Gold Coast City Council extending controversial Kurrawa Beach Club’s operation for another three years
A beach bar trial will go ahead at Kurrawa for the next three years after being backed by a majority of councillors. SEE HERE
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A beach bar trial will go ahead at Kurrawa for the next three years after being backed by a majority of councillors.
Only councillors Brooke Patterson, Peter Young, Bob La Castra and Daphne McDonald at a full council meeting at the Evandale Chamber on Tuesday voted against the recommendation.
Councillor Hermann Vorster said the council had spent $1m on an event space at the Kurrawa Terrace during the Commonwealth Games.
“I hope my colleagues have open eyes,” he said. “I certainly have open eyes. Voting against this will lower the benchmark with future applications.
“What a low bar that this. What a high bar this is.”
Ms Patterson was the only councillor who spoke against the trial.
She said she was concerned about the recommendations, which included planning changes allowing for a future bar applicant to make a “material change of use” for the site.
“It’s bigger than Ben Hur for a trial,” she said.
A protest planned outside the chamber did not proceed. A few opponents appeared in the gallery.
Beach bar survey ‘hardly a ringing endorsement’
June 13: “Out of touch” leaders have been accused of double standards in their support of allowing grog on city beaches.
Gecko campaigner Lois Levy says councillors are happy for the beach to be turned into a bar “when drinking of alcohol in parklands immediately adjacent to beaches is banned”.
“This sets a very bad example to our young people and is purely for the benefit of a business focused on making profits,” she said.
“Apart from a little rent, what do the ratepayers of the Gold Coast get from this cynical exercise.”
Ms Levy also questioned the weight of a council survey, in which 57 per cent supported a beach bar at Kurrawa.
“It is hardly a ringing endorsement.”
At a recent lifestyle committee meeting at council, a majority of councillors – Hermann Vorster, Pauline Young, Cameron Caldwell and William Owen-Jones – backed Mayor Tom Tate in extending the beach trial to determine community support for new tourism product.
Committee members Brooke Patterson and Peter Young were opposed and are expected to be supported by colleague Daphne McDonald at Tuesday’s full council meeting, which follows the vote on the 2022-23 budget.
In an email sent to Cr McDonald, a resident complained about the stained furniture at the beach bar and supplied photographs of two cabanas.
“The toilets could only be described as an eyesore,” the resident wrote.
“Is this really the quality of outlet Mayor Tate thinks is going to attract visitors?”
Wildlife Queensland Gold Coast and hinterland president Sally Spain said residents opposed to the beach bar would protest outside the Evandale Chambers on Tuesday from 8am.
“We’ve been talking to people down at Kurrawa,” Ms Spain said.
“Lots of people, despite the surveying, didn’t know about this.
“We hope people can get away from work and turn up for the protest.
“I don’t think councillors are in touch with public reality on this.
“The councillors don’t seem to realise we have the backing of Wildlife Queensland headquarters. They are concerned this precedent could open up beaches in other areas to this type of infrastructure.”
Kurrawa resident Jeff McDermid has asked councillors to reject the beach bar proposal and leave the beaches for “general enjoyment and natural processes”.
He said residents in the area supported the beaches being used for volleyball and by the surf club for its carnivals.
Mr McDermid said the council should engage with Kurrawa SLSC to determine if they would be interested in a joint proposal to an extension of their Tower 28 Cafe’s trading conditions.
The club could be given a permit to continue trading after the normal closing time after lunch through to 10pm on the grassed area to the beach side of the cafe with temporary fencing introduced to control access, he said.
“Having a beach bar operated by a not-for-profit community would enable council to hand-on-heart unequivocally state they are offering a truly iconic and unique beach bar experience, and not some copy of a European or Asian model,” Mr McDermid said.
“There are existing public toilet facilities on both sides and close to the surf club obviating the need for unsightly and smelly portaloo type facilities.”
What to expect after city’s first beach bar given nod
June 2: Let’s take an inside look at our city’s first beach bar. It’s certain to go ahead, but who operates it and how remains unclear.
A council’s officers report on the trial on the Kurrawa Beach Club from December last year to March found rain or overcast weather marred 47 of a possible 76 days of trade. Covid impacted on patronage as well.
A consultant’s survey showed 69 per cent of visitors had a positive experience at the bar. Some residents questioned the sample size and only 31 businesses interviewed.
At a transport committee meeting on Tuesday, a majority of councillors, after toughening up some officer recommendations, backed a further three-year trial in which the beach club would operate for six months of the year.
Councillor Peter Young got these responses to questions:
* It cost ratepayers about $40,000 for consultants to do the survey.
* The operator paid about $500,000 to install and “bump in and bump out the event”.
* Council got no income because fees were waived.
