Emails Exchanged Over MP's Submission On Caloundra South Development

The following are excerpts from emails between a Bellvista resident and local MP Mark McArdle regarding the MP's submission on Caloundra South to the ULDA on the Caloundra South Development. You can read the Mark's submission HERE

Some editing has occurred in the text below but the resident's email retains the essence of the content of the original.

Dear Mark,

The comments below are my personal comments and relate to Section 3 of your submission relating to Caloundra Airport.

The greatest concern for residents on the estate (in my opinion) is the behaviour of helicopters especially those from the training school (Chopperline). Chopperline appears to have a complete disregard for Caloundra residents when they do their frequent repetitive training circuits. This was highlighted when a complaint was lodged on helicopter activity over the Bellvista estate at 7:10 am on Good Friday. Chopperline acknowledged they were conducting flights at that time over the estate and issued an apology for upsetting residents (not for their actions).

They fly under the "Fly Neighbourly" agreement which is a series of recommendations, many of which trainee pilots (so we are told) are not able to adhere to.

I recall meeting with you onsite regarding a possible location for a school drop off stop on Bellvista Blvd and we were 'buzzed' by a Chopperline helicopter. You questioned why can't those helicopters do their circuits further to the south over non populated areas? My answer to you at that time was to remark on a comment Sunshine Coast Airport CEO Peter Pallot had made when I asked him the same question. That was, "It is easier said than done". Therefore I was interested to read in your ULDA submission that aircraft, including helicopters from Caloundra Aerodrome will take off, land or use for training purposes seems to contradict what you said to me on or about March 28th.

At a recent Airport Forum Meeting Cr Tim Dwyer denounced the behaviour of 'cowboy' helicopter pilots over Caloundra. To fly training circuits on Good Friday over a residential area at 7:10 am is not the behaviour of a 'cowboy' pilot but that of a 'cowboy' company with total and complete disregard for the general community. A company such as Chopperline seems to believe the whole purpose of the city of Caloundra is for them to have a helicopter training company and not that Caloundra is primarily a rapidly developing residential area.

I notice that the major area of complaints regarding Caloundra Airport are from Caloundra residents regarding the behaviour of helicopters from the Training School over their homes. But that is only when you can get a complaint registered. Some Bellvista residents have reported they rang to lodge a complaint and were directed to an 1800 number or their call was answered and they were asked to 'hold'. After 'holding' for some time they were forced to hang up.

I believe that if the Airport is to stay, any new leases should be limited to 'community friendly' industries. It is rumored that some industries are being asked to relocate from Sunshine Coast airport. Any 'slack' left by the non renewal of a lease to any non community friendly industry could be easily catered for.

If I were a manager and had a contracted staff member or agency which was the cause of many complaints and dragged my business down then the solution would be simple, I would not renew the contract. I would contract a replacement person or agency who would project the company in good light.

It therefore seems to me if you have one company at an airport which is the major source of complaints from residents in a predominately residential area and is therefore not performing, then that company should not have its lease ("contract") renewed. It also stands to reason that if Chopperline ceased its Caloundra Airport operations then the number of complaints regarding the airport would all but 'disappear'.

The situation for Caloundra Airport has changed. Caloundra is no longer a small sleepy holiday resort for Brisbaneites. It is becoming a rapidly developing residential area and is to become a major Queensland area for residential development. As Caloundra changes then so too must the purpose of Caloundra Airport. It must become more "Community Friendly"and therefore cater for community friendly industries. The development of a Community Friendly Policy for Caloundra Airport would help to cement the future of the airport.

As more housing developments around Caloundra are developed, pressure on the airport over inappropriate pilot behaviour from disgruntled communities will increase and place more pressure on the Airport and it future. If the Airport is to have a viable longtime future it must be more considerate and encompass the reasonable needs of the communities which surround it, both current and future.

New leases or renewal of leases for Airport Industries must be subject to being "Community Friendly".

I expect the views I have outlined in this communication would be supported by many residents here on the Bellvista Estate.

Can I further add another concern I have regarding Bellvista2. By having one major intersection (Stornaway Ave/Bellvista Blvd) catering for the vast majority of the new Bellvista2 area, a bottleneck could be created especially at School drop off and pick up times. Residents purchasing in Stage 6 of Bellvista 2 will have to drive 'around' the school and use the Bellvista Blvd/Stornaway Ave roundabout and drive by the front of Unity College to access Bellvista Market Place Shopping area. This will become a major driving feat around school drop off and pick up time. An alternative access connecting with Barrine Cres or Grampion Way with proposed Stages 5 & 6 should be considered to allow easier access to the shopping centre.

Yours faithfully,

To which Local MP Mark McArdle replied.

I agree with your comments re the airport and the need to reign in the cowboys on the site. That is an issue we must take up with the Council.

