The amended plans for the redevelopment of an old dairy at Croom (opposite the Jamberoo Action Park) into a rural dwelling, secondary dwelling and five farm stays is now on exhibition.

According to the re-design summary, changes have been made to reduce the visual impacts, environmental impacts and impacts on neighbours.

The changes include reducing the dwelling’s size, height, number of levels and floor area (down to 2,546m²); moving the building down the hill; clustering the farm stay buildings (five x 180m²); and making the building materials more sympathetic to their surrounds.

To counter objections that farm stays can only be incidental to a farm’s income, the owner now proposes to stock the farm with alpaca.

The DA remains within the Land & Environment Court process and will be determined by the Court rather than Council.

The original DA was strongly opposed by the Jamberoo Ratepayers & Residents Association, with their views being heard at an onsite hearing of the Court.

The JVRRA’s initial concerns about the new DA have been provided in
the following statement from the Committee:

“The JVRRA committee feels that the documentation still raises a host of unanswered questions.

“Generally, the proposal still includes a main residence of massive scale,
inconsistent with the character and architecture of the surrounding village and rural views.

“We are concerned that the purpose of the main residence is questionable, especially as its internal detail is not clearly specified – as is the case with the internal structure of the farm stay cabins.

“The timing of the building stages is of concern, as the building of the main residence precedes the establishment of the farm – there is no guarantee that the farm and farm stay will eventuate.

“The farm itself, which was originally a thought bubble involving a vineyard, and then changed to an Angus herd, has now morphed into an alpaca farm – although the infrastructure for alpaca shearing etc., does not seem to have been considered.

“There are also ongoing issues with consideration of Aboriginal heritage sites on the property.

“The community needs to put a lot more careful thought into a DA that, if approved, might prove to be a risk to the preservation of Jamberoo village and its environs.”