Coolangatta rallies against 27 storey development

HUNDREDS of passionate and vocal residents and locals turned out today despite the heat and traffic to speak up and rally to Save Greenmount and the Gold Coast's Southern beach suburbs from a multitude of growing concerns and issues.

Young and old and from every walk of life, the messages were clear, the crowd was unanimous and the concerns were very real and imminent.

We heard from a variety of speakers and groups including but not limited to the Save Greenmount crew, Friends of Currumbin, Friends of Rainbow Bay, Surfrider Foundation, Gecko, Save Our Spit and more along with words from 4CRB's Kent Bayley, former Queensland and Gold Coast City Architect Philip Follent, Save Our Spit's Luke Sorensen, Councillor Peter Young and many more.

At its peak the crowd was close to 500 people which is great considering the heat and traffic this morning!

Main issues and topics were -
• The complete ignoring of the City Planning Scheme and over-development given blind approval across the Kirra to Greenmount area, and city wide
• Heights, plot ratios, parking, infrastructure and other constraints completely ignored
• The proposed Kommune tower and the Sunland towers proposed for Greenmount Hill
• The total disregard for dune ecology and dune amenity recently seen with the destruction and removal of part of the Greenmount dune system and vegetation
• The complicit council voting bloc and questionable relationships and conflicts driving council planning and development decisions
• The long-term future of the area with respect to sustainability, balance, environment and social amenity
• The light-rail impacts and potential influence on development as it is proposed to head south
• A city-wide culture of poor governance, developer influence, councillors rejecting and blocking community concerns and decisions not made in the public interest
• The mayor's behaviour towards residents and locals who speak up with their concerns and questions
• Many more sub issues and acute concerns

Notable attendees included (but not limited to) -
• Councillors Daphne McDonald and Peter Young
• World surfing champion and surfing icon Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew
• World Surfing Reserve and former World Longboarding Champion Andy McKinnon
• MC and former mayoral candidate Jim Wilson
• Various community group heads, sports notables, local icons and spokespeople
• Journalists, TV news crews and newspaper photographers (Thanks for coming!)
• The amazing community!

Very notable absences from -
• Division 14 and local area Councillor Gail O'Neill
• Local MP Jann Stuckey
• Any of the developers
• Mayor Tom Tate

Conclusions and resolutions -
• That the community is just beginning the fight to strike a balance and stop unwanted and unsustainable and poor development in the area
• The community needs to be involved more and act now to expose the questionable development approval processes (or lack of) and shine a light on council's conduct
• The state government needs more community action and input and they may not be fully aware of the issues and problems on the Gold Coast
• Now is the time to speak to friends, family, colleagues, visitors and more about what is happening and what they need to do to protect their communities from over development
• That it's time for the State Government to properly investigate Mayor Tom Tate and ascertain the extent and validity of the many allegations that have been made against him and some of his colleagues/associates - and if breaches or unethical conduct be proven that the CCC act in full on the findings and to the full extent of what's within their powers
• That beaches and our coastal amenity is finite, sacred and must be protected now and for the future

Well done to all involved and all who attended, something tells us that this is just the beginning ...