My suggestion to the ULDA was aimed at reducing the further risk of more problems arising. I still have very real concerns about the flight paths over Bellvista and I want to get a longterm solution.

I will be in contact.

Regards Mark McArdle MP.

Bellvista Blvd & Second Access

BeCA has received emails which are all available below following a second incident on Bellvista Blvd late last week. In this second incident which occurred during school morning drop off time when there was heavy traffic leaving the estate there was Emeregency vehicles blocking the inwards lanes of Bellvista Blvd. This second incident created a situation where traffic was unable to enter the Bellvista Estate.

Email 1:

Hi Tony,

This is a copy of email I sent to Mark McArdle, re Bellvista Bvld. It sums up how we feel about it. You may forward this to whoever, maybe the Emergency Plan guy could get a copy. I didn’t think he really got a grasp of how bad this road gets at times. I really don’t think he was hearing what we were trying to tell him at the meeting the other night.

Deb O’R.

Mr. McArdle.

As you are the elected representative for our area, I wish to draw your attention to an ongoing, extremely dangerous situation on Bellvista Boulevard.

On Thursday 17/03/2011, A young school boy was almost hit & killed by a truck that was trying to get past a school bus which had pulled up at the corner or Bellcarra Place and Bellvista Boulevard. Only for the quick thinking of the young boy’s brother, and the truck driver braking hard, this child’s life was fortunately saved.

As a parent of a child who used to catch one of these buses to and from our school (1800 plus students), I am most grateful that he is ok, and that the truck driver does not have the death of a young child on his mind for the rest of his life. After all, he probably has kids of his own. We, as a family decided almost 2 years ago, to take our son off this bus, because of the traffic issues on Bellvista Boulevard, and also around both of the popular schools in the area.

We, as long term residents, who have been campaigning for this dangerous road to be improved, think it is about time everyone involved started to do something about this. This road was not built to cope with the traffic it has to carry. The school on the estate (approx 1200 students) was not here when the road was planned or built. We now have families coming to the school from Pelican Waters and other areas. An approximate 15 KM’s round trip, twice a day. This road needs duplicating, at the very least.

Everyday, whether we are local residents, or parents bringing kids into the estate from another area, we line up to get in and out, praying there is no emergency during school drop off times. Should any of the emergency services need to gain access, they can’t, because there is nowhere for the traffic to pullover and let them through. Most days, I can’t even get through our roundabout to get home, because it is blocked by school traffic.

So in summing up, should emergency services needed to get to this child, yesterday, there would have been no hope of that happening, I’m afraid. Urgent action is required to make this road safer for all those who have to use it. Should the estate, or local school need to be evacuated for any emergency situation, authorities would have many casualties on the hands, and it will be too late then to say, I should have done something sooner. As a resident here during the 2006 Fire, I know just how it feels to be locked into an area, and not being able to get out. Every road between Nicklin Way /Caloundra Road Roundabout, and Sugarbag Road was gridlocked, or closed by authorities, and the estate was only half the size then, and the school only had about 1/3 of the amount of students it has today.

With the imminent construction of Bellvista 2, and the addition of more heavy vehicles and trade vehicles, this is a major disaster waiting to happen. It has only been sheer good luck that there hasn’t already been someone killed on this road.

We hope that you will listen to the concerns being raised by the users of this road, and take up the fight to have something done about it.

Regards,

Mrs. Debye O’Reilly.

Email 2:

Dear Tony

I totally agree with Deb's comments. I too felt that the URGENCY of the situation must be dealt with as a matter of urgency. The representative at the meeting was just stating in the schedule is says this and in the schedule it says that . Unfortunately he did not consider at anytime that he himself may like to experience the traffic hazard and report back to council himself with a report.

I have thought to video the traffic hazards on a one week basis and send this video into the council myself. Obviously a guardian angel was their with the boys the other day to save them both of what might have been a tragic and devastating outcome.

Do we have to wait for a FATALITY before ACTION IS TAKEN Enough mucking from council representatives and council itself.

Is anyone else interested in videoing certain areas of Bell Vista for submission? Maybe SEEING is BELIEVING!!!!!

I understand that the President and Members of the Bellvista area are doing all they can to engage a quick resolution with continuous emails and letters to council. Can you suggest anything else we can do to help?

Regards

Sussanne Collins

Email 3:

Hello Tony

As a resident of 32 Crater Street, Bellvista, I would like to concur with Deb O'Reilly's issues raised. It concerns me that there is only one entry into and out of Bellvista Estate, with traffic gridlocks constantly occurring. Until another entry is constructed there should not be any further development allowed as Bellvista Blvd can not cope with current traffic demands. I will also be letting any resident know of council's lack of action on these issues raised should an emergency situation arise that causes either a delay in assistance, or death. The allowing of Bellvista's development to this size by council with only one entry should never have been passed in the first instance and now that it has grown to this size a second exit to the West of the estate should be a council priority to take pressure off Bellvista Blvd and allow safer access.

