This story is about why laws bowing to sea level worries will make signs like this at left more common in one Australian town.
I’ve seen stupidity from local city governments before, but this one takes the cake. Residents of a small Australian port city are being “squashed” by an old law that says rooftops can’t be higher than the local historic pub, while new building codes demand a 1.5 meter (~5 feet) upward offset to deal with “sea level rise”. Is it any wonder one resident says this?
“We’re sick to death of the climate change issue and how it’s impacting our community,” she says.
From the Australian:
Higher floors, lower roofs: the town being shrunk by climate change angst
PORT Albert, on Victoria’s southeast coast, is a pretty-as-a-picture fishing village that is at war with the science of climate change.
Residents in the village have been told that because of rising sea levels, new housing has to be built on stumps almost 1.5m above ground level, despite the fact many of the town’s original colonial buildings have withstood time and tide on ground level without ill effect since the 19th century.
At the same time, a heritage overlay in the village, introduced more than a decade ago, prevents roof lines being built higher than the roof of the local pub, which is claimed to be Victoria’s oldest continuously licensed hotel.
Residents have seen land values plummet by 38 per cent in the past year under the weight of the overlays. Investment in the town has stalled. And Port Albert Progress Association president Donna Eades says that, with rising floor levels and roof lines limited by the height of the pub, “the next generation of Port Albert residents will have to be pygmies”.
Ms Eades says Port Albert residents have been made the “guinea pigs” for rising sea-level predictions, while the charm and character of the historic township has been sacrificed to climate change fashion.
“We’re sick to death of the climate change issue and how it’s impacting our community,” she says.
h/t to WUWT reader Rosalind Smallwood. Full story here:
Let’s look at some nearby Sea Level Data. From Stony Point, Victoria, about 80 miles NW of Port Albert, courtesy of Australia’s BoM:
Source: http://www.bom.gov.au/ntc/IDO71054/IDO71054SLI.shtml
Looks pretty darned flat for the past 20 years, doesn’t it?
Next we have Lorne Jetty, Victoria, about 150 miles NW of Port Albert:
Source: http://www.bom.gov.au/ntc/IDO71056/IDO71056SLI.shtml
Yes I can see why the local government of Port Albert is terrified of sea level rise /sarc
It may be that civil disobedience in building codes will become rampant there, which may be the last resort of many to this madness.
==============================================================
UPDATE:
Just to be sure, I plotted the data provided by BoM myself (from the source links I gave above) in the two graphs below and calculated the change in sea level rate using a polynomial curve fit for each station.
Lets take the worst case rate of Stony Point, Victoria with rate of 2.45 mm/yr.
The vertical offset required by the Port Albert town government is 1.5 meters, or 1500 mm.
At a rate of 2.45 mm/yr into 1500 mm, that result is 612 years for the offset to be met. If we use the lower rate from Lorne Jetty, the number rises to 1304 years.
It seems to me that all of the buildings built this century will be long gone before they need the offset required by the Port Albert town government.
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Dave Wendt says:
July 26, 2011 at 10:26 pm
James Sexton says:
July 26, 2011 at 4:57 pm
….
====
Hey, look guys. I’m not wild about the JSON/Nasa/IPCC 3.0mm per year number either. I’m tending to think that it should be much closer to the tidal gauge 1.8mm per year than it is … and also that the tidal gauge numbers are more likely to be too high than too low because subsidence caused by pumping fluids (water/oil) out from under the gauges is difficult to measure and is likely to be underestimated.
At the very least, climate “scientists” should have a plausible explanation for the difference rather than simply grabbing the highest value they can find then assuming that it is really far too low and we’re all gonna die.
BUT, let’s not lose track of the fact that sea level change is a rate of change, not an absolute number, so a wide variety of errors in computation should tend to cancel out over time. I had some experience many decades ago with satellite tracking software and don’t believe for a second that JASON2 can actually measure sea level to mm accuracy. Furthermore, I worked for a number of years in the complex (military) systems business and know only too well that system design goals all too often aren’t met in practice. But I do believe that after averaging tens of thousands of measurements a day for years, the system might well be capable of measuring sea level change to a fraction of a mm.
So, I’m off to look at James’ unintended blog
Steve Schapel.
I will be joining the trucks In my work utility vehicle. The invitation for all to join in may see a huge amount of our grey haired nomads in their retirement mobile homes swamp our capital. The sea level thing has so many holes in it, it reminds me of a crumpet. They should in honesty check out the thousands of marked low tide dry rocks mapped by the British Admiralty all over the world. The achievement they did mapping the world was the equivalent of the moon landings in its scope. Those rocks are mapped and marked, the odd two centuries later are still dry at low tide, why is this so.
How accurately can you determine the hight of a satellite orbit?
Leon Brozyna says:
July 26, 2011 at 6:49 pm
There you have it — proof positive that intelligence is not a prerequsite for government employment.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Leon, not completely right. Actually the governments (all over the world?) would not employ someone endowed with a thinking brain. One only needs a YES brain.
