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- Read the story: Major supermarket pulls pin on hinterland appeal
For five years Coles has battled over its plans for a supermarket in Beerwah, which was declared to be a hub for development of employment, housing and regional identity.
The original estimates of costs for any development will have escalated to the point that the exercise is no longer viable. No wonder this country is in such a sad situation regarding housing with the actions of councils either blocking or pricing development to a point of despair.
In the local hinterland area we have seen the abandonment of a water park facility and now this Coles withdrawal. All those potential jobs for our local kids have vanished.
We have lost an opportunity for a new shopping complex to take the strain off the current offerings but the council decided to side with Woolworths, which is already established in the town. Sites like that which Coles planned to develop are seldom available so this is a loss to the residents who now have to travel by road to Caloundra to access the stores that were planned locally.
Meanwhile, several council staffers and the newly elected mayor are enjoying a “jolly” in Paris.
James Aitken, Landsborough
- Read the story: Short-stay law leads to fewer noise complaints, says council
The only reason the complaint numbers received by Noosa Council are lower is because the people complaining are now ringing the local number displayed on the obligatory sign on the rental property.
There are still probably as many complaints, if not more, than before, but most are not going to the Noosa hotline number.
Local neighbours are still being disturbed. People on holiday do not behave as they do when at home. This is true irrespective of the price point of the holiday letting. For example, an expensive three-bedroom apartment is often occupied by two families even though the holiday tenant has only declared the number of people for one family. I have had personal experience of this situation. By the time someone complains the holiday letting has completed or, if approached, they say the second family are only staying for the day. This happens perhaps 60 per cent of the time with three-bedroom apartments. How do you police or stop this kind of abusive and unruly activity?
I have had the experience where there were three families: three couples each with two children, so 12 people staying in a three-bedroom apartment. This behaviour is perhaps less prevalent in an apartment complex where there is an onsite manager but very prevalent in small complexes where it is not feasible to have an onsite manager. In these situations it comes down to the permanent occupiers of the other apartments to act as ‘holiday police’ and cop the abuse from the offending tenants.
This is not a comfortable situation for the other occupants of the complex.
Cavan and Julie Hall, Sunshine Beach
- Read the story: Changes brewing at popular business but not all are happy
I live along nearby Running Creek Road and I don’t love it at all. I don’t love “duff-duff” music intruding on our rural serenity and I don’t love being caught up in a half-a-kilometre queue on Bunya Road while cars are stopped at the gates waiting to be waved in to park.
When the original development application was made several years ago there was no opportunity for public consultation because intensive horticulture is “code assessable” for the zone, and there was not much concern about the lack of opportunity to query or object because growing salad greens hydroponically in a “Hammerbarn”-sized shed in a paddock seemed innocuous enough – even though the paddock is good-quality agricultural land ostensibly reserved for growing soil crops, and food processing factories are supposed to be on industrial estates.
The subsequent “ancillary brewery” amendment to the approval then slipped through without any public scrutiny either, but the next stage of the masterplan – for a tavern with dine-in facilities and a licence to serve wine and spirits – must negotiate the higher threshold of impact assessment. Not only must the development satisfy the applicable assessment codes, but formal objections from the public have to be considered.
Terella is a very popular recreational venue and a spectacularly successful entrepreneurial venture – but anyone interested in its future ought to consider that if the original development application had been for a tavern on that site, it is very unlikely to have been approved. They may even have been redirected to an industrial estate.
Peter Baulch, North Arm
- Read the story: Residents air concerns over proposed aeromodel runway
I wish to express my displeasure in having the model planes at Mudjimba airport as we have enough noise, and it’s only going to be more busy as it’s going it be international.
For safety reasons as well they shouldn’t be any where near an airport. Have common sense, as these planes and people are amateurs.
Surely, there is plenty of land elsewhere. Enough is enough.
Deborah Kozuszek, Mudjimba
- Read the story: ‘Shortcut’ road in line for $1.5 million upgrades
Why hasn’t anyone mentioned the worst roundabout, the one that is constantly clogged every day of the week?
With the new Aura suburbs cropping up and more people moving in, the roundabout at the Caloundra Road and Bells Creek Arterial Road intersection is horrendous to try to navigate. Morning and afternoon traffic is constantly backed up. The council needs to desperately look at this as the situation will only increase with the new population happening in Aura. (Ed’s note: these are state-controlled roads.)
