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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marcoinpanama says:
July 27, 2011 at 6:20 am
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.
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Actually, it is like a flood in that the first time the residents of Port Albert will become aware of it is most likely when an unfortunate combination of high tides and storm surge puts water in their stores and homes. If the place actually has a history of storm floods or near floods then maybe putting buildings on four foot stilts is a good idea. And I suppose that four foot footings might not be that much more expensive than the 18 inches that might be more reasonable for 21st century sea level rise expectations.
ISTR that houses in Darwin where they are subject to enormous tides and possible tropical cyclones are built on 8 or 10 foot stilts, so the idea isn’t always and everywhere idiotic.
Given that most politicians are primarily concerned with getting re-elected, the main thrust of their efforts will typically be to obtain and maintain popular support until all the votes are in. To this end they pander to every noisy activist group that catches their ear, forgfetting thet the quiet voters also vote, and are more likely to remember such foolishness. If the Port Albert constituents act with due diligence, they will remember this come election time and remind ALL the voters of just how stupid their elected officials are – far too stupid to be trusted with public monies.
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.
—————————–
Ms. Eades probably meant to say “guinea pygmies” …
Actually this really is just a panic over nothing. Don’t just listen to interpreted news stories, and vacuous scare stories. Check with the real data. OK so there may not be an “official” sea level station actually at Port Albert. However just around the coast near Philip Island, there is an official Sea level station at STONY POINT (“Crib Point” on the map).
Here is the official data page, where you can see that apart from the annual ocillation, where the level varies by about 300mm ( about 12 inches ), there is really nothing much going on over the last 20 years and longer. If anything, the level has been slightly falling in recent times.
http://www.psmsl.org/data/obtaining/stations/1033.php
Data Authority :
National Tidal Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
PO Box 421
Kent Town 5071
South Australia
AUSTRALIA
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/PhotoSearchItemDetail.asp?M=0&B=11780427&SE=1
Darwin homes on stilts. Evidently due to storm and tidal surges.
We see this type of construction along certain rivers in the USA. Usually for vacation or weekend cottages which are built in known floodplains and below the “100 or 50 year” flood level. Such are rarely suitable for “permanent” residences as no or few utilities such as electric, sewer, water, or maintained roads are now permitted to be installed. Usually cannot be insured. And, during even minor flooding, cannot be reached except by boat and the currents may prevent even that.
I assume that the Aussie community being discussed will now require all new and resurfaced roadways to be elevated by said 1.5 meters?
When I saw someone say the sea level rise-rate was anomalous I started laughing so hard my pizza had to be trapped behind a tooth grill while I tried to not snort it through my nose.
If it had, I’d have had all I needed to get it peer reviewed! Obviously all the necessary ingredients would have been there to call it a ‘RealClimate’ “study.”
The obvious answer for those who believe sea levels must be rising (because the models tell me so) is the raise the historic pub. Hell, raise the whole street. It’s other people’s money, right.
The obvious answer for the rest of us is to shake our heads and give a low chuckle. Would Al Gore have bought that condo on San Francisco Bay if we really believed rising sea levels were going to drown it? There are plenty other AGW celebrity alarmists who own beach-front property. None of them have sold and moved to higher ground, either.
That sign doesn’t even come close to the most stupid, on the Maroondah Hwy between Mt Slide and Yea, a road carved through a forest, are signs stating “TREES NEAR ROAD”
I think I would simply try to get a permit to build a ‘temporary structure’ that would qualify for a waiver of the stilts. We still have ‘temporary’ WWII housing in some areas.
You might not be able to get a mortgage for it, but from what we’ve seen over the past couple of years, that might be a good thing.
this is terrifying, if these trends continue the sea could rise 1 metre by the year 2828. The time for debate is over, we must take drastic measures now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Arrrrrg, we’re sinking. We can’t get rid of the ridiculous law(s), so let’s instead build the Pub up a few stories. We can put an amusement park ride beneath it. And we’ll need very tall and sturdy rails atop, with huge soft slides and soft landings for the drunkards. And of course an elevator is essential. It will be smashing, darling. Much better than houses that are only 1 meter tall.