>>>>>>>>>>>
And who is going to save the pub from climate change? That’s my major worry.
wayne Job says:
July 27, 2011 at 1:31 am
Steve Schapel.
….The sea level thing has so many holes in it, it reminds me of a crumpet. They should in honesty check out the thousands of marked low tide dry rocks mapped by the British Admiralty all over the world. The achievement they did mapping the world was the equivalent of the moon landings in its scope. Those rocks are mapped and marked, the odd two centuries later are still dry at low tide, why is this so.
>>>>>>
Steve, great post. I am Maltese and here in Malta ( a very geologically stable rock) was under British rule since 1810 till 1964. I’m sure we have our Island mapped and marked as you said. Even before that, our Grand Harbour existed even before the Romans came here. Examining the old moorings, bastions and their foundations and other markers, one will defintilely come to the conclusion that the mediterranean sea has not seen any significant sea level changes (up or down) for 2000 years+. It could be that we had rises and dips, but the net rise during 2000 years of history and architecture is practically nil. Have a look.
http://www.google.com.mt/imgres?imgurl=http://www.agius.talktalk.net/melit/stangelo2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.agius.com/malta/harbour.htm&h=294&w=800&sz=20&tbnid=fwBWNhxBJ6UT0M:&tbnh=47&tbnw=127&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmalta%2Bgrand%2Bharbour%2Bphoto%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=malta+grand+harbour+photo&docid=DYiLyP0PATx7cM&sa=X&ei=HdsvTtvRNou0-Qa7j-iJBA&ved=0CBcQ9QEwAA&dur=3058
And this village was founded by the Phoenicians 3000 years ago. No change:
http://www.google.com.mt/imgres?imgurl=http://www.photoatlas.com/photo/malta_marsaxlokk.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.photoatlas.com/pics01/pictures_of_malta_03.html&h=433&w=640&sz=68&tbnid=zrp_jPd3x3yAPM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=137&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmalta%2Bmarsaxlokk%2Bphoto%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=malta+marsaxlokk+photo&docid=wIUdJvtFLLwLWM&sa=X&ei=w9svTr33FITOswa38ZAZ&ved=0CBcQ9QEwAA&dur=549
Friends:
Human existence requires adequate supplies of energy, food, shelter and water. An insufficient supply of any one of these requirements kills people.
So, anti-humans oppose supplies of these requirements. In many places they are achieving
displacement of adequate and reliable energy supplies with wind, solar and biomass,
and
displacement of food production by using agricultural land for production of expensive and inefficient transport fuels.
The above report is an example of the anti-humans removing adequate shelter by displacing adequate dwellings with homes only habitable by dwarfs.
The anti-humans now only need to find ways to inhibit potable water supplies and they will have adopted every possible method to reduce human population (i.e. to kill people) other than genocide.
And before anybody asks, yes, this post is a serious comment and not sarcasm.
Richard
These new houses shouldn’t be a problem. Unless Australians have changed a lot from the ones I know, they’ll be in the pub most of the time in any case.
Of course there is no need to worry if the ocean is lapping round the edge of your house.
Just call in those wonderful guys at Boeing. The Boeing Company and SkyHook International Inc. announced that the design of the SkyHook Heavy Lift Vehicle (HLV) means they can now lift up your house while a friend shoves a few bricks underneath, and that will keep you dry for another couple of decades.
http://media.defenseindustrydaily.com/images/AIR_LTA_Skyhool_JHL-40_Concept_Arctic_lg.jpg
Of course there is a cheaper way ……
The only legal way to build a new building in this town would be on a slant, so that one could at least sit in a chair at a certain angle (it would feel like a La-Z-Boy, I guess), in which position one could inhabit the room with a certain degree of comfort. Of course, standing or walking could be a problem, and wheelchairs would have to be de-gravitized (neat work if you can get it); but one could achieve a diagonal height that would accommodate human stature. Be sure to introduce this idea to the city council.
Please note that this plan has not yet been submitted to the Engineering Department nor the Architecture Board.
Mods, mathfeats is spam.
[Reply: Thanks TB-mod]
Where have we seen something like this before? Oh, yes, when religious dogma meets reality. This is just another example of why AGW is the new religion.
Kelvin Vaughan says:
July 27, 2011 at 1:35 am
How accurately can you determine the hight of a satellite orbit?
====
More accurately than you might think. They use a sort of backwards GPS system called DORIS that allows the satellites to determine their position using signals from a number of constantly transmitting ground stations at precisely known locations. That gets around having to compute drag with impossible accuracy.
Still though, they are mostly depending on averaging together a large number of measurements (around 55000 a day after eliminating ground, sea ice, and a few other returns for JASON2 — I think) to get around the errors in individual measurements.
wayne Job says:
July 27, 2011 at 1:31 am
“Those rocks are mapped and marked, the odd two centuries later are still dry at low tide, why is this so.”
