Redland City Council last night conditionally approved the Shoreline master planned urban community in the southern Redlands.
The $2.3 billion project will provide a mix of lot sizes, new town centre, employment, recreational and sporting facilities, cycle way and footpath networks, bus accessible internal road structure and a network of open space corridors, conservation land and parks.
There will be 75ha of community and public open space, including a 2.2km, 29ha people’s foreshore park, underpasses and overpasses for safe passage of fauna, pedestrians and cyclists. Fauna and flora corridors will link isolated pockets of habitat and there will be a significantly increased koala habitat with rehabilitation of significant areas and planting of 350,000 trees over the life of the project.
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Redland City Mayor Karen Williams said Shoreline, which had been planned over more than a decade, will deliver thousands of jobs and a massive continuing boost to the local economy.
“Being a master planned community means Shoreline will provide a range of homes, services and facilities for all age groups and stages of life, from young families to the elderly and empty nesters,” she said.
“The project will not only create an attractive urban community with the best of amenity, infrastructure and facilities, but also generate thousands of constructions jobs, as well as an estimated 1800-1900 other new jobs within the Shoreline urban area after construction.
“As a potential future urban area, Council has been able to ensure that all necessary Council infrastructure, such as water, sewer and parks, will be provided to service the development at no cost to the existing Redlands community.
“Shoreline will deliver $100 million in infrastructure – including major upgrades to state roads and tens of millions in other infrastructure – with private money which is not borrowed from Council or ratepayers.
“The state has conditioned multi-million dollar requirements from the developer for eight major intersection upgrades and road works north and south of the development, including the major duplication of Serpentine Creek Road.
“Other conditions applied to the development include strict conditions on foreshore areas and buffer zones, waterway rehabilitation and catchment management, road and water infrastructure, vegetation management and offsets, establishment of wildlife corridors, and planning for bushfire, storm and flood hazards as well as specific conditions such as mosquito management plans.
“The growth of this community over the next 15 years will add to the stock of housing choices in the city and provide both employment and community facilities that would not otherwise be available.”
The proposed master planned community covering up to 279 hectares along Serpentine Creek Road will be developed in stages over 15 years. When complete it will comprise around 4000 lots and be home to up to 10,000 people.
The development application was formally lodged by Shoreline in June 2014 and was required to be decided by 20 November 2015 under statutory timeframes.
City Planning and Assessment spokesperson Cr Julie Talty said the Shoreline area had been earmarked for residential development for many years and by the Redland City Council by being zoned an investigation area for potential urban development.
“There have been plans for this development from as far back as 2004, when an application was made for a 3,500 tenement development in the area,” Cr Talty said.
“The 2014 Redland City Council Land Supply Analysis concludes the Redlands potentially needs up to another 5000 detached dwellings to provide for long term future growth, but that there is a shortfall in available land for this type of housing should this occur. One of the options the report considers is expanding the urban footprint to provide traditional detached housing lots.
“The Shoreline land is largely redundant farmland that does not have significant environmental values that could not be protected through an appropriate development layout.
“Today’s heavily conditioned preliminary approval follows the State Government’s approval, subject to conditions, in February this year, for matters under its jurisdiction. It paves the way for the staged development of the Redlands’ first master planned urban community.
“This is clearly a major decision for the city and the community and has been extensively workshopped by council officers through seven workshops with councillors.
“The application assessment process has involved significant state and council negotiated conditions and a separate infrastructure agreement with the developer, who will be responsible for providing the necessary infrastructure directly related to the development as well as outside the development to mitigate wider impacts on the city and the region.”
