What’s happening on the site?

A developer has lodged an application for two 26-storey highrise towers on the current TOMRA Recycling Centre site (281 Montague Road) and the QBCC site (297 Montague Road), both of which back onto Davies Park (If you're interested, you can find the full DA here)

This development would overshadow and crowd Davies Park and West End's riverfront, as well as exacerbating the long standing issue of traffic congestion on Montague Road – adding 470 dwellings, 960+ residents, and 728 car parks.

This development would also exceed the height limit set by Council in the Neighbourhood Plan by 14-storeys. If it is appproved, it will create a new precedent for developments in the area, with Montague Road being turned into a highrise wind tunnel. 

The developer is arguing that they should be allowed to build to 14 storeys over the height limit in exchange for handing over 0.4 hectares of the site as public parkland.

But to put this into context, the BCC City Plan says that for every 1,000 residents, there should be at least 1.4 hectares of public green space in the local area. Using this ratio, 0.4 hectares isn’t even enough green space for the residents who will live in these new buildings. It won’t do anything to address the existing shortage of green space in the Kurilpa Peninsula. 

The South Brisbane community is not interested in what is essentially a bribe, to excuse a grossly overbearing development with a tokenisitic fragment of land, being sold as an expansion of Davies Park. 

Council has collected millions of dollars in infrastrucutre charges from the huge amount of development that has taken place in South Brisbane, yet five sites in South Brisbane, designated as future public parlkand, have vanished from plans. This site was earmarked as public parkland in 2011, only to be removed in 2014, despite rapid population growth in the neighbourhood. 

Local residents have done an incredible job opposing this development; more than 700 residents signed the petition, more than 800 residents made submissions to Council, and hundreds of residents also attended community meetings and rallies to oppose it in-person.

Council is due to announce their decision any day now, but you still have time to have your say!

Sign the peition here

Here's how you can make a submission:

Individualised submissions are most effective and therefore preferable. The 'formal' submission period closed on 11 June but you can still submit comments that the council assessment officers will read. You can view mine here, feel free to use it as an example or inspiration for your own. You can lodge your submission online here, or via email at [email protected] 

Just make sure yours:

• Includes your full name, your postal address, and your email. (It has to include this information to be accepted by Council, but if you are concerned about privacy, just state after your signature: “Please redact my personal information for publication”
• Is addressed “To the Assessment Manager”.
  
• Provides the reasons why you oppose the application, especially where it is inconsistent with the neighbourhood plan.
• Includes the development site’s address (281-297 Montague Road) and application number (A005608649)