Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
- Read the story: Mayor hits out at mega-development proposal
Stockland have recently lodged an EPBC approval for Halls Creek, which they’re cleverly referring to as Aura South.
This area has always been a ‘non-negotiable’ area for development for numerous successive councils, strongly supported by the community.
It is too precious of an area to let developers ruin while Beerwah East, already earmarked for very large-scale future housing, remains undeveloped.
Peter Baulch, North Arm
- Read the story: Developer seeks environmental approval for huge parcel of land
Stockland is getting greedy. I swear sales are down, but let’s expand.Delusion that this is for the rental crisis or housing, when people cannot pay their loans because of extreme mortgages, rental costs and food cost rises.I am waiting for Nirimba facilities to be built but first they build another display.The poor kangaroos are on the outskirts, looking in. No trees. Gone. More roads, traffic and nothing to do.
Liz (surname withheld), Nirimba
- Read the story: Five-star resort approval imminent despite pushback
Given the tough economic climate that many Australians are experiencing at the moment, I’m astounded that a resort would even be a consideration. Holidays shouldn’t be made a priority when many can’t even find somewhere to live. Food, clothing and shelter should be the first consideration.
Also, many retirees have chosen Noosa Springs as a quiet location to enjoy a relaxing lifestyle in their older years. Young families should also be awarded this privilege where their children can play safely and enjoy the simple life that Noosa Springs offers.
A resort should be the last consideration in 2023.
Chris Moore
- Read the story: Coast road among five most congested in state
So we are to wait until late 2025 for this roundabout to be fixed to allow traffic to move smoothly? How many additional vehicles will be using this road by then?
Surely a quick fix – this year – would be to put in place proper traffic lights at this roundabout instead of the totally useless system we currently have. No one takes any notice of them as they just don’t help so it’s a free-for-all whether they are switched on or not. Traffic lights would ensure traffic moves in sync as they do at all lights throughout Caloundra and on the Bruce Highway/Caloundra Road overpass.
Please, let’s get the traffic moving now, not in two years.
Jenni Hesse, Pelican Waters
- Read the story: ‘Big Build’ transport projects in focus
Just get on with doing the direct link to Maroochydore. It is a nightmare trying to get to Brisbane from here, especially for an older person.
Muriel Collings, Alexandra Headland
I am writing to express my support for the proposed heavy rail connection between Beerwah and Maroochydore.
In my view, this is critical infrastructure to take pressure off the Bruce Highway. The Bruce Highway simply cannot cope with the volume of traffic now and the expected increase in the population of the Sunshine Coast will only exacerbate the problem.
If there was a direct rail service to Brisbane from Caloundra, and further up the Coast, residents of the Sunny Coast would overwhelmingly elect to use the rail service rather than do battle with the traffic on the Bruce Highway.
John F. Nicholson, Pelican Waters
- Read the story: See the videos: ‘rare wave’ returns as surfers reminisce
How times have changed. Reading the article on digging out the entrance to Tooway Lake to make a wave brought back memories.
It was back in the ’80s and after a long period of no swell we decided to go and dig out the entrance to the lake. Armed with shovels and bare hands we began the process. As we were about halfway through the police arrived after being called by a resident.
They ordered us to cease digging. Back then, Caloundra was a very small town so the police knew most of the residents. So we stopped and left the job uncompleted.
Chris Leon, Shelly Beach
- Read the story: ‘Quite unsettling’: ‘tiny home’ resident speaks out
All I see from this article is the council is doing nothing but talk, talk and more talk.
Looks like it has been going on since 2019.
Council can put together tiny home communities in a very short time frame. This has been proven to be successful overseas.
They can allow this family and others like them to rent space for their tiny homes.
There are myriad solutions. Nothing will get rid of homelessness altogether but there are solutions to bring down the numbers.
The problem is not just with this council, it is Australia wide.
Annette Nelson, Lethbridge, Victoria.
This story annoys the hell out of me. Tiny homes are cheap, very cheap.
A fold-out home, the size of three containers, costs about $15K and shipping, and can be erected in two hours by a few people (you don’t need to be builders or tradies).
If governments ordered these by the thousand, the price would drop.
Shipping obviously costs a few thousand dollars.
A builder in Townsville is importing these and selling them for $35k complete, and making good money (they can even be put on a trailer, so it’s like a very large caravan).
Anyone who has a backyard or land should be able to erect one without needing council approval at all, as a granny flat.
All that is needed is to have them connected to services if available.
We have a house in the hinterland on a small block, with no town water or sewerage, and we manage fine. Just down the road, the neighbours don’t even have a bitumen road either and they manage okay.
Craig Mathews, Bald Knob
I don’t live on the Sunshine Coast, I am a Victorian resident.
There definitely needs to be changes Australia wide on allowing tiny homes. I have explored this option myself and have deemed it too risky to make such a purchase as finding a place to legally park is very difficult.
This is such a wonderful solution for all sorts of reasons: downsizing, affordability, simplifying your lifestyle and so on. In other countries they have tiny home villages.
This is what we need in Australia. Not everyone wants or need a big house to look after. There are many single families, older women and so on, and this would be a perfect solution. I myself would love this option in my retirement.
Come on Australia, get on board and support this alternative housing lifestyle. Councils need to stop being so greedy. I think it basically comes down to money.
Not allowing people an alternative way of living is inhuman and criminal. We live in a society of greed and are truly overgoverned.Elizabeth Scalzo, Boronia, Victoria
I have just read this article and I am now baffled.
I recently contacted Jason O’Pray regarding human waste and rubbish on Mudjimba sports ground from people camping and living there, after stepping out of my car into toilet paper and faeces. His response was swift and passed on all information to Sunshine Coast Council.
