Spotlight on PDAs

As Townsville finalises the development scheme for the Townsville City Waterfront Priority Development Area (PDA), the Property Council invited Cr Karen Williams, Mayor of Redland City Council and Greg Chemello Deputy Director-General, Planning Group and General Manager – Economic Development Queensland, to answer the question; Can a planning document really stimulate economic development?

Declared in September 2014, the 97 hectare Townsville City Waterfront PDA aims to facilitate economic development in the CBD primarily along both sides of Ross Creek.

Greg began proceedings with a discussion of strategic intent behind the declaration of PDAs, and the intended outcomes they were designed to deliver across the State.

Greg hailed the work of Redland City Council in marrying the PDA with a suite of plans for the development of the region, including the Redlands Tourism Strategy, and Cleveland CBD Incentives Package.

Cr Williams provided a detailed background on Redland City, and the vital waterfront transport hubs of Toondah Harbour, Cleveland and Weinam Creek, Redland Bay.

Importantly, the Mayor discussed the process for capitalising on the two projects to deliver a combined infrastructure value of $1.7 billion, about 1000 jobs a year during construction and up to 300 ongoing commercial and tourism jobs.

The Mayor also discussed the importance of the in-depth and subsequently multi-award winning, community consultation phases and ongoing plans for community and industry engagement.

In the following panel discussion moderated by the Property Council’s Queensland Executive Director Chris Mountford, Greg and Cr Williams were joined by Stephen Motti, Senior Principal at Brazier Motti & President of the Townsville Chamber of Commerce who provided a local perspective on the opportunities for Townsville.

The Property Council would like to sincerely thank Cr Karen Williams, and Greg Chemello for traveling with us to Townsville to share their knowledge and experience. Thanks must go to Stephen Motti for participating in our panel discussion and a special thanks also goes to our post event networking sponsor WT Partnership and Townsville Corporate Partner RCP, without their support our Townsville events would not be possible.

Post Event Networking Sponsor

Russell Martoo – RCP, Stephen Motti – Brazier Motti & Townsville Chamber of Commerce, Cr Karen Williams – Redland City Council, Greg Chemello – Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, Chris Mountford – Property Council of Australia & Jason Dixon – WT Partnership

Cr Karen Williams – Redland City Council

Greg Chemello – Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning

Chris Mountford – Property Council of Australia, Greg Chemello – Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, Stephen Motti – Brazier Motti & Townsville Chamber of Commerce & Cr Karen Williams – Redland City Council