Shonky science in Australia: Climate Change Minister Penny Wong sinks to a new low
One million dollars of taxpayer’s money was given in May 20010 by Penny Wong; a scientist to stick a picket in the mud on Saibai island + to biff-up the local fear /propaganda. No, Saibai is not an island in a lake. It’s in same water that is of Sydney, New York; where the sealevel is monitored on 1000 places. Evenly distribution of gravity makes the water to rise or fall simultaneously on every sea on the planet. It’s for special reasons monitoring on Saibai Island, in Torres Straight. It’s because we are leaders in environmental deviancy; we are even proud of it !!!
It’s an island in Torres Straights. As in every straight on the planet, the water is funneled from one ocean into another, via narrow straight. The water pressure blasts even granite rock. For example: Bass Straights separated Tasmania from Victoria for the last 10 000years. If the water was demolishing only 2m a year; Bass Straights would have being now only 20km wide, but the straight is much wider. Have into account that: the currents on the latitude of Bass Straights need less mileage to go around the planet than the waters in the equatorial region as around Saibai island = the pressure is greater in Torres Straights. Indonesian archipelago narrows the currents from the Indian ocean as high-pressure hose onto the Torres Straights islands for 6 hours, then spreading into Pacific (the pull and push force). Then it turns the other way, every day and night. Anyway, the strength into Straights is 700-900% higher than of normal tide. New Guinea island and Cape York are narrowing / concentrating the water = Saibai island is the target = getting blasted. Presume that: from Byron Bay to Port Moresby was no land west = the currents would be going east, then west. But because is lots of land in-between, all that water is squeezed via narrow straights, digging the islands in the straights. In physics known as: ,,the Venturi Force’’. That’s where Saibai Island is – on the firing line. As experiment: let the water-hose to run on the ground as normal water flow. Then with your finger block 70% of the opening of the hose = you will see the extra strength the water blasts. But that scientist suppose not to know that; instead to fabricate and to scare the islanders and the nation that: the sea is rising from the phony global warming…! He knows that: if he tells the truth = he will not get any funds from the honesty deficient politicians.
Reason 2: Any soil disturbed on the island, the wind is blowing it into that strong current = goes into Pacific. Is not as in Cairns for example. Where the soil washed from the hills into the sea – goes back in front of Cairns mudflats. Reason 3: Saibai island is geographically positioned in regular cyclone and high tropical storms area. Soil is washed into the strong currents – no mountains to erode and compensate. Reason 4: Australian tectonic plate is pushing New Guinea = New Guinea’s mountains are rising; to compensate for erosion. In the same time, those mountains are pushing back (reaction on action). That is another reason for Saibai to sink slowly. None of those reasons has being taken in consideration by the shonky scientists involved in the propaganda. Why not? A: because is taxpayer’s money paid to the traitors as reward, to keep the fear alive. If CEO of a private company was squandering company money for personal interest, that is detrimental for humanity – he would be made to pay the money back from his own pocket, why shouldn’t Penny Wong?
If people did know the real problems, they would plant prostrate grass as in Cairns backyards; to prevent soil erosion from strong winds and regular storms on every lowland island on the planet. But because the phony global warming suppose to be rising the sealevel… because the essential molecule for life, CO2 is falsely blamed, no prevention can be implemented. Land in any straights on the planet are the worse place to monitor the sea rising, or falling. That’s where ,,The Honorable Senator Penny Wong’’ is wasting taxpayers money to con the nation (this is just a small example). When the strong currents and storms wash some soil; to make the people on the island to think that: seawater is up a bit, by next Monday, or next month will get up by few meters. To panic the ignorant people and children on the island, by using taxpayer’s cash. Those people and children, and their nerves are being used as a sacrificial lamb, for the misleading propaganda…