As the Councils gear up to go to residents to ask their opinion on the Brown Hill Creek flood mitigation solutions the debate heats up as well. Number one concern is that the state government has no money and has indicated this, this leaves the affordability of any works in doubt.
Secondly the cost of easements which were calculated by the investigation team to be about $1.6 million are now estimated to be in the order of $8 to $16 million. This is before any legal fees are added to the amounts. This is starting to make a dam seem like a cost effective solution if it is still affordable at all.
It would be no surprise to those running the project, including Unley councils GM that easements are not the preferred option. I have over 300 square metres of Brown Hill Creek on my title and have made it clear at both group and individual meetings our preference is for the land to be acquired by some level of government. It is indicated in 2012 plan to have an acquisition value of $500 per sqm and that will be our starting point of negotiations. It is unlikely this project will ever move forward.
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