The Caloundra South Development
A city with the population of Gladstone on the Sunshine Coast’s doorstep. Seven-storey buildings may soon welcome our southern visitors courtesy of the State Government’s growth plans.
Caloundra South is just one of the many developments that the state government is promoting and fast-tracking to accommodate its agenda of growth. With a projected population of almost half a million people for the Sunshine Coast by 2031, the state government is demanding another 98,000 dwellings through a combination of greenfield sites and infill of existing developed areas across the Sunshine Coast. With largely committed development, on paper, we have already reached a population of 500,000, and the state could yet demand more.
Caloundra South has been a target for development for some time. The area is about 2,360 hectares of greenfield, or undeveloped land, located south of the established Caloundra urban area, the Caloundra aerodrome and to the west of Pelican Waters.
The proposed development site, Caloundra South
This area was first identified as a potential development area following the outcomes of the Caloundra Downs Informal Land Use Investigation in 2002. This ‘investigation’ was sponsored by the landowner, which obviously raises the question of bias.
Thirty-one technical studies considered the biophysical aspects of this proposal and a study of the community identified the importance of environment and natural features to the image and character of the Sunshine Coast. Yet how will this image and character be maintained in an urban centre stretching from Caloundra South to Noosa in the north?
In 2005 the Caloundra City Local Growth Management Strategy (CCLGMS) was developed in accordance with the South East Queensland Regional Plan. The regional plan identified Caloundra South as an investigation area. Such an area was defined as broad hectare land which is currently undeveloped but is included in the SEQ Regional Plan Urban Footprint and intended for future urban development.
However the Caloundra growth management study was never endorsed by the responsible minister and the state government. How the population of 50,000, the number of dwellings and the densities for this area were determined is unclear. There is certainly no indication of community input, let alone acceptance of a city the size of the Gladstone on the southern entrance to the Sunshine Coast.
The CCLGMS stated that the Caloundra South and the Palmview greenfield areas could only start after 2018, or before 2018 if public transport and other infrastructure was already in place. This included that a key component such as the proposed public transport corridor between Beerwah and the Kawana Town Centre be operational within the first two years of the development starting.
Other pre-conditions included:
- the provision of a water recycling system
- the commencement of the first stages of the development of the Caloundra Aerodrome Transit Oriented Community Areas
- commencement of the approved ecological rehabilitation program
Despite these requirements, in June 2008 the state government’s South East Queensland Greenfield Land Supply Review identified Caloundra South and Palmview as two priority development areas to increase the supply and affordability of land in southeast Queensland.
The Sunshine Coast Regional Council was required to make Caloundra South and Palmview “developer ready” within 12 months and in response developed the Caloundra South Position Paper and Structure Plan.
Whilst the Council has incorporated many sustainability initiatives within the confines of the development, there has been no assessment of the impact of 50,000 extra people on the region as a whole. We do not know the sustainable carrying capacity of the region, let alone the rate at which such growth can be effectively introduced into the region without degrading the natural values, the character and livability of the Sunshine Coast.
No studies have discussed the impacts upon areas such as the fragile Pumicestone Passage. The internationally recognised Ramsar sites, the water quality of the catchment and marine life of the Pumicestone Passage, will be no doubt face negative impacts.
Imagine an extra 50,000 residents using the beaches of the Sunshine Coast coupled with the exponential increase in day trippers as the rest of southeast Queensland creeps towards a population of nearly four million.
Can the very attributes that make the Sunshine Coast so popular be maintained under such population pressure or is the Coast, now more than ever, at risk of being “loved to death”?
Our roads are already showing signs of over crowding. And there is no guarantee that the state government will provide the requisite public transport infrastructure for Caloundra South which will create a greater car dependency and increased traffic load.
The Caloundra South development will have a four-kilometre road frontage on the Bruce Highway. The proposed solution, of building a 200-metre buffer, will do nothing to shield the eye sore of seven-storey buildings. The new ‘welcome to the Sunshine Coast’ will be one of urbanisation and high rises, and as a result we are surely losing the very attributes that have attracted residents and visitors alike.
Parts of the Caloundra South Structure Plan Area are subject to periodic inundation. Yet the Caloundra South Position Paper has identified that land subject to inundation may be considered where the development meets the flood management plan and ‘overriding benefit’ criteria.
The flood modelling for this development, has actually utilised the 2007 IPCC reports. And as we already know, we may in fact be heading towards severe climate change events, especially in low-lying coastal areas.
It leads to the question: Who will bear the liability for the approval of development on land increasingly at risk?
While the state has foisted this obviously fast-tracked development on the Sunshine Coast community, it is recognised that the Council has endeavoured to include sustainability initiatives. Surely, there can be no consideration of a development of any size unless such requirements are mandatory. While we continue to look at each individual development in isolation of the bigger picture, we will be sliding towards a ‘death by a thousand cuts’, leaving nothing but gaping wounds.
Unless the Sunshine Coast and hinterland is considered as a whole, along with its sustainable carrying capacity, we are missing an opportunity for future sustainability. Sustainable development is not about cramming as many people into as small an area as possible and relying on so called ‘technofixes’. Rather, it is about identifying the natural and social attributes of the Sunshine Coast that must be protected into the future. An agenda of growth for growth’s sake will surely result in the irrevocable loss of biodiversity and the very character that makes this area so unique.
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What has the Sunshine Coast Environment Council got to say on on Caloundra South? Their position paper can be viewed at the SCEC website
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- Just too many
- Up close with Ian Lowe
- A clear warning
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