Friday, February 14, 2025
HomePoliticsCouncilKey changes to flood mapping approved

Key changes to flood mapping approved

Restrictions on thousands of properties cut off by flooding have now been relaxed.

And thousands of others considered at-risk of flooding will be reclassified due to newly-approved changes to the city’s flood policy.

Logan City Council’s planning department in July called for changes to flood regulation.

But this couldn’t happen without approval from the Queensland government.

Finally, the new planning minister has signed off on what mayor Jon Raven has called “a win for anyone impacted by flood mapping in Logan”.

“Providing robust, useful flood mapping for our city was never meant to be a set and forget exercise,” Cr Raven said.

“Since the rollout of the initial TLPI (temporary local planning instrument) in 2023 – which introduced the new flood risk categories and development conditions – we have collated feedback from local residents, industry and our councillors.

“While council is not required to conduct formal consultation on any TLPI, we want to make use of this feedback to ensure our mapping and policies are meeting the needs of our community.”

These changes, which will come into effect next year, include easing the restrictions on properties that become isolated in floods, known as “flood island” developments.

Current policy restricts council’s ability to approve developments on properties that don’t have flood-free access, even if the property itself is untouched by flood water.

This is to ensure residents have access to essential services during flooding, specifically food and water.

The initial proposal was to make an exception for properties cut-off for a maximum of 24 hours, but the period was negotiated to a 36-hour window.

Council’s risk-based approach to flood mapping – comprising of very low, low, moderate and high-risk categories – will be simplified, with the two lowest flood-risk categories merging.

The “very low” risk category has been removed completely.

This alteration also reduces the extent of the moderate risk category, lowering some properties previously at the bottom end of the moderate threshold to low risk.

However, the actual risk for these properties won’t change.

Vulnerable use developments such as childcare centres, which were previously only allowed on very low risk properties, will now be allowed on low risk properties if they meet mitigation requirements.

Mitigation may include raising floor levels, a flood-resilient building design, and managing safe access and evacuation.

The changes also mean residents looking to build sheds on their properties will no longer require safe-vehicle access during flooding.

Safe-vehicle access is now only considered when looking to increase bedroom numbers or add a new dwelling, or when the property is cut-off for 36 hours or more.

“We’ll also be giving residents, community and industry the chance to provide official feedback when our new planning scheme – which will include our permanent flood policy – goes out for community consultation,” Cr Raven said.

“This is expected to occur in late 2025, after the planning scheme is approved by the State Government.

“We’re also going to continue our rolling program of flood studies in key catchments across our city, so we can provide any new information to our community as soon as possible, and keep people safe.”

Are you getting your FREE copy of MyCity Logan?

Simply enter your email address and we’ll ensure a free copy is delivered to your inbox every week.
Remember, we treat your details with the utmost privacy. We don't ask for your address, phone number, or any other details because we believe community news should be accessible to all people. Your email will NOT be on-sold, shared or released by MyCity Logan.
RELATED ARTICLES

1 COMMENT

  1. I live just off Logan Reserve Rd, it floods regularly, the same for school Rd. Yet with the number of houses that have been built in the area and the amount of funds the Council has received from the household. Why has nothing been done?
    Logan Reserve Rd has many people walking along it with no footpath. How about raising the area over the creeks that flood, so the water can run freely without banking up and putting footpaths in. A flood-resilient building design for local roads with new dwellings
    School Rd, little bit of rain and it floods. The amount over the road is minor but needs to close. Seriously clear the drainage and maybe raise that part of the road. The council is gaining rates but doing nothing about it.
    As for the Insurance companies, it’s a joke, some want to charge $5k to ensure your location when the location has ever been flooded. How can a food map be made on areas that have never flooded, they can’t predict a storm each day, it is always maybe a storm. Then the storm warning comes out when the storm is on top of you. This has given the insurance companies the justification to raise policies to exorbitant amounts that truly cannot be justified.
    When the maps are designed, they need to justify each and every change. Maybe, is not a reason to change flooding location as it has a ripple of effect on the people living in the area.
    It is good to see the mapping is being reviewed and changed, but do not the burden on one location to another.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here