Next steps

There are several actions council are taking as our next steps.

Infrastructure upgrades

This year we will upgrade the seawall south of Jellicoe Street to Nelson Street. This will protect the valuable park, road and amenities block immediately next to the seawall.

Next year a backflow prevention device trial will be started near Monash Street.

Community meetings

Community meetings are being organised through the member for Caloundra’s office and we will attend when invited, along with the Queensland Government.

Responding to a flooding event

Across the region, flood mapping shows that some low-lying property owners have a chance of shallow depth inundation in large storm tide events.

At Golden Beach, this has been exacerbated by the Bribie Island breakthrough, which has effectively bought forward a sea level rise expected from climate change by 20 to 30 years.

However, if a flooding event were to occur at Golden Beach, threats from inundation to private properties could be managed with support from the SES through temporary measures such as sand bagging, as has been the case for other historical floods across the region.

We will also investigate options for other temporary protection measures along the coastal foreshore, recognising that we need to be prepared for potential events.  

Preliminary investigations of a coastal barrier confirm the need to consider backflow prevention devices for the stormwater network.

The installation of temporary coastal protection measures would also need to consider factors such as logistics of installation, safety issues and potential exacerbation of erosion. 

Proposed coastal hazard mitigation and drainage options analysis for Golden Beach

We recognise that longer term adaptation planning needs to consider multiple options and be informed by experts in the field with experience and knowledge of similar projects delivered in other locations around the world.

We would like to conduct a coastal hazard mitigation and drainage options analysis for Golden Beach and involve the community in considering these options, informed by:

• an understanding of costs and consequences
• how the interface between the private and public realm will be managed over time
• how different options might alter the use of the coastal foreshore or the community’s sense of place.

Such an approach is complex and comprehensive, it will take time and will be expensive.

For this reason, in partnership with the Queensland Department of Environment and Science (DES), we have received grant funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Agency (NRRA) through their coastal and estuarine risk mitigation program for the options analysis. 

We look forward to working with the community on this project.

Storm tide study

An independent expert has been engaged to review and update council’s storm tide study, inclusive of changes to the tidal regime within Pumicestone Passage as a result of the Bribie Island breakthrough.

Planning levels

Since the introduction of the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme in 2014, planning levels for new construction have been based on a future climate condition anticipated in the year 2100. This means that allowances have been included for sea level rise. Additionally it has been assumed that northern section of Bribie Island will be lost to natural coastal processes.