142 Francis Road, Lawnton QLD 4501

Further clearing of Koala habitats in the area. I note that the ecological report indicates a rezoning of the koala habitat and financial payment to offset the clearing of the koala habitat. This species is going extinct and our council is happy to allow this as long as it gets paid. Not to mention this council approving further high Density housing in an area with low infrastructure and bottle necked access roads. It appears that developers can get anything approved in Moreton bay.

Would someone please explain to me how destroying HIGH value koala habitat can be off set by just giving the council more money? We have a new university and a new 400 residence development in the area. We are loosing green spaces hand over fist. Not only that but where is the infrastructure to deal with all this development?

Council you are a disgrace, this is koala habitat. Where do the koalas go with high density housing. The Pine Rivers area is losing its natural appeal due to a greedy Council, even with the sacrifice of our wildlife I don't see the area getting any benefits other than traffic jams and a derelict shopping strip area, disgusting!

As the Brisbane City Council has closed the door on unit development in some suburbs after finally listening to their constituents, in the MBRC on the other hand it’s open season for townhouse style unit development to be built anywhere. The result; open green spaces in our region are slowly being devoured by as many cheap high density dwellings the developer can cram on to one piece of land. These dwellings, usually town houses, have little architectural appeal, and look much like rows on shipping containers, or if new detached houses they are built almost touching each other on tiny allotments.
Do we have to loose every large block of land in our region to development. The infrastructure in the area cannot sustain this massive increase in population.

About 10 or 11 years ago I attended a meeting at a Strathpine Community hall (adjacent to Peter Dutton’s office) regarding the plight of the koala population in the Pine Rivers area. Dr John Hanger, a well known vet, was a speaker at the meeting and voiced his concern about the future of Koalas in the Shire due to large scale clearing of habitat. I came away from that meeting feeling very disappointed about the failure of our Council to address this issue. 10 years later nothing has changed, the MBRC have no real regard for the survival of koalas in the general region. Development takes priority.
If the Council will not change their ways it’s time to change the Council.

The self fulfilling prophecy is included in the submission by the developer :
".....the site is zoned as Next Generation Neighbourhood – General Residential which means the landscape will become generally more unsuitable for Koalas in the future. Rehabilitating and retaining Koala trees would have the effect of promoting Koala activity in areas which are to become increasingly hostile and dangerous for Koalas in the future."
Here's another prophecy :
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got til its gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum
They charged the people a dollar and a half to seem 'em
Joni Mitchell

There seems to be a lack of consideration towards the street appeal on Francis Road. The landscape plan states there will be a retaining wall along Francis Road, with no other greenery or plants. The new estate next door looks the same - it's popped up on top of a retaining wall and looks depressing.
It's disappointing that such high density, small lots are earmarked for this area, at the very least I would strongly like to see much more thought into how this will improve the visual aspect of the area. Bray Park is ageing, and I believe that new developments could improve the area, if done properly. If we continue with proposals like these we have a serious risk of devaluing the area with poorly built, concrete dense, back to back houses with no value on urban design.

You can see by the huge mounds of mulch just how many mature trees were removed on this site. MBRC should be ashamed of this. Make them put back in a dedicated area wide master planned wildlife corridor than must be linked to every future development nearby. Koalas may not come back but there are hundreds of other species that need homes. Birds, bees, frogs, possums, gliders etc. turn this around. I’m sick of seeing tiny houses jacked in together like sardines, ghettos of the future in the making.