Islanders get a say on precinct
AN industrial precinct is being proposed for Nelly Bay and residents are invited to have their say on the Townsville City Council plan.
The council has lodged a development application to rezone council- owned land at 55- 77 Kelly St for a staged lowimpact industrial subdivision.
Council planners will hold a community consultation session from 10am to 12pm on Saturday at the Magnetic Island Bowls Club. “This proposal is a big step towards addressing a drastic shortage of dedicated land for light industry on the island and we want local residents to have their say,” the council’s Planning and Development Committee chair Cr Les Walker said.
“Low- impact industrial refers to industry with minimal noise impacts such as warehouses, storage yards or small showroom and service- type uses and would include vegetation buffers and screen fencing to ensure it is in keeping with the surrounds.”
Magnetic Island Residents and Ratepayers Association QUEENSLAND animal welfare officials have seized close to 200 birds during raids on almost a dozen properties allegedly linked to illegal cockfighting in the state. RSPCA Qld inspectors seized 186 birds and cockfighting paraphernalia as part their investigation into illegal fights and the import and export of birds. “We’d urge anyone who has any information to come forward,” chief inspector Daniel Young said. Prohibited spurs attached to birds during fights were among the items seized during raids on 11 properties in Cairns, Gympie, the Sunshine Coast, north Brisbane, South Brisbane and near Ipswich. president Cameron Turnbull said the association raised the need for appropriately zoned industrial land as an omission from the last Town Plan. He said their preference was a Cockle Bay site next to the island’s waste transfer facility.
“The council advised that … was unavailable or unable to be used. MIRRA’s preference remains an alternate site,” he said. “If there is none, then the current proposal needs to be assessed on its merits.”
Magnetic Island Community Development Association president Lorna Hempstead said her association was not notified of the public meeting.
“I am only too happy to cooperate with council but I need the information so I can let my members know,” she said.
Cr Walker said the proposal would provide suitable land where existing businesses could expand and new ventures could start up. “The vacant Kelly St land … is owned by council, was the site of the former sewerage plant and is … adjacent to existing industrial land, and has natural buffers to separate it from nearby residential areas,” he said.
The council proposes to develop the subdivision in four stages, with the first stage on three lots fronting Kelly St. NEW proof has been found showing Aboriginal people lived in Australia up to 18,000 years earlier than once thought. A team of archaeologists has uncovered a treasure trove of evidence with global significance for the history of human evolution, confirming the colonisation of Australia at least 65,000 years ago. That’s much earlier than previous estimates of between 47,000 and 60,000 years. The discovery was made at the Northern Territory’s Madjedbebe rock shelter near Kakadu National Park. It sets a new minimum age for the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa.