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Councillors were sent a series of questions about the steps they d taken to-date and were still to take to understand their division s views on mass transit to ensure they could accurately represent them in future debates and decision making, as well as their position on light rail, preferred method of mass transit and how they saw mass transit fitting into a broader transport system on the Coast. Here s what your Sunshine Coast councillors had to say: Cr Maria Suarez.
Maria Suarez, Division 9: Ms Suarez said the mass transit corridor was well out of the Division 9 area, so for her it was more a matter of ensuring residents were informed of the consultation.
“The train arriving at Maroochydore station on platform 2 is the express service to Brisbane. First stop Mooloolaba, then Kawana, Caloundra, Caloundra South, Beerwah then all stations to Caboolture.”
It’s a phrase that I hope to hear in my lifetime, but I’m afraid will not happen, due to inept successive governments, failing to deliver on countless proposals, studies and announcements about a Sunshine Coast Rail network since the mid-1990s.
The original Caboolture to Maroochydore Corridor Study (CAMCOS) was a proposal in 1999 for a passenger train service for the Sunshine Coast which would also provide travellers with a fast link to Brisbane. It included an upgrade of the North Coast rail line from Caboolture to Landsborough and a new line from Beerwah to Maroochydore. Over 25 years later we are still talking about it without a single sleeper being laid towards Caloundra and Maroochydore.
It is to council s advantage to have initiated this work so that it is well placed to provide contemporary policy input to the next regional plan, council officers stated. Cr Natoli quizzed them on why the new planning scheme process would start before community consultation on the land use options for a mass transit plan had been carried out. Officers said there would be ample time to consider the Mass Transit Options Analysis and community engagement outcomes, and any council decision, within the new planning scheme process, given the time frames involved. Mass Transit Action Group members took their fight to the steps of council on Thursday to let councillors know their thoughts.
A community group fighting to have its say on a controversial coastal bike path fears upcoming consultation on a mass transit solution will pay nothing more than lip service. Concerns were raised after Sunshine Coast Council awarded a $330,000 tender for the public consultation to Brisbane-based firm Articulous. Articulous has been tasked with delivering a community engagement strategy for the mass transit business case, which has light rail as the preferred option to run along the coastal fringe. The Beach Matters, a group of Alexandra Headland residents formed in a bid to secure better designs of the M2M Cycleway project the Department of Transport and Main Roads was currently engaged in, feared they would not be heard during the upcoming consultation.