A THORNLANDS family has come to its wits' end after more than six months of living in red dust created from a nearby 179-lot housing estate development.
Mary Jane Turk closed her home-based maternity wares business in July last year, ahead of work starting at the site.
Two months later, her home was swamped in a thick layer of red dust.
Since then, her family has spiralled into the depths of despair after lodging complaints with Redland City Council about damage to her home, pool and business.
Mrs Turk's Cleveland-Redland Bay Road farm is surrounded on all four boundaries by development.
Developer Villa World is building its 179-lot Waterline estate on the family's northern and eastern boundaries; Ausbuild's 244-lot project is to the west and Roycorp has applied to build 167 units in nearby Rachow Street.
Villa World has also lodged plans with council to develop stages 8a and 8b, which will run down the southern boundary of the family's farm.
Redland council issued developer Villa World an enforcement notice on December 19, ordering immediate dust prevention measures on the site.
The order was issued two days after council officers inspected the site and found International Erosion Control Association standards were not being met.
The notice said failure to comply was a $189,560 fine and could also result in fines of $11,385 for companies and $2277 for individuals.
Mrs Turk said she turned down a "one-off" offer to clean her house from construction company BMD in March.
She said the offer included a clause releasing BMD from further liability after the cleaning had been done once.
Villa World also made the family a "good will" offer in March.
It was also turned down as it prohibited future prosecution if further dust or damage was created in the next stages of development or from associated contractors, or any form of nuisance or economic loss. Both compensatory offers included confidentiality clauses.
Villa World chief executive Peter Johnson wrote to Mrs Turk in April acknowledging Waterline Stage 1A and road works had affected the farm and said she needed to take up the dust issue with BMD.
"We encouraged, what we believe was a more then (sic) reasonable outcome (additional items such as pool cover), however you have not made any agreement with BMD," he wrote.
"As the currently (sic) development front is a considerable distance form (sic) your property and dust control measures are in place, we don't anticipate any issues arising moving forward.
"We have worked very closely with you for a long period of time to resolve any issues you have. Please advise your thoughts in how you would like to resolve your issues as all our attempts to date have been refused.
"We stress our position that the only matter in dispute is a potential one off dust claim."
Mrs Turk said council should take greater control over developments to protect the property of existing residents from development works.
"We are looking at three court cases at the least for dust impact from the current development, damage from road works to our house from the development across the road, and other damage should 8a, 8b and stage 9 gain approval," she said.
"It is not fair for all this financial burden to be put on existing residents."
