PLANS for a 200-berth marina at Toondah Harbour have been taken out of a Redland City Council draft document to revamp the Cleveland terminal.
The council will send the amended document, which outlines redevelopment options, to the State Coordinator-General in a bid to get the state to undertake the terminal's overhaul.
Revamping Toondah Harbour is Redland City's number one priority project and the draft review, outlining project completion by 2015, was compiled by consultants GHD.
The in-principle decision to eliminate plans for the marina was made at Wednesday's Planning and Policy committee meeting but will be put to next week's general meeting for final approval.
The decision allows the state government, via the Coordinator-General's office, to drive the harbour's redevelopment.
It overturns a 2007 plan which also included a five to seven-storey development at the site along with a bayside promenade and associated plaza.
Cr Craig Ogilvie, whose Division 2 takes in Toondah Harbour, welcomed the decision to ditch the 200-berth marina proposal and remove the master plan, adopted in 2007, from the redevelopment options.
Cr Ogilvie said the 2007 marina option was "like a smelly cat around council's neck", only had a "thin business case" and would destroy an adjacent dog park.
He said the marina option did not provide for parking and would not expand tourism.
"The council needs to take advantage of its coastline and maximise the opportunities for an attractive departure to Stradbroke Island ? not five-storey buildings in that area," Cr Ogilvie said.
"I am glad we are at this stage of going to the state government because it would be impossible to develop the harbour area without the state government," he said.
However, Cr Karen Williams (Div 9) said eliminating the marina option from the draft document was putting the planning for the harbour "back to square one".
"This was originally put forward as a commercially viable option," Cr Williams said. "Now we're handing it back to the state and saying 'this is your baby'.
"There is no formal commitment from the state nor is there a contingency plan if the state decides not to progress this project," Cr Williams said.
Cr Murray Elliott (Div 7) told the meeting there was a "window of opportunity" now to get the state government onboard as North Stradbroke Island moved away from a mining economy over the next eight years.
On Monday, Shadow Minister for Tourism Jann Stuckey (Currumbin) and Cleveland MP Mark Robinson visited Toondah Harbour before going to Straddie to meet tourism industry representatives.
Mr Robinson agreed with Cr Elliott and said the "window of opportunity" included a viable business case for a public-private joint venture to upgrade the harbour, vital for the island's economy.
"Getting this project driven by the Coordinator-General's office is good but the council must not wash its hands of its responsibilities," Mr Robinson said.
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