* Ball park costs are unknown for the three-year extension, but would cover the development application and planning consultant, and if council was to undertake any infrastructure works around the site to improve for the beach club and other events.
* A fee or rent to the operator can be made for using the space.
* Visitors in the first trial had free access, but paid for drinks and a kabana.
* Council is trustee for the reserve owned by the state government.
* The initial trial was approved by using an “operational temporary use” of the foreshore area.
* Five food and beverage operators applied and one “entertainment” operator. Australian Venue Co got the nod, but that can change in the next round of offers.
Councillors at the transport committee want to ensure a wider range of applicants are able to apply for a “material change of use”.
This would allow the Kurrawa Surf Life Saving Club, just a couple of hundred metres south, to put its hand up, if it wished. No dialogue has occurred with the club yet.
A material change of use means residents can submit objections, and councillors later either approve, add changes or reject the application. So they gain back some control on the space.
Cr Young had sensed the original officer recommendation created a tension. It meant the CEO would assess the application and approve it.
Planning chair Cameron Caldwell told the meeting: “So we could never see this ever again.”
He backed Councillor Hermann Vorster’s recommendation, which means the successful applicant will have their beach bar proposal scrutinised and voted on by councillors.
A full council meeting on June 14 will decide whether to continue with the concept.
Your columnist knows predicting votes upsets some councillors. What the heck?
Expect Peter Young, Brooke Patterson, Daphne McDonald and possibly Bob La Castra to vote in the negative – a super majority for Mayor Tom Tate, who wants new tourism attractions.
It’s clear people either love it – some drive down from the Sunny Coast – or hate it.
Evandale gallery veteran and regular protester Sally Spain, from the Greens, calls it a “liquor shop”.
A visitor told consultants: “If this becomes a permanent establishment, better toilet facilities are needed.”
So there’s going to be a stink, isn’t there?
Revealed: Fate of Gold Coast’s beach bar and skydiving at Spit
May 31: The beach club bar and skydiving operation on the foreshore will get extended trials, after the first round of voting by city councillors at committee meetings.
Council’s lifestyle committee unanimously backed an officer’s recommendation for a trial of skydiving off Philip Park at The Spit to continue to August 2023.
The item was not debated as the first 12 months of the trial was not formally opposed by residents.
Only 63 of a possible 2000 maximum landings occurred due to poor weather and the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the Kurrawa beach club bar sparked more than two hours of debate at a transport committee meeting later in the day.
In emails to councillors, some residents complained that the survey sample of 2721 participants was not high and only one of the 31 businesses interviewed was from the food and hospitality industry.
The outcome from surveying was mixed with some residents and visitors complaining about the standard of toilets, unsightly fencing and other back-of-house visual problems.
Councillors strengthened the officer’s recommendations, demanding that the application would not be decided and handled by the council CEO, but require a development application that could be assessed by a future committee.
The vote to proceed with a three-year trial, enabling the bar to operate six months annually, was supported by Mayor Tom Tate and councillors Hermann Vorster, Pauline Young, Cameron Caldwell, William Owen-Jones and Mark Hammel.
Only councillors Brooke Patterson and Peter Young were opposed. Deputy Mayor Donna was present, but is not on the committee so could not vote.
Councillor Patterson raised several concerns, including that the majority of the 31 businesses who supported the trial indicated they wanted to get a partnership with the venture. She believed the results were “skewed”.
“Yes, the 31 is disappointing,” an officer replied, saying it was difficult to get Broadbeach business owners to take part.
Cr Patterson wanted the council to take a “step back” and said she could not support a future trial as it set a precedent and be “the start in 20 years of commercialisation of our beaches”.
When asked why the trial was started, officers said “to test beach offerings” on the Coast and widen tourism product.
Cr Vorster said councillors had backed an extension of the skydiving trial because the data, due to weather and Covid, made it impossible to “make a fully informed decision”.
“We will know more in three years than we know in 28 days,” he said, speaking in favour of an extended trial for the beach club bar.
But as a compromise, he suggested that if there was similar support for a further beach club trial, it should trigger a development application to be considered by councillors at a future committee rather than be ticked off by officers.
Planning chair Cr Caldwell agreed, leading to a change in the recommendation in which an independent application would need to be lodged and must be viewed by committee and consider resident concerns about amenity problems.
A vote by all councillors on both trials will be made at a full council meeting on June 14.
Beach bar green light paves way for more venues on sand
May 27: The Kurrawa Beach Club bar will operate for at least six months each year and trigger a new hotel and function licence for foreshore areas, under plans being considered by the council.
The Bulletin has also learned a raft of changes and conditions are needed to appease neighbouring residents opposed to the new Broadbeach tourism attraction.
