Frost Fans Applications Heard at March Council Meeting

1 Apr 2019 10:12 AM -

The Leeton Shire Council Chambers was packed last Wednesday night at the March Council meeting when five Development Applications for Frost Fans on citrus farms were heard and determined by Council.  It took over 3 hours of presentations by the assessing planner, applicants and objectors - followed by questions from the Councillors - to get through all five DAs. 

The potential impact of noise on the sleep of residents in surrounding areas was the point of contention in all DAs.  Council policy allows for frost fans provided that they meet the EPA noise regulations of 55 dBA 1m outside and 35dBA inside a residence in a rural zone and 45 dBA 1m outside and 25dBA inside a residence in a residential zone (noise sensitive).  

All residents of homes within a 500m radius of each fan were notified of the development application and invited to comment.  Several objectors raised their concerns about sleep disturbance, including the impact on babies and small children or on people already dealing with serious health issues. 

Council’s assessing planner had taken a cautious approach in his recommendation with 3 of the 5 applications, requiring applicants to do further noise tests or modelling (one before commissioning and the rest before installation).  Council opted to approve all three without further testing.  However, two other applications closer to the village of Wamoon were recommended for decline by the assessing planner and Council agreed with little debate as the forecast noise predictions were clearly higher than the Frost Fan Policy permits and there were over 80 objections against the developments.

The applicants for the 3 DAs that were approved at the meeting brought an expert witness to the hearing, being an acoustics engineer from the company Sonus that had modelled the predicted noise levels for each allotment. Mr Jason Turner - who spoke neither for nor against the applications - stated that the modellling took a conservative approach as they needed to supply the proponents with certainty as frost fans were expensive to install and run. 

He conceded that the overall effect of all farms together in areas of Leeton had not been modelled but argued that this was not called for by Council’s policy which treats each farm as a separate allotment.  However, he confirmed that the cumulative effect of fans on each allotment, including fans already in operation, had been modelled in the noise impact assessments prepared for each DA.

Mr Turner stated that Sonus had installed hundreds and hundreds of fans in the Barossa Valley and to date none of their predictions had breached the allowable thresholds.

In response to a question by Cr Tracey Morris about how Barossa and Leeton conditions could be compared, Mr Turner said that the Barossa predications were ‘flattened’ to exclude hills and, as with Leeton’s DAs, assumed an elevated home with light walls and floors, a large closed window and a slight downwind blowing towards the house.

Speaking on behalf of the applicants, Mr Ben Daking of Frost Fans Australia, said that modern frost fans were much quieter than earlier models. He said that the automated motors were muffled and could barely be heard 100 m away and that fans are 40% more efficient as they turn on and off themselves in accordance with the temperature as compared to the old manual variety.  This means that it is very unlikely all fans will run at the same time and, when they do run, they do so for a shorter length of time than the old manual variety. Mr Daking explained that in cases closer to villages, 5 blade fans were being installed which are even quieter than the modern 4 blade variety. 

Before Council dropped the need for deferred commencement for two of the DAs the Mayor asked the proponents if they understood that they would have to stop operating the fans and attenuate neighbouring houses if it was substantiated post installation that the predicated noise levels were being breached.  The proponents all agreed on the understanding that either the complainant or Council would be undertaking the initial noise check if there were concerns that noise levels were being breached.  Noise assessments by suitably qualified experts can cost around $5,000.

Approved:

• 3 frost fans at 470 Merungle Hill Road - carried unanimously

• 11 frost fans at 1986 Davies Road - carried unanimously

• 4 frost fans at 281C Yate Road - carried 7/2
  

Declined:

• 1 frost fan at 383 Saunderson Road - carried unanimously

• 6 frost fans at 40 Crowes Road - carried unanimously

Cr Tony Ciccia said that this was the most difficult Council meeting he’d sat through and thanked everyone for their patience and for handling themselves so well despite the controversy.

“I feel that the process has been fair to all concerned. As Councillors we have listened and made a determination based on all the information we have before us, including the presentations made tonight.  It’s always difficult balancing the needs of industry, which is vital for our economy, and the needs of families wanting a good night’s rest. No sides have got everything they want but I think we have come as close to a win win as possible”.