The Kooya Road project
The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) has a long and rich history supporting local communities in Queensland. Our calling to support those who support others and deliver sustainable and fit-for-purpose missional and pastoral work in the community requires resources.
When the UCA acquired the Kooya Road property, we explored whether it could be developed to provide one of our social services (such as aged care and special housing). But the site had too many constraints for that kind of development.
Instead, we propose to use the appropriate part of this site for its ‘highest and best’ use: residential development. As well as providing a financial return to support UCA community services, this use will help Brisbane to meet its growth challenges and provide more housing stock for those that are looking to live in the Brisbane area.
The proposed development includes a 92-lot residential subdivision, a new road, a new local park and a stormwater drainage reserve. Given that there is currently only one house on the property, this proposal will increase the site’s density.
The proposed residential lots range between 355 and 1565 square metres, with most lots being about 400 square metres. These residential lots are designed for a single home.
The type of residential development proposed is consistent with other residential development in the local area. Our proposal reflects the density and style of neighbouring homes located on Kooya Road and Ironbark Place.
This site is currently zoned Emerging Community. This means that Brisbane City Council (Council) ultimately intends this land to be developed for residential purposes. We are working to bring that intention into reality.
Kooya Road Frequently Asked Questions
Figure 1: Proposed plans
We have lodged a development application to Brisbane City Council for a subdivision, new road, local park and stormwater detention area. The development assessment process follows this path:
Figure 2: Development assessment process
The park is planned to be over 7,000 square metres, which is about the same size as 16 of our proposed residential lots. The park will be next to a stormwater detention area, or basin, of just over 4,000 square metres.
A stormwater detention basin is also known as a ‘dry pond’ or ‘holding pond’. The basin will hold water during high rainfall or storm events. It will play an important role in managing the overland flow of water across the site, while also naturally treating the water. The basin will make sure that any rainwater can be safely re-absorbed into the soil.
The stormwater detention basin will be dry most of the time. While it is not formally recognised as parkland, it will look like open space, and can be used as open space by the community.
The public local park will be established on part of the site that is already cleared, which is next to Kooya Road. This local park will include the mature eucalyptus trees along Kooya Road, which are a striking feature of the streetscape.
We are excited to provide this park, which will allow the community to access this site for the first time.
Local Park Fact Sheet Download
The bushland in the southern and western parts of the site is owned by the UCA. We are not planning to develop these bushland areas.
Work that will take place in the bushland areas will relate to restoration, providing the required bushfire breaks between houses and the bushland and emergency vehicle access.
As part of our work to design the subdivision, we engaged an environmental planner. The outcomes of these environmental studies indicate that it is unlikely the development will impact on the plants or animals that live in the bushland.
Bushland Fact Sheet Download
As part of our work to design the subdivision, we engaged a traffic planner. Our traffic planner has assessed the potential impacts of the proposed subdivision on the surrounding traffic network. They have also assessed the design of the new roads included in the subdivision.
The outcomes of the traffic study indicate that when considering site context, Council’s standards, and existing capacity in neighbouring streets, the proposed development is unlikely to negatively impact the flow of traffic in the surrounding road network.
Traffic Fact Sheet Download
By including our proposed stormwater management measures, there will be no worsening in flood levels to properties downstream during storm events.
To help manage the changes to the path of the overland flow of stormwater, our team has designed a stormwater detention basin. A stormwater detention basin, or ‘dry pond’ or ‘holding pond’, is different to a retention basin.
The stormwater detention basin will hold water during high rainfall or storm events, but it will be dry most of the time. This detention basin is an important part of our stormwater management.