Rushwood Estate residents meeting

Last night concerned residents met to discuss a development proposal  by Ausbuild which could impact significantly on properties in Rushwood Estate, Thornlands.
The proposal (ROL005873) is for a reconfiguration of one lot into 43 lots, over two stages. The property address is 34-41 Wrightson Road, Thornlands. Information is available at PD Online
Residents have made a copy of their meeting minutes available for publication by Redlands2030.

Minutes of the Rushwood Estate Residents Meeting

6.00pm 26 May 2015
9 Caldwell Close Thornlands 4164
Attendees:
Cr Julie Talty
Cr Kim-Maree Hardman
35 Rushwood Estate residents
John Hudson (9 Caldwell Close) opened the meeting at 6.10pm and thanked everyone for attending.
John then gave an overview of the Ausbuild application to extinguish the easement along the land adjoining Rushwood Estate and to open Caldwell Close and Whitby Place to allow the next stage of the Ausbuild development to proceed. John advised that Daniel Kohler (13 Caldwell Close) and he had met with a road engineer from Redlands City Council, Juan, earlier on 26 May. The engineer was alerted to some flaws in the traffic report, including the traffic questions raised by Council that were not adequately addressed in Ausbuild’s response. The road engineer was not aware of the existence of the gazetted Wrightson Road.
Residents expressed concern that:

• they were not made aware of the application
• when looking to purchase a property in Rushwood they were assured by Council that the proposed Kinross development would not impact Rushwood Estate
• there is inadequate stormwater infrastructure, which already results in storm water overflow at the western end of Whitby Place
• increased traffic into Caldwell Close and Whitby Place then impacting all of Rushwood Estate
• the impact on wildlife, including Koalas and wallabies
• traffic report was taken on a public holiday (Ekka, 14 August 2014)
• Queensland guidelines recommend that two access points are required when subdivisions exceed 100 lots, however this is not reflected in the Aus Build traffic report
• The traffic report states that Whitby Place is 6metres wide and does not mention the chicanes, which means that not all of Whitby Place is 6 metres wide
• The report states that Carlingford Court is 7 metres wide, the residents questioned if this width is constant along the entire road
• The olfactory test was conducted over a two month period, whereas guidelines state the test be carried out over a twelve month period
• The loss of wellbeing and lifestyle due to the opening of Caldwell Close and Whitby Place to all residents of Rushwood Estate
• The proposal to punch through Rushwood Estate has arisen due to a change in ownership of adjoining land access in Kinross Estate

Cr Julie Talty addressed the concerns of the residents and gave an overview of the application including:

• Outcomes based planning has come into place which means that the developer can submit an alternate plan to achieve the same outcome. This is what Ausbuild have done, submitting a hydrologist report in support to extinguish the easement.
• The land in question is “code assessed” meaning that:
  • signs and notification are not required
  • there is no right of appeal, Council can accept objections however are not obliged to act on them
  • there is no impact assessment required.
  • an application is deemed approved if the council do not respond within the required timeframe.
• Council has employed an external consultant to conduct a peer review of the olfactory report.
• Council has a verbal agreement with Ausbuild for an additional 20 day extension past 20 May 2015.

Council suggested a possible agreeable outcome would be to realign the roads that would allow the 43 lots to punch through Rushwood Estate and block any future development from access.

Actions

Council to:

• Determine whether Wrightson Road can be used for access to the Ausbuild development site
• Confirm the threshold of lots that triggers a secondary emergency access point as the Ausbuild traffic report differs from Queensland traffic engineering guidelines
• Have the traffic report peer reviewed
• Advise the outcome of the olfactory report peer review
• Inspect the road width of Whitby Place and Carlingford Court
• Inspect the degradation of Caldwell Close surface
• Confirm the road weight limits of Caldwell Close and Whitby Place
• Keep Daniel Kohler and John Hudson advised of action outcomes

John Hudson distributed additional petition forms for residents to take with them, to be returned to 9 Caldwell Close by Monday 1 June 2015 for presentation to Council on Tuesday 2 June 2015.
John Hudson thanked the Councillors and residents for attending the meeting and then closed the meeting.

Report by Redlands2030 with minutes supplied by local residents