REDLAND mayor Karen Williams has distanced herself from small-lot developments along Cleveland-Redland Bay.
Cr Williams, speaking on breakfast radio, said the decision to allow high-density small lots of 120sqm , on Boundary Road and Cleveland-Redland Bay Road, was a state requirement was made between 2008 and 2012.
Kay Murphy from Thornlands asked Cr Williams how block sizes were determined and sanctioned and why lots, so much smaller than the typical quarter acre, were being allowed.
Cr Williams said the state took away councils’ control over town plans in the 1990s and state treasury dictated population growth.
“Some of the areas along Cleveland-Redland Bay Road have been in the town plan since 2006 or before and some have been decided by the Planning and Environment Court where previous councils have refused them,” she said.
“In that particular area, the state government had directed council to make sure there was no minimum lot size.
“…The debate we need to have is who should control local government areas and determine how they grow and who plans them.
“Places like Redlands are quite unique and people do like their big backyards and still feel there is a sense of a country feel.
“So how do we maintain that – because we also have to accept that growth is inevitable and we need to have it in a way that suits our future generations”
The mayor also fielded calls from Yvonne from Redland Bay who told how her son’s foot got infected after he stood on “something sharp” on Coochiemudlo Island, where she said there had been septic leaching.
She wanted to know when sewerage in the water in the southern bay would be fixed.
Cr Williams said the council had sewered Coochiemudlo, reducing the amount of leaching into the water but could not afford to sewer the southern bay.
She said water from Logan also ran into the southern part of the bay, lowering the water quality.
“It’s not just the treatment plants on the southern Moreton Bay that are causing the decline … the Logan River feeds into the southern Moreton Bay and the Council of Mayors has been collaborative in trying to address the south-east Queensland water quality.”
Cr Williams said libraries at Victoria Point and Capalaba would get free wi-fi within months and developments at Toondah Harbour would provide safe, lit walking paths at night.
She also told listeners she was on the executive of the SEQ Mayors, which raised 29 projects for the south east when it met with Prime Minister Tony Abbot and his cabinet in March.
There were four projects raised that affected Redlands including extending the Eastern Busway, duplicating the Cleveland train line from Manly and extending the road from Redland to the port and Gateway Motorway.
She said the South East Queensland mayors represented one in seven Australians and requests for the projects were taken seriously.
Mayors were told their bid to host the 2028 Olympic Games was given federal approval but they were still waiting to find out if commonwealth will cut disaster funding from 75 per cent to 50 per cent.
