Townsville City Council holds information session, with many residents concerned over dredging project

Almost 100 concerned residents on Magnetic Island turned out for an information session, with the Townsville City Council sharing more information on plans to carry out dredging works at Nelly Bay.

Townsville City Council planning zones for 55-77 Kelly St in Nelly Bay.

Residents of Magnetic Island say they’ve been left with more questions than answers after a meeting with the Townsville City Council on Saturday to discuss dredging plans they fear will have negative impacts on the local environment.
After the information session one resident said locals were “still concerned” after some of their main objections to the proposed plan went unaddressed.

The Townsville City Council advised the dredging, to be conducted in April, will remove materials from the seabed of Nelly Bay Harbour that will be taken by truck to a storage facility on Kelly Street with plans for the materials to be reused later across the island.

The works, set at a cost of $2.85 million, are expected to take around 8 weeks with the goal of fixing the waterways to a “safe, navigable” depth.

The project has angered locals for many months now, with some saying the site at Kelly Street was not an appropriate use of the property.

Nelly Bay resident Angela Hallett is concerned that the property behind her, 55-77 Kelly St, is being used for industrial purposes which contradicted what the community wanted.

Many who live on Kelly Street have previously voiced their concerns on acid sulfate in the spoils which they say could have long-term environmental risks to the area.

Groups such as the Magnetic Island Residents and Ratepayers Association have complained to council and local MPs, saying there has been a lack of consultation on the project and consideration for alternate dredging disposal sites.

A community information session was held on Saturday at the Horseshoe Bay Community Centre with representatives from council and nearly 100 members of the community.

The Magnetic Island Nature Care Association (MINCA) have expressed their concerns over previous months asking the council to consider the World Heritage status of Magnetic Island and reconsider the decision to dump the materials on the island.

Vice President of MINCA Charlie McColl attended the meeting and said it was “animated”, with many voicing strong opinions on the project.

“There is no particular concern about the fact that the dredging needs to be done, we understand that, however there is a great deal of resistance to having the spoil dumped on land and in particular on that land,” Mr McColl said.

He raised a question about the proposed use of the spoil once it had been treated and made available for use across the island.

Boats at Nelly Bay Harbour

“One of the disappointing answers I got to that question was that the council won’t really know what sort of quality the spoil has until they have created it,” he said.

“In other words, they won’t know whether it’s salty or mainly made of sand or how much clay it has in it. They won’t actually know that until they have dredged it, treated it and then got a big pile of it waiting to be disposed of.”

Mr McColl said he asked a follow-up questions about what would happen if the spoil was deemed unsuitable.

“The council might have to take it all back to town, back to the mainland,” he said.

“That was a point I raised on behalf of MINCA and got an unsatisfactory answer because we believe the council has made clear that it’s consultants have discussed all the matters or researched all the matters of environmental significance that might be impacted by this project.”

Mr McColl said the sentiment at the end of the meeting was the council will use Kelly Street as the dump site for the soil and are “ready to start the engines and go”.

Townsville City Council planning zones for 55-77 Kelly St in Nelly Bay.

“There are a whole lot of technical questions about the treatment of the spoil, making the site safe if we have a big rain event so it doesn’t all start running off into the creeks,” he said.

“The potential for unintended consequences is so great and the questions about the work they’ve carried out, so inadequately answered that we are still very concerned.”

Other residents have also voices concerns around the zoning rules of the land, with the current zoning for “communities facilities”.

The property’s neighbour, Angela Hallett, told the Townsville Bulletin in September of last year that the community was strongly opposed to seing the land used for council’s purposes.

“But the reality of that is that the community clearly don’t want it, and even if they’ve identified that as a place to put it … that the reason that they want to put it there is because it’s the cheapest option,” Ms Hallett said.

“But cheapest doesn’t mean best.”

The council has advised the need for the dredging works is needed to restore the canal to its original depth, with sidecasting in 2019 and 2023 providing a temporary solution and said Investigations found 10,000 cubic metres of material will be removed from the seabed and moved via truck to the Kelly Street facility.

Works started in May last year to prepare the site at Kelly Street, after council said it was the “only feasible location”.

Originally published as Townsville City Council holds information session, with many residents concerned over dredging project