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April 5, 2017 | IN Media Release and News | BY Holly Brennan | 3 min read

[vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”3″ bottom_padding=”3″ overlay_alpha=”100″ gutter_size=”3″ shift_y=”0″ row_height_use_pixel=””][vc_column column_width_use_pixel=”yes” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ column_width_pixel=”800″][vc_column_text]AS CYCLONE Debbie touched down on the Coast many were grabbing sandbags and battening down to ride out the storm.

But how did the more than $13 billion -plus worth of major housing development sites around the region fare?

Stockland’s $10 billion worth of projects, Aura at Caloundra South and Oceanside at Birtinya both came through unscathed, senior environment and community development manager Mark Stephens said.

“We couldn’t be more pleased by the performance and resilience of the two sites during the recent wet weather,” he said, after about 140mm of rain fell over 48 hours to Thursday.

“Our water quality monitoring gauges located in Lamerough Creek and Bells Creek North showed that water quality discharged from the Aura site was very clean.”

He said that had been down to a number of initiatives put in place on the 2300ha-plus construction site, including an advanced water quality treatment system to manage site run-off.

Mr Stephens said the site had been secured before last week’s weather event and it had come through well, aside from some minor damage to newly-planted landscaping and shade cloths at Caloundra South.

AVID Property Group CEO Bruce Harper said the $3 billion Palmview site dubbed Harmony had also survived the deluge without major issues.

“We’ve actually held out pretty well,” he said.

He said the site recorded about 150mm on-site last Thursday and the stormwater management requirements had proven effective.

Aside from some minor delays as the site dries out he said no major damage to earthworks or infrastructure had occurred.

The Sunshine Coast Council’s $30 million solar farm project, on low-lying caneland in Valdora, was inundated by floodwaters but a council spokeswoman said the only damage to the site had been minor to temporary fencing.

Key infrastructure on the site has been raised above the one-in-100-year flood event levels, with most at 4.2m.

Environmental consultant Trevor Lloyd said erosion sediment control from building sites was an important issue and he believed emphasis on control had dropped off in general over the past 5-8 years.

He said research had shown natural systems could cope with heavy rainfall events as long as sediment released could clear quickly, but large events had the potential to knock over corals and sea grass beds.

Now consulting on site contaminations, Mr Lloyd said he had seen an increase in chronic sediment run-off in the past few years across the state.

Maroochy Waterwatch CEO Cerran Fawns said most run-off would’ve finished early after the rainfall, but it would take some time before waterways cleared up.

She said Caloundra South, alongside one of the region’s most delicate waterways, the Pumicestone Passage, had some “good measures” in place by Stockland to stop run-off.

Council officers would be testing waterways feeding into the Pumicestone Passage in the next week or so as part of monthly monitoring.

Meanwhile the council’s $300 million Maroochydore CBD development site also reported no major impacts from the deluge, with no delays expected as a result of the rain.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”50672″ media_width_percent=”100”][vc_column_text]Source – Sunshine Coast Daily[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”3″ bottom_padding=”3″ overlay_alpha=”100″ gutter_size=”3″ shift_y=”0″ row_height_use_pixel=””][vc_column column_width_use_pixel=”yes” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ column_width_pixel=”800″][uncode_block id=”50096″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”0″ bottom_padding=”0″ overlay_alpha=”100″ gutter_size=”3″ shift_y=”0″ row_height_use_pixel=””][vc_column column_width_use_pixel=”yes” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ column_width_pixel=”800″][vc_separator sep_color=”color-uydo”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ override_padding=”yes” h_padding=”2″ top_padding=”3″ bottom_padding=”3″ overlay_alpha=”100″ gutter_size=”3″ shift_y=”0″ row_height_use_pixel=””][vc_column column_width_use_pixel=”yes” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ zoom_width=”0″ zoom_height=”0″ column_width_pixel=”800″][uncode_block id=”49444″][/vc_column][/vc_row]