Birkdale Community Precinct Vision ignores community feedback

Birkdale Community Precinct Vision concept plan proposed for endorsement by Redland City Council

A whitewater facility, aquatic centre and adventure play hub feature prominently in a Birkdale Community Precinct Vision proposed for endorsement by Redland City Council at its meeting on Wednesday.

Information obtained by Redlands2030 through a Right to Information request shows that the proposed ‘vision’ is not well aligned with the community’s views on use of this 62 hectare publicly owned site. The complete record of community feedback to Redland City Council about future use of this site is now published on the Redlands2030 website (details below).

Other matters that Redland City Council will consider on Wednesday include a local plan for South West Victoria Point, the draft Goompi (Dunwich) Master Plan, a temporary plan for the Quandamooka Lands Aspiration Area and heritage and environment City Plan amendments.

Council to discuss Birkdale Community Precinct Vision

On Wednesday councillors will be asked to approve a Birkdale Community Precinct Vision intended to inform development of a draft master plan for community consultation.

This Vision is supposedly based on the Council’s community engagement process which was discussed by Council at a Special Meeting on 27 May 2021.

The proposed Vision includes as its centrepiece a whitewater facility which can be used for the 2032 Olympic Games.

But the comprehensive (and expensive) community engagement process conducted by Redland City Council found that there is little community support for a whitewater facility to be developed in this precinct.

The Council says it received 1,680 survey responses to its community engagement process for future use of the Birkdale Community Precinct. Most of the community feedback received by Redland City Council supported lower impact activities such as nature trails and conservation.

Survey response data obtained by Redlands2030 through a Right to Information request shows:

• 1,323 responses (78.8% of responses) supported nature trails
• 966 responses supported conservation uses
• 566 responses supported history and heritage uses
• 565 responses supported various education uses
• 149 responses (8.9% of responses) supported a whitewater facility

The proposed ‘Birkdale Community Precinct Vision’ is published as pages 278-309 of the following document: Agenda: Redland City Council Meeting 18 August 2021.

Redlands2030 obtains survey responses

The officers’ report about the community engagement process for the Birkdale Community Precinct’s future uses, considered by Redland City Council at a Special Meeting on 27 May 2021 did not include detailed information about the community’s responses.

So Redlands2030 submitted a Right to Information (RTI) application which sought the following:

All of the comments which Redland City Council received in response to its community engagement process for the Birkdale Community Precinct together with any categorisation and assessment of these comments which may have been carried out.

In the interests of transparency, Redlands2030 is providing complete access to the report provided by Redland City Council in response to this RTI request. The report can be viewed (below) or the 12 MB file can be downloaded from the Redlands2030 website:

Planning matters on the Council’s agenda

On Wednesday the Council will discuss a several other planning related matters:

14.1 Draft Gumpi (Dunwich) Master Plan

14.2 Temporary Local Planning Instrument No. 2 of 2020 (Quandamooka Lands Aspiration Area)

14.4 03/19 – Major Amendment – Heritage – Approval to Commence

14.5 01/21 – Major Amendment – Environmental Significance Overlay (proposal to amend the City Plan by protecting wildlife corridors in the urban footprint area).

14.6 05/19 – Major Amendment – South West Victoria Point Local Plan – Ministerial Approval to Proceed To Public Consultation (Subject to Conditions)

17.1 Macleay Island Camping Ground (Notice of Motion from Cr Mark Edwards)

Where are the reports about legal appeals and approvals under delegation?

For many years the agendas for Redland city Council’s general meetings have included officers’ reports that provide useful information publicly about the status of legal appeals against development approvals and about development applications that have been approved under delegation. These reports provided useful transparency about council decision making.

At its general meeting on 16 June 2021 the Council decided, unanimously:

1. To discontinue the General meeting report for noting decisions made under delegated
authority for Category 1, 2 and 3 development applications.
2. To discontinue the General meeting report for noting development and planning related
court matters.
3. To start monthly publication on Council’s website of general and non-confidential
information on development and planning related court matters.

So now, instead of having this information presented conveniently and regularly, the community has to find information about legal appeals on the Council’s website and search for information about development applications in the Development.i database (which has replaced PD On-line).

If you want to find this report, it can be downloaded from this webpage under the heading “Current appeals in the Planning and Environment Court and Queensland Court of Appeal”.

Here is a direct link: https://www.redland.qld.gov.au/download/downloads/id/4034/appeal_matters_summary.pdf

Confidential items

Three confidential items are listed for discussion at the Council meeting on 18 August 2021:

19.1 Request For Waiver Or Deferral Of Infrastructure Charges

19.2 Queensland Recycling Modernisation Fund (QRMF) Application

19.3 Weinam Creek Master Plan Delivery

The overview for item 19.3 says:

“This report presents options to deliver the Weinam Creek PDA Master Plan and along with funding
requirements. The report discusses current commercial negotiations by the Council.”

About this Council meeting

This meeting is closed to the public. The agenda says: “There will be no Public Participation as this meeting is closed to the public, as a result of COVID-19 Pandemic social restrictions and regulation changes.”

The ‘public’ version of the 18 August 2021 meeting agenda (including officers’ reports for non-confidential items) can be accessed on the Council website.

The meeting will be video recorded (except for confidential discussions) and this video recording will be posted to the meeting video recordings webpage on the Council website. Videos usually appear within 48 hours of the meeting.

The Council usually publishes the meeting minutes about one week after the meeting. Meeting minutes include the wording of all resolutions adopted and details of which councillors voted for or against every resolution – including the confidential items. When published, the minutes will appear on this Council webpage.

Here are the contents of the agenda for Redland City Council’s meeting on 18 August 2021.

Redlands2030 – 16 August 2021