When will cow corner be developed and what’s happened to them after the floods?

After giving new meaning to ‘waterfront’ property last week, is it sink or swim for Carrara’s infamous floodplain development, home to the city’s favourite bovines.

It’s the one property that may struggle to find a buyer, even in this boom.

The famous Carrara cow paddock turned infamous last week after photos went viral of a billboard advertising the site’s waterfront development potential … while pictured submerged beneath floodwaters.

Giving new meaning to waterfront development Picture: Supplied

It’s not the first taste of notoriety for cow corner, perched on a floodplain beside the giant roundabout at Nerang-Broadbeach Rad and Robina Parkway.

Back in 2013, the 25ha site’s development application came complete with a council mandate that there be two lifeboats, warning lights and three days worth of food rations for residents in order for the project to go ahead.

Two years ago, site owner JLF Corporation put the project on the market after securing further approval for a $2bn mini-city featuring an 11-tower village and 1550 units and houses. Conditions for lifeboats, lighting and food rations remain.

Concept image for the approved $2bn floodplain development Picture: Supplied

Every time the project makes headlines, it has been met with disbelief from residents and councillors alike.

“I was against plans to develop that site from day one and I still am,” Cr Bob La Castra told the Bulletin in 2015.

“This proposal is just beyond comprehension.”

In 2013, Deputy Mayor Donna Gates had this to say: “We do need developments of this nature to cope with our growing population, but for my part the (2011) Queensland floods were a reminder to us all of the huge responsibility we have when looking at applications to ensure the community is protected.”

A representative for Savills, who is marketing the site, said in 2019 that the developer had worked closely with the council’s hydraulic division to provide a flood-mitigation solution – a 5ha refuge podium to shelter people in the event of a one-in-1000-year flood.

But now here we are in 2022, with the realisation that one-in-1000-year floods don’t happen every 1000 years. Sometimes they happen every decade.

It poses the question whether it’s sink or swim for future floodplain development on the Gold Coast.

The need for more affordable housing in our city is desperate, and one of the best ways to bring prices down is to increase supply.

But this development isn’t exactly social housing. Still, it’s not beachfront mansions either.

It is certainly central Gold Coast, and that is exactly where we need to increase density.

While satellite suburbs in the northern stretch of our city do offer more affordability, they don’t give great connectivity. There is a lack of transportation links, of jobs, even of entertainment venues. Increasing our urban sprawl is isolating these populations almost as effectively as floodwaters themselves.

And it’s not like we haven’t built on floodplains before: Robina, Emerald Lakes, Carrara.

Interestingly, in these more recent floods, none of those developments suffered.

But our city didn’t cop it quite like our neighbours in Northern NSW.

Can we complain about flooding if we build on a floodplain?

According to Shane Stone, head of the federal government’s disaster recovery agency, the answer is no.

The former Northern Territory leader and Liberal Party president, appointed by Scott Morrison to lead the National Recovery and Resilience Agency, told the Sydney Morning Herald that residents must “face realities” and councils had to end their “poor planning decisions”.

Concept image for the approved $2bn floodplain development Picture: Supplied

“Australians need to have an honest conversation about where and how people build homes. The taxpayer and the ratepayer cannot continue to pick up the bill for these huge, catastrophic damage events,” he said.

“You’ve got people who want to live among the gum trees – what do you think is going to happen? Their house falls in the river, and they say it’s the government’s fault.”

Mr Stone acknowledges these are “fighting words” but that it’s “the hard part of the solution”.

Meanwhile, KPMG partner Scott Guse says the 2022 deluge is “certainly shaping up” to be the largest insurance flood claims event in Australian history, with more than 60,000 claims already lodged and more to come.

Without curbing development in flood-prone areas, he says insurance premiums will become unaffordable in parts of Australia, particularly coastal or river areas.

For many Gold Coast residents, this is hardly news.

But if further floodplain development is a no-go, what do we do about that DA on cow corner?

And what do we do about increasing our housing supply?

Perhaps it comes down to just waiting to see what the market determines.

Only time will tell whether buyers decide it is time to moove on … or take the bull by the horns.