Toondah traffic, Toondah Commission and Council’s costly newsletter

Letter writers see things plainly and somewhat differently to both the employed and elected officials of Redland city Council. Questions about Toondah traffic and the need for an Inquiry into how we got where we are highlight unresolved Toondah issues. Perhaps Council could dedicate some space in its “free” online magazine to investigating like issues. But wait, the free and self-titled news isn’t free, or news. It comes at a real cost to Council and hence ratepayers and as to it being news it is at best a voice of the Council.

Perhaps Redlanders would rather see Council invest in the local newspaper rather than its own so-called newsletter. A Councillor or two might consider the adage “self praise is no recommendation”!

Do you have an opinion on any of the letters published today or about other topical matters…join the debate on the pages of Redlands2030. Send your thoughts to Thereporter@redlands2030.net

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Traffic congestion and Toondah

I was just watching a report on a housing estate in Melbourne at Donnybrook where people take one hour to drive out of their estate. 

The reason for this is that infrastructure is not able to catch up with population growth.

This is yet another problem for Cleveland residents should the proposal for 3600 units on Toondah Harbour go ahead.

There are many other reasons to oppose it but spending one hour driving out of the estate would certainly detract from the livability for any person wanting to purchase a unit. The whole idea makes no sense at all.

Why destroy a RAMSAR protected wetland to produce a traffic nightmare?

Isn’t that insanity?

J.F.
Point Lookout 

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Toondah inquiry is in the public interest

I agree with Redlands2030 that the Premier should reconsider their request for a Toondah Commission of Inquiry petition. Since the 6000 people signed the Parliamentary petition in 2020 another 25,000 submissions were made by way of an objection to the Walker Corporations EIS. These and other expressions of concern demonstrate the local community and the public at large see through the rhetoric and scams embedded in the PDA. And what about the 66 000 petitioners on Change dot Org and the thousands who have marched through the streets of Cleveland with the same message!

That’s a total of nearly 100 000 people but it seems the commercial interests hold sway over the public interest.

I have attempted to enumerate the problems (or at least a sample) of what I see: 

1. Is a bigger (double-width) ferry channel at Toondah Harbour warranted? With smarter ferry technology or even reversible landing and departure, this is in doubt.
2. The projected Toondah development overlaps a part of the Moreton Bay Ramsar Site to the extent of 42 ha. Ramsar Convention states that any curtailment of a Ramsar site can only occur due to an “urgent national interest”.
3. The value of the developer’s environmental offsets will be $4.75m. This is completely inadequate. There are 4 threatened bird species, and 5 migratory species. The project will result in the loss of 40 ha. of feeding habitat for both species, and a danger to roosting sites.
4. During the development, the developer offers a fauna underpass and 1,000 koala trees for the Toondah koalas. Due to heavy, construction traffic, this underpass would not work, nor would koalas survive crossing Toondah roads. The food trees would take 10 years to be of any use and by then the Toondah koalas will be extinct. 
5. The Toondah project is enormous. It will take 20 years to complete 3,600 high-rise apartments and other supportive buildings. There is a sand island called Cassim it is only 250 m away away from the development front. It is a roost site was used by an average of 890 and a maximum of 1,300 migratory shorebirds during the summer months over the past 5 years. Construction noise alone will have a severe impact on this island.
6. The noise, dust and traffic over 20 years will degrade our peaceful existence at the waterfront and in Cleveland. As planned, at completion another 7,000 people will call Cleveland home. The number of people in Cleveland in the 2016 census was 14801. The additional 7,000 would be an increase of about 50%. It beggars belief that the developer claims a low impact on the community, on health, education and all sorts of infrastructure.
7. To say the least, this project is extremely controversial and discussed nationwide. A responsive, responsible and representative State government would act upon the call for a commission of Inquiry. I call on the Premer to not be a caretaker! She needs to step up to the plate and do her job!

JT

Cleveland

Editors Note: For those people concerned to see the “whole truth” about Toondah, join the call for a Commission of Inquiry at https://redlands2030.good.do/savetoondahharbourforthebirds/Inquiry/

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What is Council’s Free Magazine Worth?

Summer is upon us again and as the heat rises so too the fun and games from our esteemed Council. No doubt most ratepayers will have received the “free” magazine. More important might how much did that cost and how many ended up as trash? The cover trumpets the natural beauty and “pristineness” of the Redlands Coast.

Redlands is indeed a “simply gorgeous” area however, for all the ramblings in the magazine about environmentalism and conservation, it rings hollow when I see the “hi vis” hard hat brigade scouting the bushland at Birkdale. We hear Willard’s farm-house will be saved while the bushland around it is destroyed for a couple of “white elephant” projects. Koala habitat that’s been there for millennia gone in a one gulp of a bulldozer! So well done that’s what I call progress.

Conspicuous for its absence was not one word in the mag about Toondah Harbour or the Birkdale developments. So let’s face facts, we are being lied to and obviously! Councils are in the business of development and building for its own sake, a massive cash cow but here is the harsh reality behind it. There will be no new arterial roads into the Redlands simply because they are impossible to construct.

Traffic congestion at the roundabout near Whepstead House is getting so bad and when the Botanix development is completed we can look forward to a huge traffic mess in that area. On the one-hand the Council preaches conservation on the other it destroys natural habitat and continues to develop everything in sight. Governments talk about encouraging people to relocate outside of Brisbane is the joke of the century.

As a side matter, the last Redfest Community Festival was a flop by all accounts. My family chose to stay away after we found out how much the entry fees were. It would have cost us $200 just to get in. So where is the council funding when you need it?

Don’t forget the Council election is looming! So be proactive lest you get the Council you don’t deserve and don’t want!

I invite any feedback to my comments above.

Mr On the Ball
Wellington Point

More Letters To Redlands2030

Luxury apartments and coastal development

Wildlife protection and the housing shortage in southeast Queensland

Redland Bay Tree Clearing And Birkdale Whitewater White Elephant – Letters

Redlands2030 – 10 December 2023