December 9, 2015
The recent approval of operational works on Stage 5 of the Summit View Estate in Kingaroy has sparked a renewed campaign by local residents frustrated by years of stormwater run-off problems linked to previous stages of the development.
Farmers Michael and Tina Torrens released a YouTube video last week to highlight alleged Council inaction over the issue, (see below), and their fears that Stage 5 will only make their problems worse.
The couple says the issues date back to Kingaroy Shire Council and Stage 1 of the estate built by Summit View’s original developers.
KSC initially opposed the development, located on top of a hill, however the developer successfully challenged Council in court.
Mr Torrens said two retention basins, totalling 12,680ML, has been planned to cope with run-off from the development, however this was later amended to a single 2000ML basin with an overflow running into the Torrens’ dam.
However, they say this system simply cannot cope with the run-off – even after 25mm of rain.
The family says water flows from the estate has been damaging private property as well as Tessmanns Road North, the main access road to their properties, since 2006.
A strip of remnant bushland which contains a critically endangered native plant – Phebalium distans – has also been affected by the water.
The Torrens family – along with neighbours Mark and Delwyn Schwenke, Sonie Crumpton and Graham Wieden – have been pressing for an external, independent hydrology report to identify a permanent solution to the run-off, as well as a guaranteed return to pre-development water flows.
The families’ correspondence with the South Burnett Regional Council over the years fills a thick file.
They have sought action from the Ombudsman, received support from then-State MP Dorothy Pratt, and have copies of correspondence from then-Local Government Minister Paul Lucas and Department of Local Government Director-General Jack Noye.
In the meantime, the landowners have undertaken repair work on their properties which they estimate totals $65,000, not including the cost of their labour or operating their own equipment; they also claim the stormwater has damaged their livelihoods.
They say Council has conducted repeated repairs to Tessmanns Road North, only to have the damage repeated, wasting ratepayers’ money.
Mr Torrens said previous Council engineers had estimated it could cost between $1.2 and $1.8 million to fix the stormwater problem, but Council had budgeted just $200,000.
And they claim this amount has been budgeted for several years, but nothing has happened.
South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann confirmed to southburnett.com.au on Tuesday that $200,000 had been budgeted this year for repair work, plus $70,000 for environmental work.
He said a hydrology report was not feasible.
“We haven’t got the money to spend on getting new reports done,” he said.
Mayor Kratzmann said it would be better that the allocated money be spent on works on the ground.
“It’s a matter of how do you get the best out of the $270,000,” he said.
However, he promised work would start on the project “prior to June”.
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[CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report said Summit View Meritor challenged Kingaroy Shire Council in court; it was an earlier developer who then on-sold the project to Meritor]
