‘Not like Gold Coast’: Transit boss reveals new figures

The project manager behind the region’s mass transit plans has rejected claims it would result in Gold Coast-style development along the Sunshine Coast’s coastal strip.

The Sunshine Coast Mass Transit Plan project manager has rejected claims it would result in Gold Coast-style development.

The project manager behind the region's mass transit plans has rejected claims it would result in Gold Coast-style development along the Sunshine Coast's coastal strip.

Ken Deutscher, who has been involved in the mass transit plan since 2011, on Thursday presented a project update, including time frames for additional community consultation.

The Sunshine Coast Mass Transit Plan Options Analysis discussed several options to address public transport issues.

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The preferred option is a 23km light rail line from Maroochydore to Caloundra with 16 stations.

Consultation is expected to begin early next year on the options analysis report, before a final report is passed to the State Government for a detailed business case.

One of the slides presented to councillors was titled "not like the Gold Coast".

It compared the estimated average dwellings per hectare if light rail was to go ahead between the first leg of Maroochydore and Kawana with the Gold Coast.

Mr Deutscher said the light rail option could result in an additional 27,011 dwellings between Maroochydore and Kawana, equal to 22 dwellings per hectare.

He said that was 9575 more dwellings than what was expected to be in the area in 2041 without light rail or a mass transit plan.

He said the Gold Coast's Surfers Paradise and Main Beach had an average of 350 dwellings per hectare.

"(22 properties) can fit by putting in significant new buildings in current centres, and the periphery of those centres such as areas like Cotton Tree which are in that catchment," Mr Deutscher said.

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He said it could result in redevelopment along Nicklin Way, but that it would be driven by private developers rather than land being acquired by the State Government.

"The stations will attract people and if you've got a big box white goods warehouse there, you'll have people just walking past it, because you can't load a fridge onto a mass transit vehicle," Mr Deutscher said.

"If it's a big block, the message will get through to the owner that they could do something better with that block … it's that sort of opportunistic urban transformation that would occur."

Mr Deutscher, who was involved in the 2012 Line in the Sand report on the need to improve public transport on the Sunshine Coast, said that at the time he wondered if the community would be supportive of it.

"There was a task force formed which included business and community groups and it was really encouraging because they showed they knew the issues associated with growth management," he said.

"One said to me 'if you've been here five years you think it pretty much stays the same but once you've been here a while you realise the rapid speed of change'."

The State Government's Shaping SEQ plan estimates the Sunshine Coast's population will increase by about 200,000 by 2041.

Division 1 councillor Rick Baberowski, who has held the transport portfolio for eight years, said the council did not have "a secret plan for massive high-rise development".

"I like many others went into politics to protect the Sunshine Coast's character," he said.

"I owe nothing to developers and if there was a secret plan to turn the Coast into the Gold Coast I would fight it."

Sunshine Coast councillors were provided an update on the Sunshine Coast Mass Transit Plan on August 27.

He rejected claims that it would result in an additional 80,000 dwellings between Maroochydore and Kawana.

"Some critics, including Cr Joe Natoli, have been using theoretical maximum capacity numbers instead of actual projections with population," Cr Baberowski said.

"This greatly exaggerates how much growth mass transit would lead to around the stations.

"These numbers are technical calculations of how many people could theoretically fit in an area if it was developed to maximum capacity with no consideration on real life constraints.

"Maximums don't happen and if they did, the Sunshine Coast would already have roughly double its current population.

"In reality the projection for the area is not 80,000, but more like 20,000."

Cr Natoli was sceptical of the figures and said he still believed it was possible the project could result in the additional 80,000 dwellings.

"I'm not misleading anyone, but the question is, if we are going to meet those targets (of 200,000 population growth by 2041), where are we going to put these people?" he said.

"If we're not going to put them in this corridor, where do they go?"

He said the project could result in "wall to wall development" and that during community consultation the council must not downplay the impact light rail could have.

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