Petitions about Toondah Harbour, fixing the omission of an instance of mayoral misconduct from the recently adopted Annual Report and amending the City Plan to facilitate new housing estates in Victoria Point are on the agenda for Redland City Council’s meeting on Wednesday 20 November, starting at 9:30.
Redlands2030 and Birdlife Australia are encouraging people concerned about the proposed Toondah Harbour project to gather outside the Council chambers at 9:00am and attend this Council meeting to observe how elected representatives deal with the petition requests.
Toondah petition #RespectRamsar
Two petitions about Toondah Harbour will be discussed at the Council meeting on Wednesday.
A petition initiated by Birdlife Australia Southern Queensland called for the Council to undertake a range of actions regarding the Moreton Bay Ramsar site.
The petition asks Council to implement a range of measures to improve its stewardship of those parts of the Moreton Bay Ramsar site which are
located within Redland City including:
- Request the State Government to revise the boundaries of the Toondah Harbour Priority Development Area to exclude any wetlands which are part of the Moreton Bay Ramsar site
- Prepare plans, policies and procedures to conserve and protect Redland City’s Ramsar wetlands and ensure they are used within the Ramsar Convention’s definition of “wise use”
- Review the Council’s tourism strategy to ensure that it fully embraces the values of Redland City’s Ramsar wetlands and the wildlife and ecosystems which these wetlands sustain
- Initiate action, in concert with other local authorities and the State Government, to expedite the preparation and implementation of a fully resourced site management plan for the Moreton Bay Ramsar site
- Request the State Government to ensure greater protection of Ramsar areas when the Moreton Bay Marine Park zoning plan is next reviewed.
The officers’ report prepared in response to this petition appears to indicate that the Council should not be doing anything to improve stewardship of the Moreton Bay Ramsar site.
Toondah petition #RevealtheDeal
A petition initiated by Redlands2030 asked the Council to provide before the next council elections a comprehensive and truthful explanation of the contractual arrangements for proposed development at Toondah Harbour.
The officers’ report in response to the petition fails to properly address the question which has been put to the Council.
In particular, it is not made clear in the officers’ report as to whether or not the Council has asked Walker Group to assist and cooperate in preparing a publicly available explanation of the deal which allows Walker Group to develop up to 3,600 apartments on publicly owned land and waters, subject to obtaining various approvals.
Mayoral misconduct omitted from 2018/19 Annual Report statistics
The 2018/19 Annual Report, formally adopted at the previous Council meeting on 6 November, failed to include details of a misconduct order against Mayor Karen Williams.
The officers’ report says that the omission of this information was due to an administrative error. But this begs the question: why didn’t the mayor or other councillors pick up this error when they reviewed the draft report before adopting it?
Councillors will be asked to approve an amendment to the 2018/19 Annual Report which updates the information about councillor conduct breaches to note that an order of misconduct was made for Mayor Williams’ failure to declare a conflict of interest at a Council meeting on 21 February 2018.
The recommended inclusion in the Annual Report will state that Mayor Williams was ordered by the Local Government Remuneration and Discipline Tribunal to make an admission of error at a council meeting which was done on 24 October 2018.
It is a requirement of the Local Government Act and Regulations that each local council’s annual report include details of:
- The name of each Councillor for whom an order or recommendation was made under section 180 of the Act or an order was made under section 181 of the Act
- A description of the misconduct or inappropriate conduct engaged in by each of the Councillors
- A summary of the recommendation made for each Councillor.
The only other councillor to feature in the 2018/19 Annual Report for misconduct and/or inappropriate conduct is Councillor Paul Gleeson.
Cr Gleeson recently stated on his Facebook page that he has requested a leave of absence from Council until the New Year to deal with personal matters.
Closed session items include Victoria Point Structure Plan
There are three items on the agenda for discussion in closed session without media or the public present:
- 19.1 Sale of Land for Overdue Rate and Charges
- 19.2 Rating Exemption
- 19.3 City Plan Major Amendment: South West Victoria Point Structure Plan
Fiteni Homes complained recently about a series of delays in the Council’s approval of the Victoria Point West Structure Plan which covers an area between Bunker, Double Jump and Clay Gully Roads and Brendan Way.
The Council resolved to prepare a Structure Plan for this area in October 2018 after local residents expressed concern in March 2018 about plans (by Ausbuild) for small lot housing development in this area.
Agenda for council meeting on Wednesday 20 November
Shown below are the contents of the agenda for Redland City Council’s general meeting on Wednesday 20 November 2019. The full agenda can be downloaded from the Council website.
The media and public are able to attend and observe the meeting except when items are discussed in closed session. There is usually an opportunity for members of the public to address the Council during Item 8 Public Participation.
The meeting will be held in the Council’s offices at Bloomfield Street in Cleveland, starting at 9:30am.
Redlands2030 – 18 November 2019
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2 Comments
Does the Redland City Council not have town planners to look at what horrorscapes are being approved in various places, e.g. Capalaba? Everywhere I go people are commenting. aghast at the box-like side by side units, highly visible, driving to Capalaba Park shops along Moreton Bay Rd in process of being built, dozens of them, behind well placed, & attractive 6-storey apartment building on Mt Cotton Rd by Redland/Moreton Bay/Rds intersection. During a former administration, SIX 6-storey apt bldgs. had been approved at this location, thankfully, that plan did not go ahead…but in my view, a second 6-storey apt bldg. identical to the one recently completed, well placed on land behind it, would have been ideal, with surrounding land left as open space + some being developed into park lands for the people, thereby providing an attractive entry to Capalaba from outlying areas into the Capalaba CBD. Sadly, it wasn’t to be…and brings to mind what has been rumoured for decades in Redlands….that Capalaba is destined to be future slums.
RCC and RIC have chosen a second rate option for a carpark located 10 minutes away from Weinam Creek ferry terminal when there were better and closer options. This just annoys the people who live opposite and it lowers their property values. Also the residents who live near G J Walter Park in Cleveland with scenic views over the Bay will have their property values lessened if those views are obstructed by 10-storey blocks of units built over protected wetland. A 7-storey block of 90 units has just been built within a stone’s throw of the Park. Some gullible new owners have paid up to $950,000 for 3-bdrm units at the top with a view over the water. That view will only be temporary if Walker is allowed to build 10-storey blocks in front of them. That would be a crying shame but some of our councillors (no names mentioned) don’t appear to give a dam. As for the current state government they are simply not listening to the residents, preferring instead to blindly follow the inept Jackie Trad.