Hundreds of properties bought after Queensland floods start new life
April 30, 2024 6:13 PM Subscribe
Hundreds of properties bought after Queensland floods start new life as green space. The collective size of the new green space being added to Brisbane's suburbs in the wake of 2022 floods is the equivalent of about 25 rugby league fields.
about 25 rugby league fields
Australians will use anything except the metric system.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:55 PM on April 30 [13 favorites]
Australians will use anything except the metric system.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:55 PM on April 30 [13 favorites]
If we take the area of Port Jackson as 55km^2 and the size of a rugby league field as 7,480m^2 then the size of the reclamation, 187,000m^2 or 0.187km^2, is approximately 0.3% of a Sydney Harbour, the correct Australian Standard Unit.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 7:08 PM on April 30 [8 favorites]
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 7:08 PM on April 30 [8 favorites]
The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
posted by fairmettle at 9:32 PM on April 30
posted by fairmettle at 9:32 PM on April 30
I like the part about buying out the owners, tearing down the buildings, and declaring that those spaces will never be built on again. Other countries should do the same.
But I'm not crazy about the turf and mowing part. Brisbane doesn't need more suburban lawns. They should let it grow out more naturally.
posted by pracowity at 10:42 PM on April 30 [9 favorites]
But I'm not crazy about the turf and mowing part. Brisbane doesn't need more suburban lawns. They should let it grow out more naturally.
posted by pracowity at 10:42 PM on April 30 [9 favorites]
"green spaces" are the NIMBYs' best friend
posted by torokunai at 3:44 AM on May 1 [1 favorite]
posted by torokunai at 3:44 AM on May 1 [1 favorite]
So the first photo of flooded houses in in Milton, same location as the park photo that follows. It's serious inner city - if you are feeling spirited, it's about a half an hour, 45 minute walk from the CBD. I say this as I have done that walk. It also floods like a motherfucker, and really should not ever have been built on. Most of the houses used to be built on stilts but we had a lot of drought years during the 90s and early 00s and people closed them in underneath, forgetting why they were open in the first place.
"green spaces" are the NIMBYs' best friend
I have no idea what this statement is supposed to mean. No more flooded out people trapped in their houses for days seems like a fucking win to me, especially given I live in Brisbane and have done three rounds of substantial flooding in the last twelve years. In Milton there were an alarming amount of people who bought houses in like 2012 or later, often from interstate, who had no idea Milton flooded and who got badly caught out in 2022. Greenspace is legitimately the best use for some of those properties.
We've also had problems with unscrupulous landlords hosing out badly flood effected properties in West End (a suburb literally across the river from Milton)slapping a coat of paint over the mould and then renting them out for hundreds of bucks a week to people who had no idea the place floods, only for the tenants to lose their stuff the next time it flooded. There's no legal requirements to disclose. If they can be coaxed out of the market with a buy back, then good.
posted by Jilder at 4:49 AM on May 1 [11 favorites]
"green spaces" are the NIMBYs' best friend
I have no idea what this statement is supposed to mean. No more flooded out people trapped in their houses for days seems like a fucking win to me, especially given I live in Brisbane and have done three rounds of substantial flooding in the last twelve years. In Milton there were an alarming amount of people who bought houses in like 2012 or later, often from interstate, who had no idea Milton flooded and who got badly caught out in 2022. Greenspace is legitimately the best use for some of those properties.
We've also had problems with unscrupulous landlords hosing out badly flood effected properties in West End (a suburb literally across the river from Milton)slapping a coat of paint over the mould and then renting them out for hundreds of bucks a week to people who had no idea the place floods, only for the tenants to lose their stuff the next time it flooded. There's no legal requirements to disclose. If they can be coaxed out of the market with a buy back, then good.
posted by Jilder at 4:49 AM on May 1 [11 favorites]
Oh, and two of the suburbs mentioned in that piece, Boondal and Rocklea, are basically filled in wetlands. Most of Boondal is still wetlands. Rocklea has huge winding swathes of shallow creek and the whole area turns into a bog with very little rain at all. There's heaps of houses in that area that are on four and five story high stilts now in a likely vain attempt at keeping them liveable, because the only people who'll buy property there now are either the council or people who seriously don't know how bad it gets there. This program is very, very winful and as a local I'm very pleased with the general outcome.
posted by Jilder at 4:52 AM on May 1 [9 favorites]
posted by Jilder at 4:52 AM on May 1 [9 favorites]
This is good news!
That chain that the mayor is wearing though, damn. Makes even some UK mayoral garb look downright restrained...
posted by Dysk at 5:29 AM on May 1
That chain that the mayor is wearing though, damn. Makes even some UK mayoral garb look downright restrained...
posted by Dysk at 5:29 AM on May 1
But I'm not crazy about the turf and mowing part. Brisbane doesn't need more suburban lawns. They should let it grow out more naturally.
