Clearly, only certainty for Palm Beach is uncertainty

IN a quote recently reported as being from the Mayor, we are told “the current town plan sets a lot of certainty for people on the Gold Coast”.

Actually, the only certainty for ratepayers and small business owners in both Palm Beach and Mermaid Beach seems to be that we face a period of uncertainty.

The light rail will clearly have a negative impact on the small businesses on both sides of the rail project during the building phase and there is no guarantee that they will be able to survive the disruption and loss of income.

The minimum width needed (8m) for the rail development on a stretch of roadway of limited width and with a heavy traffic load already leads to great uncertainty as to where this space can be found.

The height, density and use of land for new developments appears to vary at whim.

New buildings are being crowded into small spaces very close to neighbouring properties with no green spaces and insufficient recreational areas.

Many ratepayers purchased in Palm Beach with due diligence in a location that indicated a sevenfloor limit for future development. In 2016, this situation changed, and certainty became uncertainty.

While the current height limit on the coastal strip at Palm Beach has now been set at 29m, that appears to be flexible, with the provision that an additional 50 per cent height allowance will be considered “under some conditions”.

That is certainly not “certainty”.

With current investigations, one can only be sceptical as to what creates “special conditions”.

The latest report regarding flooding along the coastline adds to the uncertainty and strengthens the opposition to allowing further developments of highrise structures right on the beachfront in vulnerable situations.

All locals who are confronted by this “uncertainty” should be expressing their views loudly and strongly to their council representatives.