Gold Coast Council wants to build an operations depot on our neighbourhood park in Miami. We're fighting to protect our green space, our trees and our wildlife.
Submit Your ObjectionThe City of Gold Coast is proposing to build a Miami Satellite Depot on Frank Murray Park -- the green space at the end of Sonia Street with the playground, picnic area and mature gum trees.
A satellite depot is a council operations base for field staff and utility vehicles. It would include vehicle compounds, staff facilities, parking and security fencing -- replacing a large section of a public park with an operational facility beside a quiet residential neighbourhood with a standard ~7m residential access street.
What Council hasn't told you: The proposal doesn't specify what vehicles will be based here, how many daily trips there will be, what hours it will operate, or what noise levels to expect. No traffic study, noise assessment, environmental survey or cultural heritage check has been published. The community is being asked to accept an operational facility without knowing what it will actually involve.
Decades-old eucalyptus trees that provide canopy, shade and habitat would face removal. Once gone, they cannot be replaced in our lifetime.
The park is a stepping stone in an urban wildlife corridor. Bush stone-curlews (protected under the Nature Conservation Act 1992), kookaburras, cockatoos and native insects move through the park's mature canopy. Remove this link and wildlife across surrounding suburbs is affected -- not just here.
Sonia St and Rope Ct are used daily by kids walking and cycling to Miami State Primary and High Schools, and by parents walking toddlers to the childcare centre at 4 Rope Court. Trucks are involved in twice the pedestrian fatality rate of cars.
Sonia Street is ~7m wide. With cars parked both sides, only ~3m remains -- a heavy vehicle at 2.5m wide can barely fit. The street was designed for residential cars, not trucks.
Security fencing, operational buildings and vehicle noise replacing a park where families, kids and dogs enjoy open space.
QLD residential noise limits: 50 dB(A) outdoors. Heavy vehicles generate 87-102 dB(A); reverse beepers hit 97-112 dB(A) (FHWA). Early morning start-ups before 7am when the indoor limit is just 30 dB(A).
Park tree canopy reduces local temperatures by up to 2°C (Gold Coast study, Griffith University). Asphalt hits 60°C+ in summer. Council's own Greener Places Strategy says we need more trees -- this proposal removes them.
Proximity to parks adds ~7% to home values. Proximity to industrial sites drops them 14-30%. Converting a park to a depot is a double hit that could cost adjacent homeowners 10-20%+.
This proposal didn't come out of nowhere -- but it wasn't disclosed during earlier related consultations. Council ran three separate consultations about this same neighbourhood, each conducted separately -- so residents never saw the full picture.
"If the depot site is genuinely surplus, the operations it housed should not require a new facility on public parkland. If those operations do require a local facility, the depot site was never truly surplus, and the creative precinct consultation was conducted on a false premise."
Council's LGID26 proposes depots at five sites. Look at how they justify the other four -- then look at Miami.
| Site | Council's Justification |
|---|---|
| Tugun | "Make use of land that is already disturbed and suitable for depot-related activities" |
| Carrara | "Expanding the existing depot, rather than establishing a new facility elsewhere, allows The City to use land efficiently and minimise disruption" |
| Benowa | "Established use" -- "no change to the overall role" -- activities "remain consistent with current operations" |
| Coombabah | "Established use" -- "no change to the overall role" -- activities "remain consistent with current operations" |
| Miami (Frank Murray Park) | Brand new operational use on community parkland. Not established, not already disturbed, not minimising disruption. The only site that doesn't meet the standards Council applied to the other four. |
If "already disturbed land" is a virtue at Tugun, and "expanding existing rather than establishing new" minimises disruption at Carrara, then building a brand-new depot on a functioning community park is the opposite of what Council's own logic supports.
All quotes from Council's own LGID26 Have Your Say consultation.
Your submission is more effective when it's specific. Click any point below for evidence-backed details you can use in your own words.
Council ran three separate consultations about the same neighbourhood, each separately:
Had residents known during the Pizzey Park consultation that a depot was planned for Frank Murray Park, the response would have been very different.
For Tugun, Council praises "already disturbed" land. For Carrara, they say expanding existing depots "minimises disruption." For Benowa and Coombabah, they cite "established use." But for Miami, they propose the opposite: a brand-new operational use on community parkland.
If those are the criteria, Frank Murray Park fails on every count. (All quotes from Council's LGID26 consultation)
Sonia Street and Rope Court are daily routes for children walking and cycling to Miami State Primary and Miami State High School. Parents walk toddlers across Sonia Street to reach Aussie Kids childcare at 4 Rope Court (children aged 6 weeks to 5 years, 74 places).
With cars parked on both sides of Sonia Street, a 3-year-old (average height 95cm) is completely invisible behind modern cars (bonnet height 84cm+). Children cannot judge vehicle speed until age 10. A truck's front blind spot extends up to 6 metres -- a child anywhere in that zone is invisible to the driver.
