The Gold Coast’s Rapid Transport System is another step closer, with Transport Minister Anthony Albanese reinforcing the Federal Government’s commitment to the project.

This move has seen over $110m worth of roadworks contract go out to tender, and added further credibility to the project’s 2014 completion date.  Within it’s first decade of operation, the new light rail system is planned to generate around 6300 jobs (directly and indirectly) as well as cutting the Gold Coast’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 110,000 tonnes.

As part of its $90m, decade-long program, Council have purchased three new properties to set aside for parkland. The sites include a 1.1ha site in Robina, 12.6ha site in Ormeau and 21ha site in Upper Coomera.  The latter sites are slated for sporting fields and non-motorised watersports.

4 years into the program, nearly 45ha of parkland have already been purchased.

Mayor Ron Clarke announced today that a 7000sqm block on Cypress Avenue in Surfers Paradise, currently home to a car-park, is slated as a possible new green space area.

The move is still subject to Council resolution, and would not take place until after part of the site was used for the construction of the future Rapid Transport system, but it would answer growing calls from residents and business alike to improve the amenity of Surfers Paradise by adding more open public space.

The Council’s Sustainable City Future Committee has endorsed the option to extend the Rapid Transport system from it’s current northern terminus at the new Gold Coast Hospital to run up Olsen Avenue, past Harbour Town Shopping Centre and to Helensvale Railway Station via Brisbane Road.

This extension would link the Rapid Transport system with the existing Varsity Lakes to Brisbane Airport rail link.

The final decision remains in the hands of State Transport Minister Rachel Nolan.

Mayor Ron Clarke has announced that the $25m redevelopment of the Surfers Paradise foreshore is due to commence on the first of February.  The project will begin with work on the northern strip between Elkhorn Avenue and the Cavill Avenue mall.

Plans include a 20m wide pedestrian promenade and bikeway, as well as new landscaping, amenities, beach shelters, BBQs and seating.  The area has been designed to more effectively link Surfers Paradise with the beach, and provide a better venue for events, like the New Years Eve fireworks.

After putting last year’s property assessment on hold, the Department of Environment and Resource Management will be proceeding with a city-wide valuation check – the first since 2006.

Despite the turbulent market of the past eighteen months, the new valuations are expected to push the average land value in some coastal suburbs, including Mermaid Beach and Surfers Paradise over the $1m mark. Suburbs like Robina and Coomera are also expected to show strong growth.

Used to calculate Council Rates, ratepayers will likely see an increase in their annual bills, with the new valuations expected to come into force June 30 2010.

With completion of the $324m Robina to Varsity Lakes rail link and $25m Varsity Lakes train station due later this year, Premier Anna Bligh has announced that the new station will form the hub of a major future development, staged over the next 10 to 15 years.

The plans include up to 50,000sqm of commerical space, as well as signficant residentail development.  Part of the Government’s ‘Building for Jobs’ plan, the precinct is expected to support up to 2500 office and 350 retail jobs – as well as the boost to construction jobs during the building process itself.

Ms. Bligh hopes to have the first stages of development underway by 2011.

Under a new plan released by the Gold Coast City Council, housing density in the rapidly-growing Northern Corridor suburb of Coomera could be significantly increased.

With the population of the area expected to burgeon in coming years, Council are suggesting that a shift from the typical quarter-acre block to more dense high-rise living will be required to house the new residents.

The idea of up to 15-storey buildings in the suburb has upset some residents and received criticism from several industry insiders, including Bill Morris author of the Midwood Report who feels that such high density in an area where people are looking for affordable, large homesites “may have the effect of ceasing development”.

The highest density will be built around the Coomera Town Centre – which incorporates the train station and is also earmarked for future State Government facilities, including a community centre, pool and library.  At a planned density of 200 dwellings per hectare, it is comparable to parts of Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach.  Further out, densities are planned to range between 25 and 150 dwellings per hectare.

If the plan is implemented, it will be an interesting test of Council’s planned ‘new urbanism’.  Few can argue against the fact that given the Gold Coast’s rate of population growth higher density living will form an integral part of any future housing developments, however there is still thought to be a certain reluctance for people to give up the idea of ‘the Great Australian Dream’ for apartment living.

In another milestone for the $1bn Southport-Broadbeach Light Rail project, the State Government has committed to the project.

The current schedule has surveying work beginning late this year, with tracks due to be laid from 2011.  The first passengers are expected to climb on board in 2014.

Tenders will be put out into the private sector to secure an operator for the Light Rail system over the  next 18 months.

The tram line will run from the Griffith University Hospital in Southport, (which is currently under construction) through Southport and Surfers Paradise and terminate in Broadbeach.

The first stage, of the extension of the Brisbane Airport to Coolangatta rail link is due to open by the end of the year.

Currently running from Brisbane Airport to Robina, the new link will extend to Varsity Lakes, adding another 4.1km of track to the Gold Coast line.

Part of the QLD Government’s$107bn infrastructure plan, the longer Gold Coast line is designed  complement the planned light rail link slated to run between Southport & Broadbeach.