Quarry threat fires up Pomona

KIN Kin residents say the narrow, winding road of the Kin Kin Range will be made even more dangerous with quarry trucks travelling over it.

THE Kin Kin quarry trucks, if they hit locals roads, are going to have run the gauntlet of one very peeved Pomona.

Pomona locals were among hundreds of protesters who filled Pomona Town Hall last Thursday night with a bristling indignation that comes when communities feel their backs are against the wall.

Incensed people like Lorraine and Bob Bollard were there in force.

They bought a church along Kin Kin-Pomona Road for an artist’s studio and were devastated to learn it may soon be a busy haulage route for 42- tonne gravel trucks.

“I’m an artist – can you imagine trying to use it with all those trucks rumbling past?” Mr Bollard said.

The couple was among a smattering of locals sporting new No Quarry In Kin Kin protest T-shirts, which were straight off the printing presses that day – complete with the blunt back message in red: “Let’s STOP THE QUARRY before it kills us”.

Expect to see many more in the weeks ahead, along with protest banners along the roads in the district.

A number of Kin Kin residents claimed to have had a foretaste of what life will be like if their Planning and Environment Court challenge, set down for a six-day hearing in June, is lost.

One woman said after workmen turned up to connect “three-phase” power to the Neilsen’s quarry site in Sheppersons Lane, the electricity went off to surrounding homes.

“We lost power from 9am to 5pm. I was running around with buckets all day because in our set-up you need power to flush the toilets.”

The meeting was chaired by Pomona community leader Steve Hilditch, of the local progress, art and tourism association, who came ready to take the fight to the Sunshine Coast council and the quarry.

The Kin Kin Community Group (KKCG) has launched a legal challenge against council, seeking its past quarry approvals be declared invalid. This would force Neilsen’s to seek a new approval for a material change of use that the community could actively contest.

Mr Hilditch said the safety of residents, property values and the lifestyle of Pomona were under direct threat.

“Safety of residents along the proposed haulage routes and through our villages is paramount.

“The risk of serious injury or fatal accident with the proposed huge trucks and dog trailers is increased 40-fold.

“Our road system is too narrow to carry these kind of monster trucks with the regularity proposed.”

He said school buses, posties, tourists, visitors and commuters were in the firing line.

“The proposed route goes through the heart of Pomona village, through the CBD. This can’t be allowed to happen.

“The trucks would then spew out their noise, dust and fumes over the patrons of the sidewalk cafes and other businesses.”

Mr Hilditch said he had believed council was about encouraging true village life.

“We believe these trucks will chase people away from Pomona. They will spend their dollar elsewhere, we can’t afford that.

“Our community is not seeking a few token conditions which will be applied upon application approval. We do not want this application approval at all, not now... not ever.”

“The trucks would then spew out their noise, dust and fumes over the patrons of the sidewalk cafes and other businesses.”