Appeal for help to protect "unique place"

Deception Bay residents have taken their campaign for a plan to protect the suburb to the Moreton Bay City Council chamber.

Yvonne Sylvia, spokesperson for Deception Bay Residents Group (DBRG), used Community Comment at last week’s General Meeting to appeal to the mayor and all 12 councillors for help.

DBRG says a neighbourhood plan is needed to “help protect the unique characteristics, scenic amenities, cultural heritage, natural assets, aquatic areas, historic sites country and coastal landscapes that give Deception Bay its unique sense of place”.

It follows a development application (DA) at 5 and 7 Wallin Ave for a seven-storey, 21-metre block of 108 apartments, ranging from one to five bedrooms.

The building would be “right next door to a row of single-storey homes on the waterfront at Deception Bay”, Ms Sylvia said.

“Best Practice Urban Design in Australia, according to the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, Australia’s peak body for organisations committed to a sustainable, productive, resilient built environment, says this is a poor planning outcome.”

“Will our mayor and the people residents elected to represent them, support the start of a neighbourhood plan for Deception Bay before (the Local Government Elections on) March 16, 2024?”

Ms Sylvia said Deception Bay is home to “amazing nationally and internationally significant areas and sites”.

But under the current Moreton Bay planning scheme “few of these unique characteristics are identified or protected” from the population growth.

“We risk them being developed out,” she said.

Cr Sandra Ruck (Div 5) tabled DBRG’s petition with 402 signatures calling for a Deception Bay Neighbourhood Plan.

Community Comment allows residents to address council’s General Meetings for a maximum of five minutes, but there is no following discussion.

However, Council CEO Scott Waters encouraged DBRG make submission to the State Government for the draft Shaping SEQ Regional Plan on where population growth will go.

He said the DA was a “long-standing and pre-existing approval that pre-dates this term of council but council is "in the process of planning for our new scheme, that will go through its community consultation process in the new year”.