Mackay Regional Council reviews developer discounts amid rising rates

Developers who are planning to invest millions into Mackay will still be entitled to council discounts ahead of a local election next year.

“Our services didn’t come here via unicorns and fairy dust!” Cr Martin Bella says as May argues for upholding the development policy.

Developers who are planning to invest millions into Mackay will still be entitled to council discounts ahead of a local election next year.

In a review of Mackay Regional Council's current stance regarding concessions granted to developers, Mayor Greg Williamson and Deputy Mayor Karen May have launched a full throated defence of this policy.

“We want you!” Mr Williamson tells developers after the councillors officially approved the Sarina Beach Eco village development and the Northern Beaches Bowls Club redevelopment.

“If we do not facilitate growth in this area we will soon be out spending our income and developers will bypass Mackay,” Deputy Mayor May said, pointing out similar policies in Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns.

“Demand brings business,” Councillor Martin Bella, one of the policy’s critics, said.

“The problem with the policy on developer discounts is that Rocky and Townsville have it. When they’ve got the same incentives as us, where do we end up?”

Councillor Laurence Bonaventura, also a critic of the policy, supported a 12-month hiatus.

“New homeowners who benefit from our discounts have a deadline to do so, why don’t we put the same pressures on developers?” Mr Bonaventura said.

Mackay Regional Council councillor Laurence Bonaventura. Picture: Zizi Averill

Developers primarily receive their discounts in the form of a reduction on infrastructure charges, which are levied against developers and fund public services like roads, sewage and streetlights.

One of Mr Williamson’s objectives, he said, was to grow the economy, while Mr Bella warned about the downsides of growth, “It brings increased density without increased street width and then we’ve got a problem.
“We have more people parking on the street, increased road volume and soon we expend our latent capacity.

“Then we’ve got some ratepayer living outside Mackay, who won’t benefit from these developments, shelling out to upgrade inner city roads and sewage.”

New developments often require infrastructure upgrades that developers may expect the council to undertake, such as The Sarina Beach Eco Village development which will not only require the construction of more roads to safely service the area, but also may need public transport provided to it to make it a viable residential area.

“It’s not necessarily about bringing people in from outside of the region, we’re talking about helping our own community do development.” Cr May argued.

The Sarina Beach Eco Village is being backed by the local Brooks family and the locally owned Northern Beaches Bowls Club redevelopment will see $30 million injected into the economy of Mackay and the Northern Beaches.

The current policy has granted $4.9 million in concessions to 40 different development projects since 2014 and created 800 jobs.

When put to a vote the current policy was maintained and no hiatus was imposed.

The vote passed with four councillors on the record as having voted no, including Mr Bella and Mr Bonaventura.