A couple of days later, I was contacted by the council inspector responsible. He told me there is nothing they can do to remove homeless people living in cars because of human rights, and can only advise campers to move on after a few days. He then told me that the lack of any rubbish bins was not his department and wasn’t sure if it had anything to do with council either.
I have no objection to people staying there, but council then needs to supply toilets and rubbish bins, as there is nothing there – not one bin in the whole sports complex other than at the community centre, and no public toilet. This is a sports complex that gets hundreds of people a weekend and children playing all year around, in second-hand toilet paper.
How then can council tell this tiny home resident to remove themselves from private land, when they are having no impact on our society, using a toilet and disposing their own rubbish properly. Then the council will lead us to believe they have the best interest for both people of the Sunshine Coast and the environment.
Please Sunshine Coast Council, stop insulting the intelligence of people wanting to have a go. I think this family should be encouraged by council to make this work – the alternative is maybe they can relocate their tiny home to Mudjimba sports complex. I wish them all the best.
Brad Poulton, Pacific Paradise
It takes a village to raise a child. A very thought-provoking statement.
Yet we are faced with children out on the street due to the current housing crisis.
In property development, they assign pieces of land, no bigger than 300sqm, and build a big house on it and line them up as Lego blocks, and that’s acceptable.
Yet I may live on a property three or four times that size but I can’t put an off-grid tiny house on it, to support either my children in need or my parents (instead of going to aged care) or family or friends. The environmental impact of this dwelling is no more than the Lego blocks of land (less actually as most are off-grid).
These tiny homes are built to code and provide safe, supported living to one who chooses this option. Why does council not accommodate this by providing land to sustain this choice of living?
Caravan park living has become just as expensive, so if the space is available on a property and it’s managed well by council, why not give the choice of where I can and want to live, back to the people? I’m paying my council fees and maintaining my property.
We currently have a neighbour building a granny flat in the backyard and he hasn’t asked me if I’m okay with that. I have to put up with the noise and the dust and the permanent structure that’s now going to sit there. What’s the difference if I put a tiny home in my same corner next week? Same footprint, it will have less environmental impact (building materials and off-grid), but it’s not approved by council.
Times have changed and there is much need for solutions and decisions made with a common sense approach.
Marjan Prinsloo, Burnside
Firstly, I would like to thank you for bringing Sunshine Coast stories to my inbox. Sadly, since the demise of print products this is the only way the general community will ever hear about these stories.
As to this issue, full praise to the property owner who obviously has a kind heart for taking a stand in this area. Having faced homelessness on two occasions in my life I completely empathise with this situation.
As to the council, they need to seek a suitable solution on a local level.
Asking for more funding from state government is an administrative response of buck passing.
I would suggest that until the council has resolved this issue that a moratorium of at least 12 months be considered for Angela’s situation.
I would also suggest that public land that is in the council area be specifically purchased for this situation and consider a 70-year lease that is non-transferable to any third parties.
Normal site responsibilities should be in the domain of the tiny homes owners including all utility connections and maintenance.
Alternatively, the council may consider buying up under-utilised caravan park spaces with the view for the state and federal governments to subsidise the rents on these properties.
Due diligence will need to play with a dose of compassion from the authorities.
The Salvation Army have had over a century of experience in this area. I have not seen any mention of any of the charities being engaged to find a local solution I am confident if they are approached we would see engagement and resolution.
We all have our part to play. Often, there are a multitude of reasons for homelessness.
Robert Beech, Golden Beach
Wouldn’t it be nice if governments at all three levels just got out of our lives. They are the problem. Less government intervention equals less stress on the population.
Paul Balding, Penshurst, Sydney
Thanks for reporting in detail on the tiny homes issue at Belli Park.
Increasingly, it is being recognised that councils are part of the housing problem by way of the town plans and related regulations the councils prepare on a regular basis.
However, town plans are not easily changed and are therefore not responsive to changing circumstances.
But regulations and enforcement are open to flexibility.
One common example is vehicles parked partly or wholly on footpaths.
This is clearly an offence yet how often is it enforced by council? How effective is it?
Often, vehicles are parked on the footpath because the required car parking is not used for that purpose, but for storage or even converted to accommodation. Given car parking on site is required by council, using it for other purposes might reasonably be expected to be dealt with by council?
So, to the tiny homes at Belli Park, where it appears council has decided to enforce its regulations and allocate enforcement staff.
But is it the case that council can choose to enforce some regulations but not others? Are some issues likely to be resisted if enforced, so they are best ignored?
In the case of threatened homelessness and obvious, if not accepted, hardship, surely it is time for, if not tolerance, at least longer periods for compliance, where the non-compliance is of little demonstrated consequence, as appears to be the case at Belli Park?
“Passing the buck” to the other levels of government is more or less a “cop-out” given council’s discretionary options as to whether or not to pursue particular issues.
Arguably, council’s approach to the tiny homes at Belli Park and the list of what it has been doing does not bode well for anyone threatened with or suffering homelessness.
Michael Yeates, Caloundra and Brisbane
- Scooter dangers
I wasn’t going to make an issue of being run down, however, after going to my doctor he said it will be another four weeks at least before my injuries are healed.
I was walking with my partner south of Maroochydore Surf Club just stepping off the kerb at the car park when a young girl, no helmet, coming towards me lost control of the scooter she was riding and jumped off it, propelling it into me and knocking me down.
Both legs have cuts but the more painful issue is both my shins – internal bone bruising from knees to ankles.
There needs to be more control of who rides the scooters for the safety of pedestrians.
I’m 61 and very lucky I didn’t hit my head on the kerb when I went down.
Joanne Cinnamond, Maroochydore
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