I did note some resident's objection to this at the Bellvista Community Group's AGM, however they were elderly and obviously do not have to enter or exit the estate during peak hours. Their objections are not in the interest of all Bellvista residents.

Yours sincerely

Leisa Trickett

Email 4:

Hi Tony, you might like to pass on this information to others as well just in case you have not heard of this second incident.

On last Friday morning 18 March, Barry and I were heading out of the estate, to Hervey Bay for the week-end, via Nicklin Way and Maroochydore. This was about 8.30 in the morning, give or take 5 minutes. As usual there was the weekday long line-up of cars heading out of the estate, with parents having dropped off their children at the school. On the footpath (on the right-hand side of the road heading up the hill) a student had (seemingly) collapsed and a couple of people had stopped to help him/her until I presume, medical assistance could arrive. Those people's vehicles were creating a traffice hazard on the side of the road as it was, so we didn't stop to help as there was nowhere to pull over safely (there were already at least two vehicles parked on the side of the road creating a traffic hazard) and there were several people about helping the child.

We got about 15-20 minutes up Nicklin Way before Barry realised that he had left several important things at home that he would need for the week-end and so we did a U-turn and returned home. Some 30+ minutes later after we had left the estate we headed down Bellvista Boulevarde and this student was still lying there on the footpath (with adults assisting but still no ambulance). The vehicles on the lefthand side of the road were still blocking the road (understandable of course as there is nowhere else for them to stop unless they had pulled in a fair distance down the road in Bellcarra Place). So all up in my estimation this student would have been laying there for at least 30-45 minutes and therefore the road blocked to a fair degree, for that period of time.

Please feel free to pass this second E-mail record of an incident in Bellvista Boulevard (in a matter of days of the one mentioned below), on to other people. I would be interested to hear if the student is all right as I really felt for them. We just arrived home this afternoon from Hervey Bay but I have been checking the local paper for news of this incident to see how the student is. Unfortunately for us to have stopped would have just compounded the traffic situation but we would certainly had stopped to help, no matter what the road situation, had not other people already gotten there before us. The traffic situation in Bellvista is getting increasingly dangerous and Barry and I support any action that can be taken to rectify the situation.

Bern Johnson

Public Meeting, Nov 8th at 6:45 pm

The next BeCA Public Meeting will be conducted at the former Land Sales Office near Lake Bellvista at 6:45 pm on Monday Nov 8th. Councillor Anna Grosskreutz will be in attendance.

You can find out more about this meeting by visiting the BeCA website. A direct link to the item is HERE.

The new lights at the Bellvista Market Place are causing some nearby residents grief. You can read more about this and other issues HERE.

And The Comments Just Keep On Coming!

With several articles hitting the press over the last couple of days people have been adding comments to the online Newspaper stories.

Here are one or two of the more interesting comments:

"Planning for the Sunshine Coast is a very economic and emotional issue and may also be the reason for the lack of decision making. I am not convinced who is right and who is wrong however I think one is rampant with arrogance whilst the other is paralysed by analysis, you decide which is which."

"We the people are squeezed by the kamikaze environmental lobby in one direction; state government, which is owned by developers, from another; and the Federal Government, which dances to the tune of global corporations, and even worse, the same international bankers who finance the World Bank, the IMF and the BIS."

"We all know that the main reason most people move to coasts is to regularly go to the beach. That is difficult already because of lack of parking so imagine what it is going to be like for us with another 45,000 people wanting to do the same!
If all these sections of land are going to be developed, part of development costs MUST go towards building multi story or underground carparking at every named beach on the coast."

"Mum And Dad" Back To See The Offspring!

This photo was taken late last week and shows the parent black swans back at Lake Bellvista again. They have been 'away' for a couple of weeks now.

Click on the photo for a larger view, then click "Back" to return to this page.

No one is sure just why they are back. Other residents expressed surprise when they left as usually they would stay until the young one can fly. It looks like still some growing has to occur before the young one will be taking to the air.

It's Coming Back!

We were told the red azolla problem in the lake will return! Slowly but surely the pest is returning to the top lake as you can see here.

At the moment the bottom lake still looks quite clear.

Click on the photo for a larger view, then on 'Back' to return to this page.

For all other Bellvista Estate News click HERE for the BeCA Website's News & Events page.

To All Interested Bellvista Bikers!

Attn Bellvista Bikers!

Now taking expressions of interest in starting a Bellvista Motorcycle Club. This club would do occasional weekend rides and support local charities through small ride fees($5.00 max) and/or kilometre sponsorships. Any other ideas would be helpful too! Any interested parties can please reply by emailing tim.robinson94@yahoo.com.au.