12:00a.m. 3rd March 2008

| By Jane Gardner

Division 1 covers a sprawling area, from western rural centres north-east to the proposed new Kawana Hospital, taking in the proposed new Caloundra city centre at the airport.

Because it encompasses a large section of the southern part of the Sunshine Coast, division 1 will be host to a massive amount of development and growth in the coming years.

It covers Bald Knob, Beerburrum, Beerwah, Bells Creek, Birtinya, Bokarina, Booroobin, Bribie Island North, Caloundra West, Coochin Creek, Crohamhurst, Glasshouse Mountains, Glenview, Golden Beach, Landsborough, Little Mountain, Maleny, Meridian Plains, Mooloolah Valley, Mount Mellum, Palmview, Peachester, Pelican Waters, Warana and Wootha.

Key issues for the future will be managing growth and providing infrastructure to sustain the population influx.

There are 15,609 voters enrolled in division 1.

Sharon Vonhoff is one of those division 1 voters.

Ms Vonhoff has raised her teenage boys, Lachlan, 15, and Jordan, 13, in Beerwah. She wants whoever is elected to represent her division to ensure they can raise their own kids in the area one day.

“I still want open space, I don’t want cluster housing and that’s what I mean when I say sustainable growth is so important,” she said.

“There’s nothing here for teenagers except the skatepark. I’d like to see a youth centre built in Beerwah.

“The rail corridor is important too, so we’re all fully linked all the time. At the moment there’s only a bus and it comes about three times a day. It’s very poor.”

For our election coverage and candidates nominating for council, visit our election '08 page.