Div 1 and mayoral hopefuls face quarry expansion community meeting
By Sonia Isaacs
SUNSHINE Coast’s aspiring councillors and mayors will face their first policy test next month when they front up to a community meeting to discuss contentious plans to double rock extraction at Hanson’s Glass House Mountains quarry.
The community meeting, to be held on February 11, so far includes Division 1 candidates Jenny Broderick and Kristy Taylor-Rose as well as mayoral candidates Wayne Parcell and Jason O’Pray.
The four confirmed candidates have agreed to attend and discuss community concern around the proposal to double extraction rates to 1.2 million tonnes annually.
Concerns raised by community include the impact of increased truck movements on roads and local residents as well as environmental and cultural concerns.
Council and the State Government has asked Hanson to expand on its initial application, made last year, to include detailed explanations of transport and infrastructure impacts.
They are due to respond by March 8.
Save our Glasshouse Mountains (SOGM) spokesperson, Megan Standring, said the public meeting would provide a unique opportunity for the community to unite with potential leaders, and delve into the future of the Glass House Mountains and the implications of the Hanson DA application for the surrounding town and region.
“We look forward to exploring an open dialogue and sharing our community’s concern around this application with our local and mayoral candidates and have their input into this situation,” she said.
“We want to raise awareness, protect our Glass House Mountains and ideally stop the expansion.”
Ms Standring said the group was now focused on gathering petition signatures and preparing for the imminent community submission process which she envisaged could commence around April 2024 with a goal of lodging up to 1000 submissions.
She said SOGHM has also recently joined the Sunshine Coast Environmental Council (SCEC) and members were also presently in discussion with other conservation groups.
“We are proud to be members of the SCEC and we look forward to tapping into their knowledge and resources to assist with our community submission process,” Ms Standring said.
To find out more, visit the ‘Save our Glass House Mountains’ Facebook page or email saveourglasshouse
mountains@gmail.com