There's a reason the council will come and mow your lawn and charge you for it if you just let it go. You don't get a return to nature, you get neck-high weeds. And a fire hazard, and rats, and the snakes that eat them.
Roma St Parklands 'Fern Gully'. It's georgeous, right in the middle of the city too. I'd much prefer this over lawns. Ironically, it looks so natural because Roma St has two dozen full time gardeners keeping it that way.
Growing up, I lived by Norman Creek, Scrubby Creek and Kedron Brook. Scrubby creek was a great swimming hole once. Here's a picture of Kedron Brook. There are a few of these creeks that cut through the suburbs. You can't build anything there, because they flood. In 2011 everything in that photograph was under water. Do you like riding bikes? This is how you can go almost anywhere in Brisbane on a bicycle.
Anyway, more parks for Brisbane is great. I really love this city. Don't wait for 2032.
posted by adept256 at 7:32 AM on May 1 [3 favorites]
There's a reason the council will come and mow your lawn and charge you for it if you just let it go. You don't get a return to nature, you get neck-high weeds. And a fire hazard, and rats, and the snakes that eat them.
Roma St Parklands 'Fern Gully'. It's georgeous, right in the middle of the city too. I'd much prefer this over lawns. Ironically, it looks so natural because Roma St has two dozen full time gardeners keeping it that way.
Growing up, I lived by Norman Creek, Scrubby Creek and Kedron Brook. Scrubby creek was a great swimming hole once. Here's a picture of Kedron Brook. There are a few of these creeks that cut through the suburbs. You can't build anything there, because they flood. In 2011 everything in that photograph was under water. Do you like riding bikes? This is how you can go almost anywhere in Brisbane on a bicycle.
Anyway, more parks for Brisbane is great. I really love this city. Don't wait for 2032.
posted by adept256 at 7:32 AM on May 1 [3 favorites]
This will be great all around. People and other living things need green spaces.
There's no legal requirements to disclose. If they can be coaxed out of the market with a buy back, then good.
I don't think they need to be coaxed and rewarded with a substantial buy back. Emanant domain at the original purchase price. They've had a good run and made plenty of filthy lucre off the backs of innocent renters. Landlords like this should have their faces rot so we can recognize them, then we can spit and walk by on the other side. Some people are truly evil.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:02 AM on May 1 [2 favorites]
There's no legal requirements to disclose. If they can be coaxed out of the market with a buy back, then good.
I don't think they need to be coaxed and rewarded with a substantial buy back. Emanant domain at the original purchase price. They've had a good run and made plenty of filthy lucre off the backs of innocent renters. Landlords like this should have their faces rot so we can recognize them, then we can spit and walk by on the other side. Some people are truly evil.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:02 AM on May 1 [2 favorites]
This is a great program, albeit one that needs to be significantly expanded to be truly effective. A fantastic start, though.
I wish local governments had learned this lesson and didn't continue to allow development in flood-prone areas, though. Developers hide behind the 'Q100' flood maps that show predicted levels of a once-in-a-hundred-year flood. The problem is these are based on historical data and don't take into account changes in ground profiles as part of development. There is a major development near my home that is built on a flood plain where significant flooding has always occurred regularly. The local government refused the development application, but the state land and environment court overruled them on the basis of hydraulic engineering that 'proved' solutions put in place would maintain flood storage capacity and percent flooding in that and nearby areas. The way those solutions have been implemented means very significant flood storage has effectively been lost and the day will come when the whole area will go under, my home included.
posted by dg at 5:03 PM on May 1 [1 favorite]
I wish local governments had learned this lesson and didn't continue to allow development in flood-prone areas, though. Developers hide behind the 'Q100' flood maps that show predicted levels of a once-in-a-hundred-year flood. The problem is these are based on historical data and don't take into account changes in ground profiles as part of development. There is a major development near my home that is built on a flood plain where significant flooding has always occurred regularly. The local government refused the development application, but the state land and environment court overruled them on the basis of hydraulic engineering that 'proved' solutions put in place would maintain flood storage capacity and percent flooding in that and nearby areas. The way those solutions have been implemented means very significant flood storage has effectively been lost and the day will come when the whole area will go under, my home included.
posted by dg at 5:03 PM on May 1 [1 favorite]
I don't think they need to be coaxed and rewarded with a substantial buy back.
I'd prefer it if they just ED too, but the market is so cooked it'd face a lot of legal challenge and bog the whole process down. This is one of those "perfect is the enemy of good" situations and I'd rather just pay the fuckers off once and get it over and done with.
posted by Jilder at 6:11 PM on May 1 [3 favorites]
I'd prefer it if they just ED too, but the market is so cooked it'd face a lot of legal challenge and bog the whole process down. This is one of those "perfect is the enemy of good" situations and I'd rather just pay the fuckers off once and get it over and done with.
posted by Jilder at 6:11 PM on May 1 [3 favorites]
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posted by clew at 6:16 PM on April 30