Councillors will vote at a transport committee meeting on Tuesday on an officer recommendation to extend the beach club trial for another three years.
Mayor Tom Tate has already voiced his strong support.
In February, only councillor Daphne McDonald opposed a request to extend the trial.
The city’s strongest environmental advocate Peter Young was away on leave.
Council officers found that rain or overcast weather marred 47 of a possible 76 days of trade. Covid-19 impacted on patronage as well.
Officers wrote it was in the public interest to continue the beach club trial on the Kurrawa Terrace and continue to collect beach club operator and community feedback.
“On that basis, it is recommended the city continues the beach club as a trial, in principle a six-month operation per calendar year over three years to gain further information on the benefits and impacts of the beach club opportunity,” an officer wrote.
Officers will recommend council apply for a development approval for a material change of use for “a hotel and potentially include a function facility and tourist attraction” to provide the city with powers to activate different operations on the beach.
This will enable third-party submissions, including feedback from residents, along with appeal rights.
A survey so far showed 69 per cent of visitors had a positive experience at the bar.
But council officers, aware of the “mixed” response from residents have made the following recommendations:
* Dedicated infrastructure to support bin cleaning, storage, waste handling and removal, rather than continuous use of car park bays for waste collection.
* Improvements to temporary fencing quality, particularly at back of house.
* Incorporating a lifeguard presence into the beach club safety management plan for patron safety during peak and significant dates, along with events held at the beach club.
* For a longer beach club there needs to be a higher standard of back-of-house temporary infrastructure for food preparation and storage, and for general storage.
* The visual amenity of the beach club – the back-of-house containers – also needs to be considered as a number of residential and accommodation towers look over the facility.
• Managing the impacts on events like beach volleyball and surf lifesaving competition.
Wildlife Association of Queensland Gold Coast branch president Sally Spain said the beaches were an “open space Australian asset” which belonged to the whole community.
“Those who signed our Wildlife Queensland Gold Coast petition against this were quite vocal about a perceived ‘give away’ of our beach for a liquor outlet and our survey also reflected this comprehensively.
“Council should pursue its core business,” she said.
Decision made on beach bar’s fate after ‘mixed’ feedback
May 26: The Gold Coast’s first beach club bar on the sand is poised to become a permanent fixture with the trial to be extended another three years.
A vote for a recommended “continuation of a beach club trial for six months annually over three years on the Kurrawa Terrace” at Broadbeach is scheduled for a Gold Coast City Council transport committee meeting next Tuesday.
Mayor Tom Tate is a big fan and a “super majority” of councillors are backing the new tourism asset despite a “mixed” community response to any commercialisation of the beaches.
Council would continue to collect community and visitor feedback during the trial in the meantime. The council CEO Tim Baker has authorised a development application for a material change of use for the foreshore area.
A design response is also being created to address any community concerns.
The Bulletin has learned a survey of more than 2700 people and 31 business operators found:
* 69 per cent of the community survey visitors had a positive experience;
* 74 per cent of the business survey respondents had a positive experience and many would like to see the bar as a permanent concept throughout the year;
* 73 per cent of the community survey visitors would come back and similar number visit beach clubs in other Coast locations;
* 65 per cent of the business survey respondents said they would be interested in partnering with the beach club if it were to become a permanent feature;
* 57 per cent of the community survey respondents think the city should have a beach club.
Advised on the findings, Mayor Tate told the Bulletin: “The beach bar trial was overwhelmingly supported by those who took the time to experience its appeal.
“The survey results confirmed that so I am keen to see the trial extend over three years, as proposed in the committee report.
“Renewing our tourism products and attractions is vital if we are to build our market share of domestic, and international, tourism post Covid.’’
In February, only Palm Beach-based councillor Daphne McDonald opposed a request to extend the beach trial by six weeks.
Councillor Peter Young, the council’s strongest environmental advocate was on leave, but on return said the Evandale chamber would be swayed by the survey numbers in terms of backing commercialisation of the beaches.
“If 70 per cent of the people want the beach bar, he says, it will stay. If three-quarters are against, it will most likely not get a tick,” he said.
“There is an opportunity for people to provide their comments and feedback, and they should.”
The trial – from early December to late January but extended due to Covid and poor weather – attracted 44,820 visitors and employed 35 locals.
Surveyed residents opposed to the beach club were concerned about environmental impacts, safety, inappropriate location for alcohol service, loss of public amenity, aesthetics with back of house issues and temporary fencing along with impacts to local businesses.
Officers admit there was a “somewhat mixed community feedback response” to the beach club trial. The business feedback, despite a much smaller sample, was positive.
Originally published as Gold Coast City Council extending controversial Kurrawa Beach Club’s operation for another three years
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