This should have been considered way before Aura was started: during the planning stage would have been smart. One lane out off Bells Creek Arterial Road/Roys Road is sheer lunacy. Obviously, the council didn’t learn from the chaos at the Nicklin Way and Caloundra Road roundabout. How about seriously looking at this roundabout from the new Aura suburbs and do something to fix it?
Barry, Currimundi
- Read the story: Application seeks to amend conditions to 450-home development
As a resident of 32 years and having been around when the floods happened, I have witnessed three metres of water covering the whole of Twin Waters.
I don’t think we could even get to the evacuation centre. This is why we shouldn’t develop that area at all, as it should be a floodplain.
The council needs to dredge the river, as it is only ankle deep in the centre of the river. Water will only go to the lowest point. The river will not suck the water out as it is full of silt from runoff from all of the development upstream, including the Twin Waters development.
This would be a great site for another big park for everyone to enjoy as we really don’t have much in the way of open space and parkland, for animals and people.
Plan for the future and stop thinking about money. Once it’s gone we will have concrete and roofs that will be ugly and will add runoff of water in an inefficient drainage system that will compound the flooding and will push water up into the plaza and maybe do major damage in that area.
I have a booklet that we gave to council in regards to this and my colleague’s prediction was that Pincushion would be on Mudjimba and the council said it wouldn’t happen. Well, guess what? It’s now on our side, and look at all the revenue you have lost due to the caravan park being a third of the size.
Deborah Kozuszek, Mudjimba
- Read the story: Council calling for statewide limits on e-scooter speeds
Bicycles should be added to the list.
I understand that bike and e-scooter riders want to avoid the open road for their own safety, but the safety of the pedestrian is now in jeopardy. There is no sanctuary any more. It used to be that pedestrians could have a safe place to walk, but over time bikes have left the roads and moved to footpaths, in spite of councils spending millions on bike lanes and awareness campaigns. You hardly see a bike on the road any more.
No one minds when a cyclist moves along sedately and warns people with a bell when they pass, or a child taking refuge on the pavement, but some people seem to think the coastal path is a race track, and pedestrians as obstacles to be swerved around without warning. The number of times I’ve been nearly hit by a fast-moving bicycle on a footpath (not even necessarily motorised) is too many to count and it is only a matter of time. It only takes a slight misjudgment or for a child to chase something unexpectedly.
Mike Banks, Moffat Beach
These electric scooters and especially the ‘souped-up’ bikes are out of control.
I cannot see any difference in a small petrol-driven motorbike to one of these electric bikes. They both have motors. But if you get caught on a motorbike you’re in trouble. Teenagers in Coolum are terrorising the community.
Greg Jones, Coolum Beach
Interesting fearmongering: 3305 hospital involved cases?
These dire results occurred between 2019 and September last year, nearly five years. This equates to about 65 hospital cases per year. I have no figures on a year-by-year rundown, but assume the number of scooters escalated in the last year. More people presented at emergency with stubbed toes than scooter injuries in this era.
Causes of the hospital interaction: speed, learner incompetence, run over by cars, drunken backpackers, no helmet, gear failure? It seems to me that all vehicle accidents, not just e-scooters, are caused by the same reasons.
Originally, e-scooters and later e-bikes exercised the same rights as “pedal or push” bikes in the eyes of the law. States have a hodge podge of rules on where to ride them and at what speed. This whole problem was created by Campbell Newman in Queensland. He ordered Segways for Queensland police and then found out they were illegal. He generously changed the law and said it would help tourism. This meant drunken backpackers charged dangerously along the footpaths on 50kg machines. The cops lost interest in them as they showed no appreciative advantages, injuring many officers trying to cross kerbs.
E-bikes and scooters are cheap, versatile and a big market. By their very mystique, they attract the young and dollar-savvy commuters. Nobbling this form of transport won’t work.
Limit them to 25km/h. Enforce registration and insurance, along with push bikes. Popular politically? I don’t think so.
Pedestrians have rights. If these are infringed on by louts, the law is there. Councils, concentrate on things you can succeed at.
Trevor Hunt, Cooktown
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb for accountability, credibility and transparency. Preference will be give to letters of 100 words or less.
