We build up or we build out. We can’t oppose both
HERE’S a fun question for students of Gold Coast history: At what point did “developer” become a dirty word?
Was it during the era of the “white shoe brigade’”, who many turned their nose up at?
Or was it a more recent development, a response to the GFC and the money lost?
It is strange that, in the Gold Coast of all places, so many people speak about developers as if they carry a whiff of sulphur.
Little of any note can now be built on the Gold Coast without attracting virulent opposition.
But it wasn’t always so. The visionaries who not so long ago turned swampland into the vibrant city we know today are fondly remembered.
People like Jock McIlwain, who was instrumental in ensuring this town has more canals than Venice.
Or Keith Williams, the entrepreneur behind Sea World who famously remarked that it is “better to seek forgiveness than ask permission”. Even Jim Cavill, the man who really put this place on the map by bringing us Surfers Paradise.
How would any of these men fare in today’s environment?
It is hard to imagine Sea World getting built. Or a major canal project. The Greenies would have a fit.
But it was developments like these that made the city what it is today.
They brought good homes, jobs and prosperity to many thousands of people.
Some of those would appear to wish to freeze time in that moment. To have the Gold Coast paused in the year when they themselves bought in.
But here’s the rub. There is always the next generation. And they want their share of good homes, jobs and prosperity too.
This must happen somewhere, and there are only two choices – out or up. We cannot reasonably oppose both.
The case for out, for ever greater sprawl, is not a good one. Last week I drove through the new estates of Pimpama, home to thousands of young families, the proud owners of their first homes. But surrounding the well-kept streets which were, so recently, mere bushland, are roads better suited to that bush. And few amenities can be accessed without getting behind the wheel, with any kind of serious public transport for these new communities likely decades away.
It is this urban sprawl that has decimated our local koala populations, in common with other, less celebrated wildlife.
Having personally been lucky enough to encounter the wondrous sight of a koala and her joey living wild in Helensvale on Monday, I can tell you this is not something we should be happy about losing.
Our urban sprawl has also sent many thousands more cars on to roads that were not built to cope – most notably the M1 – forcing repeated expensive upgrades.
And it has seen the costly lengthening of other kinds of infrastructure like water, power and sewerage.
On the other side of the coin is the option to build up, to allow greater densities and yes, sometimes greater heights, in existing suburbs.
No prizes for guessing which I prefer.
It is nuts that a city of only 600,000 can sprawl so far. Practically every other part of the western world has seen such outward expansion for the folly it is, yet we continue to repeat the same mistakes.
But the resistance to building up on the Gold Coast is arguably stronger than the opposition to building out.
Many attendees at a light rail information night at Burleigh last week were passionately opposed to the project.
Why? There were traffic fears, which is understandable, but the light rail itself remains the only serious option for getting cars off the roads.
Many traders feared the impact on their businesses during construction. They do not want to suffer as their counterparts in Surfers Paradise did as the tram tracks forged their way through that area. They are right to worry – it is vital that the lessons of the stage 1 build are learned, and mistakes not repeated.
But then there was that word again: developers. The fear expressed, in Burleigh and Palm Beach, is that they will follow in the light rail’s wake.
Here’s the truth – they probably will. And they should.
One cannot stop the urban sprawl, the habitat loss and the traffic snarls without accepting higher densities in existing suburbs, from Helensvale to Coolangatta and every developed area in between.
But that does not have to be a bad thing. The developers of the past, the Jim Cavills and the Jock McIlwains, didn’t do such a bad job. There’s no good reason, beyond reflex negativity, to assume the current generation will do no better. It’s a risky business, more difficult than often assumed. Our capitalist system ensures only the very best survive.
Yes, a few extra residents means things may get a little busier, but new families bring with them new joy, energy and life. In fact, isn’t that how it was back in the days that longterm residents so fondly remember? When they too were enjoying their first homes, laying down roots and building a bigger and better Gold Coast.
The next generation deserve that chance too. Smart, well-planned developments bring it to them.
We shouldn’t fear that. No more than it was in the past, “developer’’ is not a dirty word.
Keith Woods is Assistant Editor of the Gold Coast Bulletin. Email keith.woods@news.com.au