Greens urged to stop Sprent Street Park tree removal in Narrabundah

The trees, mostly pin oaks, and a playground are being removed from the Sprent Street park so a $2 million retarding basin can be built in the space to help mitigate localised flooding events.

The government says the work also includes putting in a new playground as well as 38 "semi-mature" trees, "not saplings" as well as 200 square metres of ground cover.

A development application has been conditionally approved and work is expected to start in the second half of the year.

"Whilst we understand that nearby residents are concerned about these works the ACT government has a responsibility to the broader community to ensure that stormwater infrastructure is in place to mitigate flood risk," a government spokesperson said.

"The installation of a retardation basin at Sprent Park means that 27 trees have to be removed. This is considered unavoidable if the project goals are to be achieved within the available footprint of Sprent Park."

Local residents Vic Smorhun and Brian Dennis, whose families have lived in the area for generations, understand the local stormwater infrastructure needs to be upgraded.

Mr Dennis' house in Finniss Crescent cops most of the flooding when water funnels down from the park, including in a 2011 flood.

A report prepared for the development application said the retarding basin was "the most cost-effective way to manage overland flow in the Narrabundah catchment".

It said any other options would cause too much disruption and cost more. Excavating the road reserve to install larger pipes "would be significantly more expensive (upwards of a factor of ten)", the report said.

The retarding basin is an earth embankment, holding back water during "extreme water events, preventing it from flooding local properties". When the basin is empty it "looks like a depression in the ground with sloping walls".

Mr Dennis said a better option would have been the construction of an underground retention tank and the upgrading of a stormwater pipe next to his house, rather than taking over the park and creating a "mosquito-infested pit".

He was so concerned about the development he was having his house valued before and after it.

"I'll be looking at a dirt embankment rather than a vista of grass and trees," he said.

The DA report said an underground retention tank would not allow the trees to be replanted.

Mr Smorhun says he was particularly disappointed by local Greens MLAs for Kurrajong, Shane Rattenbury, who is the Water Minister and Rebecca Vassarotti, who is the Environment Minister.

He said he met with both ministers in the park in February when they "expressed horror" at the planned removal of the trees and promised to seek alternatives.

Mr Smorhun also said both ministers had also backed government initiatives that required developers to "look at all possible options to avoid cutting down established trees".

"Which in our case has not happened," he said.

"Do we really value our park trees?"

Comment was sought from both ministers.

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Mr Smorhun says the basin will "result in the loss of 90 per cent of the shade trees within the park" but believed another option could have prevented that outcome.

"The crucial decision to proceed with its DA to turn our much-loved and much-used park into a water basin, instead of upgrading the pipes and drainage system, is based purely on cost," he said.

"The community has been advised that the cost of upgrading the pipes is 'multiple times' the water basin cost - even though the actual cost has never been disclosed."

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