Cowley Street trees and Toondah Harbour impacts

Community protest about loss of koala habitat in Cowley Street Ormiston – see the video

Letters this week express outrage over the recent clearing of koala habitat at Cowley Street in Ormiston and increasing concern about the likely impacts of a proposed 3,600 apartment development on Ramsar wetlands next to Toondah Harbour.

If you have something to say email your letter to: theeditor@redlands2030.net

Save the Cowley Street trees

I feel so fortunate to reside in beautiful Ormiston; it’s a stunning, friendly and unique place on the planet. It still has a wildness about it, making it unique and precious in Queensland, and the world. 

The protected wetlands and neighbouring urban reserves provide space for families and wildlife, but overdevelopment of these public and private urban spaces is going to wreck what is best about The Redlands. Developers cannot continue to be allowed to tear down old growth trees for profits. 

I am writing to ask you to save the few remaining trees on the Cowley Street property being developed for housing. These few precious trees must be saved for our struggling wildlife. As you are well aware, this urban property is well established koala and bird habitat.

The justification that it is legal, and within the developers rights to maximise his profits is out of touch and just plain wrong policy. Redland City Council uses a koala logo to brand the city, and align the council with environmental protection. But in the case of the Cowley property you are not aligning with your brand, you have silently allowed these trees to be ripped out by their roots, every single one of them!  

Please do not reply that Council is helpless to act and all the actions to develop so far are legal. We have heard this already and too often. I see the remaining koalas in the trees nearly every morning, koalas are living there, please leave the few remaining trees alone. 

V.S.
Ormiston 

Another koala corridor cleared

I believe Wendy Boglary did so much to stop these trees being cleared and put in submissions to State and Federal government members but all to no avail.

Selective clearing would leave somewhere for the koalas to use the corridors. Some six or so years ago Fiteni Homes cleared another koala corridor when there was absolutely no necessity to do so.

These beautiful animals need our help

P.F.
Redlands

Disgusted at ‘Toondah Saviour’ story

Very upset to see the front page of the latest issue of our local paper headlined as ‘Toondah Saviour’ with about 5 columns dedicated to promoting the Toondah Harbour Project.

Hardly unbiased reporting & pretty sure the local wildlife won’t find the proposed development to be any kind of ‘saviour’. Quite disgusted.

J.W.
Cleveland

Toondah traffic implications

I have been thinking about the implications of the Toondah PDA. I have come to realise that Toondah is going to produce something that Redland folk absolutely hate – traffic congestion! It makes them hot under the collar. But the impact has been brushed aside by the proponents and even Redlands2030 has not really focused on traffic congestion in its recent public statements. 

I recall Cr Mitchell in his 2020 pre-election speech at Redland Bay trying to sweep the traffic implications under the carpet by talking about driverless cars and the like…it was a fanciful performance.  

I recall Redlands2030 predicted there would be  30,000 vehicle movements a day generated by Toondah’s residential development.  I dismissed that as just unrealistic.  Now that I have looked into projected traffic generation, it is clear that 30,000 a day is light on.  It takes no account of the traffic generated by ferry or barge users, the artificial pool, the commercial and retail traffic or even the construction phase. Did Council not consider the real and long-term traffic impacts? 

We all know that the volume of traffic from the residents plus that of visitors is going to be a nightmare once the development is complete. But it is also going to be a nightmare during the 20 or so years of the construction phase.  There will be trucks bringing rocks, sand, bricks, pilings, building materials and more to and from the site. This is another reason we need to take note of the “depots” (equipment storage etc) that would be on the ground for perhaps 30 years from the start of the construction phase.

Where is the traffic going to be heavy? Shore Street East, Shore Street West, Shore St, Finucane Road, Passage Street, Long Street, Middle Street etc. It doesn’t take much to envisage the mess lying ahead, and the mess will last at least a generation.

While all this is going on, we have Shoreline being developed at Redland Bay.  This development is planned for another 10,000 residents and 3,000 plus cars. Where are they travelling to each day? Then we have the planned development on Double Jump Rd, where is the traffic going to from there? Will it go to Mt Cotton Rd and/or Cleveland-Redland Bay Rd?

Redlands is in for an incredible amount of traffic congestion with these concentrated pockets of development. It is going to affect Redland Bay, Mt Cotton, Victoria Point, Thornlands, Cleveland,  Alexandria Hills and Capalaba.

I only recently realised that the down side to Toondah will spread to my own home.  But I really feel for the residents of Cleveland, they should sell and move now!  Maybe I should move too!

J.B.
Victoria Point

Picken’ up bad vibrations from Toondah

We are starting to see more images of what Toondah Harbour would be like from the perspective that you don’t actually see anything about what Toondah Harbour would actually look like.

Cairns had its own ‘Toondah Harbour’ threat, exact same thing, and Cairns people rejected it big time.

The impact on the marine environment is being addressed by many and that should be listened to.

What probably has not been addressed is the impact of noise. Pile driving can be heard in the air five kms away and through the soles of your feet at least 10 kms away. In a defence context in Sydney, pervading sounds had impact of organisms up to 30 kms away.

Given that material would be moved over land, how comfortable are residents with the prospect of a steady stream of massive trucks causing vibration through their houses hundreds of metres from roads for years to come.

GM
Ormiston

More Letters To Redlands2030

Bulletin’s “Toondah Saviour” cover story irks residents

What happened to our Redlands 2030 community Plan

The ABC Outside Broadcast – More On Cowley Street

Redlands2030 – 6 March 2021