Logan City Council is seeking Queensland Government support to remove the city’s rarest and most extreme flood scenario from its planning instruments.
For residents, the decision matters because flood overlay mapping helps guide how flood risk is assessed when people seek to develop, build or make changes on affected land.
The decision could also be watched closely by homeowners concerned about insurance.
Queensland Government flood insurance guidance says most insurers use the National Flood Information Database to determine flood risk for individual properties and calculate premiums based on that risk and other criteria, including building type, location and claims history.
It also says individual insurers decide what criteria they use and may examine sources including local government flood mapping, historical flood information, terrain data and insurance claims information.
However, any change to Logan’s planning maps would not automatically change insurance premiums.
Councillors resolved at a Special Council meeting on Wednesday for Mayor Jon Raven to write to Deputy Premier and Planning Minister Jarrod Bleijie about the use of the Probable Maximum Flood, or PMF, in council planning instruments.
Cr Raven has since met with Mr Bleijie, saying the short-notice meeting focused on the independent flood study review and Logan’s flood mapping.
He said any flood mapping improvements or policy changes councillors vote for at the 4 June Special Council meeting would need State Government support.
“The review backs up what the community told us through the Logan Plan consultation: that the inclusion of rare and extreme events in flood mapping creates alarm and isn’t practical,” Cr Raven said.
Cr Raven said the council now had advice supporting a change in approach.
“We now have independent advice through this review, that is supported by the original authors of the flood study, to suggest a different approach is needed and I will use this to advocate for change,” he said.
The council agenda said the Probable Maximum Flood was included in planning maps because council understood it was required to meet State Planning Policy and post-2011 flood-risk expectations.
The agenda said the independent review raised concerns about using PMF mapping in planning instruments, describing it as technically uncertain, easily misunderstood and of limited value outside emergency management contexts.
The council is seeking State Government support to remove PMF from planning instruments.
A second Special Council meeting will be held on 4 June to consider possible flood mapping and policy changes.
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