‘Scares the hell out of people’: Fears high-rises would change Coast lifestyle

With the Coast’s layout proving spreading out to accommodate the growing population isn’t viable, growing up may be the only way to survive. But, worries this would cause a lifestyle shift has the idea at a standstill.

With the Coast’s layout proving spreading out to accommodate the growing population isn’t viable, growing up may be the only way to survive. But, worries this would cause a shift from the coastal lifestyle has the idea at a standstill.

Building high-rise living complexes is one option being considered to help slow the pace of housing needs on the Fraser Coast.

However, the idea has left locals who adore the “coastal lifestyle” in fear.

Fraser Coast Property Industry Association (FCPIA) president Glen Winney said the idea of high-rises in Hervey Bay “scares the hell out of people”.

“People automatically think of the Gold Coast, which has 70 storeys or so … most of our town planning scheme has areas like eight storeys, six storeys and three storeys and we’ve got plenty of zoned area to do eight-storey or six-storey buildings, which is probably more than enough for what we need in the current market,” Mr Winney said.

Adding buildings up to eight-storeys high are being looked into for the Fraser Coast.

Mr Winney said he believed “somebody will do one” soon, as people in the past had put in applications for much larger buildings, one of 16-storeys, only recently.

“Knowing this market for a few decades now and knowing the building side of it, it’s just not physically viable to build something up that big in this market, because the price you’d have to sell it for is just so far beyond what’s already in the market that they won’t sell,” Mr Winney said.

“I don’t see what’s classed as a high-rise coming in, I can see a nice six or eight-storey building coming in somewhere either close in around the CBD or down the marina precinct somewhere.

“We’ve always had that relaxed coastal style and I don’t think we want to lose that … we’ve just got to get away from our one-dimensional growth.”