat restoration.
“We have increased the footprint of onsite habitat restoration and made other changes based on the local feedback that was given,” Mr Hornby said.
The Koala Action Group has raised concerns with the State and Federal governments about flaws in the Ormiston College ecological report by JWA.
“The koala assessment needs to be redone properly and the proposal needs to be assessed under national environmental laws (EPBC Act), as it will have significant impacts on the local koala population,” the group says.
