DEVELOPERS behind a massive riverside housing project at North Ipswich have hit back at claims their proposal would create a “flood island” and “death trap”.
The Riverlink Village project, earmarked for 48 WM Hughes St below the heritage-listed North Ipswich Railway Workshops, went before an Independent Decision Review Panel public hearing on Monday after attracting a wave of objections.
Backed by Riverlink Shopping Centre owners LEDA – which has more than $1.4 billion in projects underway across Ipswich – the development would deliver 472 residential units, including affordable and disability housing, in buildings of up to seven storeys on a raised platform beside the Bremer River.
LEDA’s planning consultant for the project, Boyd Sargent from Sargent Planning, said the proposal would provide build-to-rent, social, affordable housing in a location connected to Riverlink Shopping Centre and the employment, social, recreation and entertainment provided in the centre.
He said the development would provide needed and essential housing options and the developers had the ability to deliver rapidly.
“These residents, some of the more disadvantaged in our community, have high accessibility to services that they are able to walk to,” Mr Boyd said.
“What is proposed … is a new urban village at the doorstep to Riverlink Shopping Centre, providing this rather higher density development in an area that is perfectly suited and adjacent to and serviced by the principal zoned land under the current planning scheme.”
Mr Boyd said the developers recognised the flooding that had occurred on the site, and the proposal had been assessed under the New Planning Scheme which included a climate change flood model.
“What we have been able to demonstrate is that all of these dwellings we are proposing are above the flood level.
No houses get flooded as a result of this development internally,” he said.
“The regional assessment (Bremer River) that has been undertaken shows that there is no impact to flooding from the development itself. There are areas that exist that flood now; we do not impact on those external to the site.”
The proposal relies on use of 22 WM Hughes St, North Ipswich as the only access to the site.
Mr Boyd said on-site managers were able to evacuate people in the event of a flood with the community bus or hire cars provided in the development.
North Ipswich resident Peggy Merriman told the hearing the limited entry and exit point to the proposed development through WM Hughes Rd would potentially be a “death trap”.
“In the event of a disaster, be it flood, fire, gas leak or chemical spills, residents would be forced to evacuate in one direction, potentially competing with emergency vehicles for road access and with the roundabout at the lowest point, where it can flood, this could potentially be a death trap,” she said.
“How about people who have disabilities in wheelchairs? You’ve got to get them out and you are going to have hire cars and one person to help get them all out. It is just a death trap waiting to happen.”
Woodend resident Liz Tilbrook said the last thing Ipswich people wanted was more residents put in harm’s way during flood emergencies.
“This site is a flood island. In a major flood, unless everyone is evacuated they will become stranded, creating an additional burden for the Ipswich emergency services,” she said.
“We do not need 1500 more people living under constant flood anxiety and at real risk of being stranded in a major flood event.”
