How does the plan balance the need to encourage development and conserve the environment?
National parks and other areas of high conservation are to be zoned for environmental protection. In particular, areas adjacent to proposed new urban areas which accommodate valued endangered ecological communities need to be reserved under State law. A feature of the DLEP is the inclusion of mapping overlays for the rural areas of the City to identify the need for more detailed environmental investigations. This is seen as a more flexible and responsive approach when compared to the prior situation where “zones” identified extensive environmental areas in the rural lands without adequate ground proofing. The DLEP also accommodates multi-use recreation and retention of environmental values. In particular riparian corridors areas are required to accommodate environmental, landscape, pathway linkage and recreation functions.