Trucks are involved in 5.2 pedestrian deaths per 10,000 vehicles vs 2.5 for cars -- double the rate. Transport injuries are the #1 cause of child injury death in Australia. (Kidsafe Australia)
Sonia Street is a standard ~7m residential access street -- the lowest tier in Council's own road hierarchy. With cars parked both sides, only ~3m of travel width remains. A heavy vehicle at 2.5m wide leaves just 25cm clearance on each side. Two vehicles can't pass.
The AASHTO Fourth Power Law shows a single heavy truck pass causes pavement damage equal to ~9,600 car passes. Residential pavements aren't built for this -- the street will deteriorate rapidly. (IPWEA)
Council's own heavy vehicle parking permit requires consultation with all neighbours within 50m just to park one heavy vehicle on a residential street. A depot generates dozens of daily movements.
The Queensland Environmental Protection (Noise) Policy 2019 sets residential limits of 50 dB(A) outdoors and 30 dB(A) indoors at night. Heavy vehicles generate 87-102 dB(A). Reverse beepers -- the #1 complained-about industrial noise -- hit 97-112 dB(A).
That's a gap of 37-62 dB above what residential areas are entitled to. Depots typically start operations at 6-7am, within the night-time acoustic period. The proposal mentions no acoustic impact assessment. (EPP Noise 2019)
Gold Coast's open space standard of 3.2 ha per 1,000 residents already falls below the international benchmark of 4 ha. The EU's Nature Restoration Regulation now legally requires no net loss of urban green space by 2030. Australia has committed to protecting 30% of land by 2030 under the Kunming-Montreal framework.
Council's own Greener Places Strategy says we need more trees to reduce urban heat. Their Climate Resilience Strategy acknowledges heatwave risk. They've spent $28.4M acquiring green space through the Natural Area Acquisition Program. Converting an existing park to a depot contradicts all of it.
The park's eucalyptus trees have been growing for decades and provide irreplaceable canopy and habitat. Bush stone-curlews are protected under Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992. The park functions as a stepping stone in an urban wildlife corridor -- remove it and you affect wildlife across surrounding suburbs.
No flora and fauna assessment, stormwater study or cultural heritage assessment has been published. The Miami-Burleigh corridor is Kombumerri Country with 20,000+ years of Aboriginal occupation and nearby sites of cultural heritage significance. The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 requires a duty of care assessment before any land-use activity.
Australian studies show parks add ~7% to nearby property values, with playgrounds within 300m adding ~$20,000. Industrial facilities depress values by 14-30% within 400-800m. Converting a park to a depot means homeowners lose the park premium and gain the industrial penalty -- a swing of 10-20%+ for immediately adjacent properties. (de Vor & de Groot, Regional Studies)
The park currently absorbs rainfall. Converting it to concrete increases runoff dramatically -- research shows every 1% increase in impervious surfaces increases annual floods by 3.3%. Park tree canopy reduces local temperatures by up to 2°C (Gold Coast study). A 46,786-person Australian study found 30%+ tree canopy is associated with 31% lower odds of psychological distress. (JAMA Network Open)
Security fencing, vehicle compounds, operational noise and early-morning activity are not compatible with a quiet residential street. A private developer would face significant planning hurdles to build this in a residential zone -- Council should hold itself to the same standard.
The Gold Coast City Plan Transport Code requires developments generating heavy vehicle traffic to accommodate HRV and AV movements onsite, not on residential streets.
Options include: land adjacent to Dan Murphy's Miami (existing commercial corridor), near the Currumbin/Tugun waste facility, within the Pizzey Park precinct (set back from homes), or retaining a portion of the existing Ozone Parade depot. If "already disturbed" land is suitable for Tugun, it should be preferred over community parkland at Miami.
The Council's FAQ asks "Why this site?" but only explains why a depot is needed in the area -- it never explains why Frank Murray Park was chosen over alternatives.
This proposal appears to be progressing via an internal decision with a voluntary survey -- not a formal Development Application. A private developer proposing the same thing would need impact assessment, statutory notification and appeal rights under the Planning Act 2016. Residents are being denied those protections.
The Pizzey Park Master Plan got media coverage (Mirage News, Kids on the Coast), pop-up events and active promotion. By contrast, this proposal has -- to the best of our knowledge -- only been communicated via small signs in the park and the Have Your Say page. The Creative Industries Precinct consultation included letterbox drops to local residents, pop-up consultation days and survey stations on Sunshine Boulevard; this proposal received none of that. Many residents only found out from neighbours.
Every submission counts. Even a short response strengthens the community's case. Be specific about the issues that matter to you.
Go to the Council SurveyVisit the council survey and submit your response. Use the talking points above for inspiration, but write in your own words -- personal submissions carry weight.
Many residents don't know about this proposal. Share this page, talk to your body corporate, and spread the word in local community groups.
Cr Nick Marshall, Division 12
Phone: 07 5581 6382 | Mobile: 0482 131 295
Email: division12@goldcoast.qld.gov.au
Search for Frank Murray Park on Google Maps and leave a review sharing what the park means to you -- the trees, the wildlife, the open space, the memories. Public reviews help show how valued this park is, and they're visible to everyone.
Post about this in local Facebook groups, Nextdoor, and anywhere Gold Coast residents discuss community issues. The more visibility, the better.