Lightning over Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. Peter Kennelly / ABC

30 January 2012 (ABC) – Lake Macquarie Council’s effort to manage the impact of rising sea levels has again raised the ire of developer Jeff McCloy, this time over his plans to develop the former Pasminco smelter site. A council flood study found thousands of lakeside properties would be in danger of flooding by 2100 due to rising seas. Mr McCloy has already threatened a class action against the Council for devaluing waterfront properties. But he says he is just been given a new set of sea level predictions for the development site at Boolaroo. “They’ve adopted a different policy and given us different levels for that site because of the threat of the rising sea level in 90 years from now, which is a ridiculous number,” he said “The 100 blocks we were expecting and working on for all this time, it’s going to cut them down by 20 or 30, unless there’s an enormous amount of fill placed.”

Developer concerned about sea level predictions