Landscape Maintenance

Twin Waters has landscape maintenance arrangements in our public infrastructure areas that have been developed between TWRA and Sunshine Coast Council. These unique arrangements were developed in 2005 to ensure our public areas are maintained to a superior standard via the additional landscape maintenance funded by the Twin Waters Residential Community Benefited Area Levy paid by all TW ratepayers. This arrangement has now become a model for other master-planned communities on the coast.

How does the Twin Waters Landscape Maintenance arrangement work?

The history of development of these unique arrangements can be viewed at the following link.

1. Reporting Landscape Maintenance Issues

Twin Waters residents with specific issues regarding public landscape maintenance (e.g., trees down, damage to lawns in parks, areas requiring specific attention etc) should:

Contact the Council directly via the following link: https://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/Council/Contact-Council/Request-for-Service-Online-Form.
Alternatively, phone the SCC on 07 5475 7272 to log your request. You will be provided a Reference Number for updates. Please retain this for future action, if needed.

Our experience has been that Council is very responsive to requests logged via their eServices portal.

Further support can be provided by the TWMRG:

If a satisfactory response is not received in a reasonable time, (say 4 weeks), please notify TWRA at our new special purpose email address: [email protected]providing the following details:

Reference Number provided by Council.
Short description of the issue / concern
Date of request issued to Council.

The date and Reference Number are vital to enable our landscaping representatives to follow-up your request for service.

Residents may also inform TWRA if there are significant wider concerns about landscape maintenance that should be considered as part of the regular formal reviews at the TWMRG meetings. This information can be communicated via e-mail to [email protected]

The TWRA encourages residents to make suggestions for landscaping improvements in Twin Waters at any time by sending an email to us at [email protected]

Please do not contact any of the TWRA Executive or Committee members by phone about landscape matters as they will direct you back to the above-mentioned processes.

2. TW Landscape Maintenance Arrangement

The Twin Waters Maintenance Charter and Schedule provides that parks in Twin Waters receive a higher standard of service compared with other public parks in the Sunshine Coast Council area, for example:

Our larger parks are mowed 30 times per year with mowers using catchers, path edges are trimmed, the gardens are mulched and parks fertilised (in accordance with the agreed Schedule)
Parks in other areas are mowed around 17 times per year without catchers, edging, mulching and fertilisers.

The extra costs above that for standard services are covered by the Levy and some additional contribution from Council.

Sunshine Coast Council uses contractors to provide landscape maintenance for the public areas within Twin Waters

Please note these arrangements only apply to public park areas within Twin Waters. As with normal Council policy across the Coast, residents are responsible for mowing and maintaining footpath areas in front of their property.

As outlined in the Charter, the Twin Waters Maintenance Reference Group (TWMRG) meets with Council officers several times per year to review and monitor performance and provide direct community input to Council’s management of the landscape maintenance arrangements.

3. Who is our current Contractor?

The Plant Management Company (TPMC), a Sunshine Coast-based maintenance company, with extensive contracts on the whole of the Coast is the current contractor with the following arrangements:

three-year contract, until 31 October 2025 (with options for limited extensions to 2026 and 2027)
Detailed performance requirements, closely monitored by Council officers, including regular audits of all TPMC works across Twin Waters

Please give the TPMC staff a friendly Twin Waters wave and make them feel welcome in our wonderful community.

TPMC staff are not authorised to take instructions from or respond to any requests for service from residents. This arrangement is managed by Council – the only people who can direct their contractor.

4. TW Maintenance Reference Group

TWRA appoints representatives to the TWMRG who work alongside Council appointed representatives. The TWMRG is chaired by our Divisional Councillor, currently Cr. Jason OPray.

Our current TWMRG representatives are: Tony Freeman, Max Mills, Geoff Baker, Jim Darcy, Derek Brown and Margaret Hamlyn.

The TWRA also has a few residents who assist with supporting our TWMRG representatives. They are volunteers from across the area who keep an eye on what is happening in their respective areas as far as landscape maintenance or other natural hazards are concerned e.g., trees down, pathways damaged and so on. These people are often regular walkers in their area and are usually very aware of what is happening around them.

5. Twin Waters Annual Maintenance Levy

Under our Twin Waters Maintenance arrangements, Twin Waters ratepayers are charged a levy that contributes towards the cost of the additional landscape services covered in the Charter.

The levy is reviewed each year and included within Council’s budget announcements. The amount of the levy for the 2023/2024 financial year is $130 per property.

It is important to note that the arrangements require that the levy must be spent on landscape maintenance which are additional to the standard services provided by Council to all ratepayers across the Coast.

If all the funds are not spent in any year, they are held in trust for use in subsequent years, to minimize any future increases in the levy or for special landscape maintenance projects e.g., the recent refurbishment of the landscaping in the roundabouts on Ocean Drive.

More information on the Development of Landscape Maintenance Arrangements.