Airport Development Update – Have Your Say
GROWING local jobs and maintaining our liveability matters. Consultation is underway into the future planning of Sunshine Coast Airport, and so it is important to be informed and involved in the process to ensure the best outcomes are achieved.
It is vitally important that the community, particularly the neighbouring suburbs, are heard in this first stage, which is the development scheme consultation process, to help ensure future development is compatible with community needs – such as traffic and flood management, and integration into the neighbouring community.
I support a viable and vibrant airport and aviation precinct to connect our Sunshine Coast region for today and into the future, while ensuring that the right balance is achieved with the local community and environment. I believe that there must be no compromise of the flood and storm network system, and key transport issues, particularly with the David Low Way, must be addressed. How the new precincts integrate into the local business and residential community, with the beautiful Mt Coolum in the backdrop, is very important and needs great care and consideration.
I encourage residents to review the details of the plan and the consultants’ hydraulic and traffic reports that are being used to underpin this process, which are online under the ‘Development Scheme’ at https://www.yoursay.edq.qld.gov.au/sunshine-coast-airport-pda
To have your say, submissions are currently open and close on August 8 – these submissions will form part of the planning process.
There are a number of advertised community information sessions that have been held by EDQ. In addition, on Saturday, July 20, from 1-4 pm at the North Shore Community Centre, a Community Forum at the request of the Marcoola Community Group and other local groups will have EDQ and Sunshine Coast Council staff in attendance, which should be very informative.
This development scheme planning is part of a Priority Development Area (PDA) process, which was declared on July 28, 2023, and it is a collaboration between Economic Development Queensland (EDQ), Sunshine Coast Council and Sunshine Coast Airport.
This is different from the master planning process that Council and the airport undertook previously, with the PDA overriding the master plan, so expect there will be changes.
The Sunshine Coast Airport PDA, which covers the entire Airport site in Marcoola, was declared at the request of the Sunshine Coast Council to provide a streamlined planning framework to accommodate the future needs of the airport. EDQ advise that the PDA, which covers the 460-hectare airport site, will support the creation of a modern, competitive airport, delivering significant growth opportunities across employment, local business and tourism with a 2046 horizon. This means that not all development happens at once and will be sequenced over the life of the development scheme.
For more information on the PDA process and how to make submissions, go to: https://www.yoursay.edq.qld.gov.au/sunshine-coast-airport-pda