Toondah questions in letters to Redlands2030

A road snaking its way through G.J. Walter Park, heaps of questions about plans for development at Toondah Harbour, and some concerns about evaluating job creation claims in letters to Redlands2030.

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Walker Group plan shows road through G.J. Walter Park

In the latest iteration of the Doomsday development overreach at Toondah, Walker Group insinuates a ROAD snaking through the public park.

After community outcry in 2014, if I recall, Redland City Council (RCC) made removal of the road a condition of the Council’s approval of the PDA Development Scheme.

Seven years on, RCC/Walker’s must think we have forgotten or don’t care. We care!

Walker Group gorges on public land to plan a commercial and residential development of crushing architectural mediocrity. For years we paid extra on our rates to purchase the CSIRO site for the ferry terminal upgrade – only to find it handed free to the developer.

Fact: this bloated white elephant can’t work without that road through the park. Just like the Ugly Sisters couldn’t cram their fat feet into Cinderella’s slipper.

Fix the ferry terminal already. 

J.C.
Point Lookout

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Toondah keeps rattling on!

The Toondah debate keeps being rattled around with the proponents (Redland City Council, The State Government and the Walker Group) largely avoiding full disclosure.

What we can see is one-sided and avoids so many issues and questions. I think the public sector proponents should tell us answers to questions like:

1. We do not know the details of the development agreement between the Walker Group, Council and the State Government, so what is in it and why is it hidden behind commercial-in-confidence?

2. We do not know at what time in the 20-year construction cycle that the ferry terminal is going to be upgraded, e.g. is there a minimum profit that Walker Group must attain before starting work on the ferry terminal?

3. The Walker Group says it’s a $1.4 billion development but can the Redland City councillors disclose to ratepayers how much the ratepayers would be contributing?

4. Does the Walker Group have an open checkbook in terms of timeframes, project commencement, project completion, risks to ratepayers, capped infrastructure costs and so on?

5. Given the lack of trust that people have in our institutions such as corporations and our politicians, why should we support the Walker Group’s proposal?

6. How is it in the public interest to proceed with this secret deal when so many people in the Redlands are opposed to this mega-development?

Nobody in authority has ever tried to put the case for Toondah before the public in a coherent planning narrative! This should have been done before the heavily flawed consultation in 2014!

In 2014 the project was criticised on issues of scale (about 800 units) and location but no one anticipated the project’s growth to 3,600 apartments ….in the water and in the Ramsar area.

K.H.
Victoria Point

Are job creation claims believable?

Climate change, rightly so, is back on the world agenda in the lead up to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Glasgow. 

The popular press is awash with speculation – will the Prime Minister attend? Could the Labour Party ever embrace nuclear power? The list goes on and on. 

Front page of the AFR (9th October) states that over the next 50 years,  the adoption of no-cost net zero-emission policies will generate (net) 195,000 jobs in Australia. 

The cold reality of all that we do as a nation and community is eventually categorised into costs, benefits, and jobs created or lost. 

We are told that Toondah Harbour development will create 1,000 jobs during construction (over a 20-year build ) and then maintain 500 permanent jobs once completed. 

My question is, how should the average punter evaluate job creation claims? 

After all, one day in 20 or 50 years’ time, he or she may well become an unintended consequence to a building project in which they have no say and for which public scrutiny was less than transparent. It is all a worry!

R.P.
Cleveland

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More Letters about Toondah Harbour and other issues

Liabilities, The Extinction Crisis And Toondah In Letters To Redlands2030

White water centre, disappearing koalas and Toondah questions

Koala habitat tree clearing, building on mudflats and Toondah secrecy

Redlands2030 – 24 October 2021