Logan City Council has launched an education campaign about changes to the city’s flood mapping.
This follows hefty criticism from locals last year regarding how the previous mapping was communicated.
A council spokesperson said the new education program was designed to “help the community become more flood aware and resilient” and included information about new mapping on council’s website and a series of videos on council’s YouTube channel.
“Once the first draft of LP25 (council’s planning scheme), which includes the new mapping, completes an initial State interest review by the Queensland Government, it will be made available to the City of Logan community for consultation and feedback,” the spokesperson said.
She said community consultation was likely to take place in the second half of 2024.
Late last year, council was criticised by homeowners and developers for its “confusing and aggravating” communication about flood zones.
Around 12,000 Logan homes received a letter informing them their property had been impacted by council’s new flood plan, but the letters were received a week after the plans were made public.
This was also criticised from within council, with both Cr Jon Raven and Cr Scott Bannan slamming the communication breakdown.
“We voted on this in February, I know it was contentious and some councillors disagree with it.
“No matter what your position is on climate change or floods, I think everyone can agree that eight months is plenty of time to write a letter,” Cr Raven said in a council meeting last year.
“The content of this letter is confusing residents.
“We asked for feedback on this letter, but it was at such short notice that it delayed the letter going out which is why it got out a week after the information was made public.
“There is confusion from people in the industry – these are planners, these are developers who understand planning and they don’t understand this letter.
“I expect us to do much better when we are impacting peoples’ lives, when we are impacting the value of their properties, when we are creating a situation that can create fear.
“We need to do better than that, we need to communicate with compassion, it needs to be concise and needs to be timely.”
Cr Bannan said last year the community “should have been notified six months” prior.
“It was done the wrong way,” he said.
Council’s spokesperson said the new approach to flood mapping, which includes four flood-risk zones, was intended to “encourage future population growth in areas that don’t have a high risk of flooding”.
“The new risk-based flood mapping will ensure that homeowners, businesses and developers are more informed about flood risk across the full floodplain of our city,” she said.
“Logan has had mapping and policies to provide guidance on living with natural hazards for many years.
“An important driver for Logan’s new planning scheme is to ensure that these policies remain contemporary and reflect the latest information and standards.”
