Twin Waters West flood plain development back with Sunshine Coast Council after 14 years of knock backs
Stockland’s latest attempt to develop its controversial Twin Waters West site includes 450 lots and a new lake system. See how it compares to the previous proposal rejected by residents and a court.
Sunshine Coast
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Bigger buffers, lower densities and changes to a new lake system are key points of difference in major developer Stockland’s latest bid to develop its controversial Twin Waters West site as the community gears up for another lengthy battle.
The controversial development application to build on 104.7ha of flood plain at Pacific Paradise, which has been knocked down twice already, is now before the Sunshine Coast Council for a third time.
Its latest iteration features significantly increased environmental buffers and a reduction in density of proposed housing to that which was knocked back on Planning and Environment Court appeal in 2022.
That proposal – consisting of 584 residential allotments, community and commercial spaces and a central, saltwater lake that would pipe into the Maroochy River – has been replaced with plans for a 450-lot low-density residential estate.
The proposed lake has also been shifted further away from the central wetland, while minimum lot sizes have also increased from 400sq m to 500sq m, with an average lot size of 700sq m.
The previous 12m-high medium density has been scrapped with planning documents stating no medium density was included in the latest proposal.
A wetland expansion area and kangaroo habitat reserve has also been proposed.
The Twin Waters West development was first proposed by the landowner and major Sunshine Coast developer Stockland back in 2008.
It was knocked back by the council in 2009, which ended up with a court appeal that Stockland eventually lost in 2013.
Undeterred, the developer lodged another development application in 2018 that was again refused in 2020.
At that time council officers recommended approval with conditions, as well as the associated request to alter the planning scheme, but councillors voted 8-2 to reject the proposal.
Councillors Jason O’Pray, Rick Baberowski, Joe Natoli, Winston Johnston, Christian Dickson, Ted Hungerford, Jason O’Pray, Maria Suarez and David Law were against.
Cr Peter Cox and Cr Terry Landsberg voted for the approval.
Mayor Mark Jamieson did not vote, after leaving the meeting room, due to a perceived conflict of interest from election donations made by businesses that had given feedback on the development.
Another appeal was launched but was dismissed after a four-week hearing, with Judge William Everson citing issues with the possible ecological impacts of the development and the site being located in a wetland area.
A new application was submitted on May 11, 2023 for 450 housing lots, with an assessment report stating that the developer had responded to the findings in the Planning and Environment court decisions.
“Compliance is achieved in part through the establishment of a 50m buffer to the central wetland, exceeding the acceptable outcome for 30m; moving the lake further away from the central wetland,” it read.
A Stockland spokeswoman said the new development application addressed the outcomes from court.
“The new master plan incorporates the input of many stakeholders and complies with the Sunshine Coast Council Planning Scheme,” she said.
“Twin Waters West is designed to achieve flood resilience, including under climate change scenarios and to not cause increased flood levels in any areas external to the site.”
The application also included a kangaroo management plan, to lower the risks posed to the local Eastern Grey Kangaroo population, and a flood study report.
An economic assessment said 182 direct and indirect jobs would be created by the project within the broader community.
It also included details for a “safe refuge” for the community during flood events.
It stated that 27.5ha, or 26.2 per cent of the site, would be retained for ecological conservation.
Save Twin Waters West president Kathryn Hyman has been fighting the plans for Twin Waters West since 2008.
She said that the area was rezoned in 2017 from rural to urban residential development.
“Which went ahead in the face of overwhelming community opposition,” she said.
Ms Hyman said a previous judge overseeing an appeal had said there was no need to put people at risk by building in a flood plain.
“We’ve already built on flood plains, we’ve already got a problem,” she said.
“What we found with the last application, the water was finding its way into people’s living rooms.
“And here we are again with the third application lodged.”
But Ms Hyman said she had noticed some changes in the latest plans.
“They have moved the water body and there looks to be a decrease in density more in line with the planning scheme,” she said.
“At first glance, certain things do seem to be more in line with community expectation, but other things haven’t been addressed.”
She said they would take their time to review all the documentation submitted before deciding what action to take.
“This will be quite a long process,” she said.
The flood study report said the existing site was subject to flooding from the Maroochy River catchment.
“A flood study was therefore carried out to determine the impact of the proposed development on flooding in the vicinity of the site,” it read.
“The results showed that the proposed development did not cause an adverse impact on flood levels and provided a significant net benefit in terms of flooding.”
A tidal analysis report showed that the site would be affected by regular tidal inundation by the year 2100 “if climate change-induced sea level rises occur as predicted, and the site remains in an undeveloped (and unfilled) state”.
“There is no suggestion, and no likelihood, that the majority of the site will actually be subject to coastal erosion processes,” the report stated.
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