Palmer plan stirs major traffic fears
CLIVE Palmer’s planned mega developments on the RobinaMerrimac floodplain will create traffic chaos without major investment in public transport links, a new report claims.
The Coast’s richest man wants to transform the Avica resort at Gooding Drive into the Green Heart Gardens, which new reports show will accommodate up to 12,000 residents. Mr Palmer also intends to bulldoze nine holes on his Colonial golf course on Paradise Springs Ave to build up to eight 30-storey towers housing up to 8000 people.
Just west, across the Pacific Motorway, the approved Pacific View Estate at Worongary being developed by Pacific View Farm will have 3500 dwellings for 10,000 residents.
A traffic assessment by Burchills Engineering Solutions for the billionaire developer highlights the need for improved public transport options around his projects.
“Public transport is limited due to bus timetables in the immediate vicinity of the (Avica) site. A review of the TransLink timetable indicates that the bus route travels at one-hour intervals in each direction daily,” the report said.
The key components of the council’s transport plan included a rapid bus route from Broadbeach to Nerang, light rail from Robina station to Nobby Beach and a new heavy rail station at Merrimac.
Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council president Lois Levy told the Bulletin: “The biggest single problem is we have a transport strategy but it is not funded in any way. As traffic continues to grow, there is no financial strategy.”
The volumes of traffic created by the Pacific View estate and Palmer developments would feed on to the M1, which was at “choking point”.
“We have to address public transport. Do we automatically approve these developments for 12,000, 10,000 or 20,000 people? Do we really want this for our city?” Mrs Levy said. HOLLYWOOD star Johnny Depp and his actress wife were left sitting on the tarmac at the Gold Coast Airport as customs thoroughly went through their luggage.
It was a stark contrast to the last time the pair arrived and managed to get their two Yorkshire terriers into the country without detection.
The couple flew into the Gold Coast just before noon yesterday and were forced to sit on the plane for close to an hour.
It was not until everything was given the all-clear that Depp, 51, and his 29-year-old wife Amber Heard were able to disembark the flight.
Depp looked relaxed and low-key in a scarf and sunnies, while Heard seemed harassed and tired.
Flanked by security, the two were driven to a hangar owned by Depp’s Gold Coast landlord, motorcycle racing champion Mick Doohan.
There the star couple were whisked away in a helicopter, while a waiting Range Rover with darkly tinted windows transported a bodyguard and a boot full of customschecked luggage.
There had been speculation Depp may have been headed for Lennox Head where scenes for the fifth instalment of the Pirates franchise were being filmed today.
But he was flown straight to Doohan’s Coomera compound, which comes complete with a helipad.
The Black Pearl ship used in the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was yesterday spotted in Raby Bay under a blue tarp.
Film producers have confirmed this Moreton Bay location will be used for ocean scenes when conditions are too rough on the Gold Coast’s waterways.
Depp and Heard had been in LA for the 16th birthday of Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose.
The teen celebrated with a family dinner and referred to her birthday as her “sour sixteenth” on Instagram.
Serious filming is expected to follow Depp’s return home with co-star Orlando Bloom also on the Coast.
Bloom has been spotted enjoying the foodie scene in Broadbeach with his young son Flynn and an entourage of minders.
Depp and Heard’s Yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo have been safely returned to the United States, but the American star and his pilot could still face hefty fines of more than $300,000.
The quarantine blunder is still under investigation by Australian authorities.