====
Conceptually, and maybe in fact, the reason is that the surface of the Earth isn’t static. Some places in the high Arctic (e.g. Churchill, Manitoba, some parts of Northern Scandinavia are rising rapidly. They are still recovering from being pushed down by glaciers during the last glaciation. Other places like the Hawaiian Islands other than Hawaii itself are presumably sinking. They are volcanos cut off from the magma source — cooling and settling. And others are sinking because of human activity — primarily pumping of oil and water. Terminal Island in Los Angeles harbor is surrounded by huge berms because they pumped large amounts of oil out from under it in the 1930s and it sank.
Also, the rate of sea level change appears to be quite low. Averaged tidal gauge data for the 20th Century puts the change for the century at about 18cm (7 inches). The IPCC claims that sea level did not change significantly prior to the 20th century — which, like anything from the IPCC, may be fact or fiction. But even if we assume another 7 inches or so since the admiralty maps were drawn, it would still only add up to about a foot. So, between local rising in many places and the slow rate of sea level rise, it wouldn’t be any surprise at all to find most of the rocks mapped by the Admiralty surveys still are visible.
Pat mentioned it above, but it bears elaboration.
Sea level rise is not like a flood, which comes for a few days, then goes away. When the sea level rises, it is PERMANENT. Putting houses up on stilts only means that they will be little islands, with gardens, sidewalks, streets, sewers, water supplies etc. all under water – forever (or until the carbon taxes do their job and reverse the situation). The townspeople will be boat people. DId the absurdity of this obvious bit of logic ever penetrate the discussion by the town council? Didn’t think so. The nice thing about this argument is that it doesn’t require determining how or why or if the sea level will rise, but only the proposed response to that belief.
D. L. Hawkins thoughtfully provided the email addresses of the council. Perhaps we should all do our bit by each asking an incredibly obvious question, like “How do you propose to provide sewer services underwater?”
Raise all buildings by 1.5 m.
Make residents buy stilts (1.5 m of course).
Issue tourists life jackets.
Make Karmakaze the town cryer to explain what sea level really was like during the 19th Century.
Rename the town Stickittoem.
FFS, I would even travel there for a visit.
OK S. says:
July 26, 2011 at 7:33 pm
I hear ya. I didn’t really believe it either but there are many thousands of quotes of it all the intertubes and I couldn’t find any refutation of it on Snopes.com. I spent about 10 minutes trying to find out if was true or false and couldn’t make a determination. I figured there was probably more to the story such as it being a law aimed at the Army Corps of Engineers who are generally the rule-makers for major flood control systems. States don’t have the jurisdiction to tell the USACE what to do. State legislature would surely know that so it was probably not a law but rather a resolution.
In fact I just now did a little bit more searching before posting and found this:
The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. ~Harlan Ellison
Well, those poor folk can write a submission to the Minister of Planning, Matthew Guy, who is asking all Victorians how they think the planning system should be improved. They need to have the submission in by 31 August, though.
When exactly did Oz become a nation ruled by w*****s? What happened to the strong, independent Aussie of yore?
Can’t they just jack up the local pub by 1,5 mtr? Problem solved.
About the climate madness: these government people should be trialed in court for fraud.
Civil Disobedience in building codes is quite possible. In fact it is practiced all the time in the U.S. at least. Code says one thing, the homebuilder knows this, the inspector knows this. The house looks up to code when the inspector comes, the inspector signs off. The house changes when the inspector leaves. I admit, 1.5m Stilts are a difficult thing to change once the inspector is gone, but there are still ways around the requirement, like clever grading of the land, a basement slab prone to sinking as the ground packs in underneath, etc..
Also, 1.5 meters? Really? I have to have the equivalent of a garage underneath my house for floodwaters? If that’s really necessary I’m not sure I’d want to even live in such an area.
With Lady Muck- Bluey as the Prime Minister, and her mob,
Australia is led by a collection of jelly kneed sooks. Yes ma’am
the MPs cry as they bend over for another spanking.
The people look on aghast, but are too stunned to even speak,
because they cannot believe the pantomime that masquerades
for government nowadays in Canberra.
Abbot should be round at every Labor MPs house, explaining
why they should change sides, before those other berks and
dipsticks destroy the source of Australia’s wealth. He must
explain that the State CANNOT provide social services if
there is ni money to do so. It is their best interests to cross
the floor of the chamber and join the Liberal Party, if they
really want the State to be able to afford, State Pensions,
Free travel for the over 65s, Free medical treatment for the
poor, and indeed less poor & more wealthy and healthy
people in Australia.
Let’s do the math:
Take a sea level rise of 3.2mm per year.
1.5M = 1,500mm
1,500mm / 3.2mm = about 469 years. (I hope the house is well built to last that long!)
This assume that the sea is right at the doorstep of the house; however, IF the house is a few meters above sea level, it’s going to take a lot longer.
The folks at the Univ of Colorado will have to adjust their sea level rise data once more to account for rising first floor building elevations.
Lets do another math:
Take sea level actually falling and not rising at all
$Billions wasted on fatuous schemes
How many years in the can will Lady Muck-Bluey actually receive ?