CockburnCoast - Western Australian Planning Commission

CockburnCoast
Bush Forever
Bush Forever Site 247 (50.6 hectares) is located over much of the
same area as the Manning Park Reserve portion of Beeliar Regional
Park (see Figure 6.4), with the exception of a small strip of Beeliar
Regional Park south of the proposed regional road extension of
Spearwood Avenue.
Foreshore reserve - Catherine Point and
C. Y. O'Connor reserves
The foreshore reserve includes approximately 29 hectares of coastal
dune and immediate hinterland along the Cockburn coast foreshore.
This area is managed by DEC.
Vegetation communities represented within the foreshore reserve,
particularly at Point Catherine, are dune coastal heath. Spinifex
longifolia, Spinifex hirsutus, Leipidosperma gladiatum and Scavolea
crossifolia dominate these communities (City of Cockburn 2001).
Approximately 70 per cent of the foreshore reserve vegetation is
considered to be in very good or excellent condition. The remaining
30 per cent is in good condition (City of Cockburn 2001).
6.1.9 Fauna
A list of all vertebrate fauna potentially occurring within the study
area was compiled from searches of the DEC threatened fauna
database and the Commonwealth Department of the Environment
and Heritage environment protection and biodiversity conservation
database.
The results indicate that threatened and priority fauna species
recorded in the vicinity of the Cockburn coast were within Beeliar
Regional Park.
6.1.10 Contaminated sites
Historically, the predominant land use in the structure plan area has
been industrial, with a cluster of industries such as the abattoir,
tannery, marshalling yards and the power station. Known
contaminated sites have previously been identified within the
structure plan area, and in undertaking further due diligence for the
site a preliminary desktop review of all properties was undertaken
with landholdings assessed on the potential risk for land and water
contamination.
The intent of the review was not to provide site-specific management
responses or assessment guidelines, but to broadly determine the
extent of known and potential contamination sites and to assess the
need for planning conditions to be incorporated in the structure
plan.
The desktop review included examination of historic certificates of
title and aerial photos, contamination-related reports and limited
owner/operator interviews.
The review indicated that a large number of the lots within the
structure plan boundaries are either known contaminated sites that
may or may not have been remediated to some degree, or are
potentially contaminated due to their previous or current land uses.
Known and potential contamination is mainly located in the Power
Station, Robb Jetty and Hilltop precincts, both east and west of
Cockburn Road.
The structure plan’s response to contaminated sites is detailed in
section 2.12.5 of this report.
6.2 Coastal assessment
6.2.1 Marine geology
Owen Anchorage is characterised by complex bathymetry, with
ridge and depression systems and onshore Holocene sedimentary
deposits. The area is located within two limestone ridges, with an
additional ridge located offshore. The offshore ridge is Five Fathom
Bank, which is separated from the Garden Island Ridge by the Sepia
Depression. A third ridge, Spearwood Ridge, is located onshore of
the present shoreline.
During the Holocene period (