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Canal Rocks chairman David McKenzie has accused the Smiths Beach Action Group of trying to mislead the public by distributing an artist's impression of the proposed development.

Mr McKenzie said the artist's impression of the development, published by the action group in an e-mailed newsletter last week, was inaccurate and was part of a scare campaign to increase fear among the community.

"This image, like others shown publicly from time-to-time by SBAG is not representative of how Smiths Point will look and is another amateur attempt by SBAG to create fear within the community," Mr McKenzie said. "SBAG's artist's impression is not based on the design of the project and glaring colours are used to create a false impression to suit the SBAG campaign."

However SBAG spokesman Bob McKay said the artist's impression was released due to the absence of any plans from the developer.

"We have requested new/additional/modified plans but nothing has been forthcoming," Mr McKay told The Capes Herald in an e-mail.

"We suspect the developer wants to give minimal time for the public to examine the plan and therefore, we took the images that were supplied to us and gave them to a graphic artist and requested he overlay them onto a photo of the site."

Mr MacKenzie said the Development Guide Plan, once released by the Busselton Shire Council, would answer any fears from the community over the project.

"Any community concern over the visual impact of the Smiths Point project will be answered soon, when the DGP is advertised for public comment by the Shire of Busselton," he said. "Accurate, survey verified computer modelling released with the DGP will demonstrate how well Smiths Point blends in with the surrounding landscape, consistent with the visual amenity requirements of all State and shire policies."

The action group feared the height of the development would be bigger than anticipated due to building difficulties linked to the presence of granite under many of the proposed buildings. However, Mr McKenzie said the granite base was taken into consideration during the site's original bore-logging and mapping.

© Copyright 2007 by The Capes Herald. This report is for information only in order to inform readers about the thisThe Capes Herald report. No charge for such use is made and the material is not being used for commercial purposes. The text has not been modified from the original report.

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