December 9, 2015
Water overflows from Kingaroy’s Summit View Estate and drainage problems on Tessmann’s Road North sparked debate at Wednesday’s South Burnett Regional Council meeting.
Roads portfolio chairman Cr Damien Tessmann said a report about the issue on southburnett.com.au highlighted legitimate concerns that would be addressed by the Council but a complete solution would likely take some time.
“This development (Summit View Estate) was originally rejected by Kingaroy Shire Council but the original developers took Council to the Planning and Environment Court and won approval to go ahead,” Cr Tessmann said.
“Summit View Estate sits on top of Mt Jones and all the water that falls on it flows downhill which causes problems for properties below it.
“Recently Stage 5 operational works were approved and while Council couldn’t prevent the developers going ahead, we stipulated that six of the new properties get detention tanks and pipe sizes be expanded.
“So I don’t think the latest stage will add to existing problems.”
Cr Tessmann said the Council had committed $200,000 towards partially addressing the problem this financial year.
It would use the money to build a series of weirs to slow up the water flows from the estate, which would help reduce erosion.
“Fixing this problem in recent years has been deferred by other priorities,” Cr Tessmann said.
“But we will be starting to address this in the next six months.”
Cr Keith Campbell agreed.
Cr Campbell said the Tessmann’s Road North overflow problems were 17 years old, and over the past eight years complaints from affected landholders had steadily increased.
“I believe this is a very real issue; affected property owners have had to spend a large amount of their own money to repair damage to their properties that the overflows have caused,” Cr Campbell said.
“Unfortunately water flows can’t be restored to the stage they were at before Summit View was built.
“But we can and must remove costs for the downstream property owners.”
Cr Campbell said affected property owners had asked if they could see what Council proposed to do before work began to ensure funds weren’t wasted, and he thought this was a legitimate request.
“This hasn’t been done yet. But when our engineers draw up their plans, I think a sit-down with the owners is warranted,” Cr Campbell said.
“This has been a big issue for a lot of years, and a lot of damage has been done to Tessmann’s Road North and the properties that adjoin it.”
Cr Barry Green agreed Council should begin tackling the problem but queried why ratepayers were picking up the costs rather than the State Government.
“Clowns in George Street caused this in the first place by approving a development that Kingaroy Shire Council rejected,” Cr Green said.
“Now they’re walking away from it.
“The fact is that Kingaroy Shire Council’s original decision to turn down this development was perfectly correct because it was based on local knowledge.
“But now ratepayers are having to foot the bill. Why?”
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