Livingstone Shire Council refuses application for high-rise development at Emu Park

After lengthy debate, Livingstone Shire councillors have made a huge call on a multi-million unit development project which was proposed for Emu Park. Here’s what happened at Tuesday’s meeting.

A concept plan of the development proposed for the corner of Pattison, Granville and Archer Streets, Emu Park. Also pictured (inset) is the public notification sign.

Livingstone Shire Council has refused a development application for a multi-million dollar high-rise unit development that would have changed the face of Emu Park.

The revised plans for the proposed six-storey Emu Park Apartments project at the Capricorn Coast were torpedoed by councillors just before noon on Tuesday at Livingstone’s monthly meeting.

The businessman behind the controversial project, developer Rob Carr, was at the council meeting when the decision was made.

Mr Carr was earlier a part of a deputation at the meeting which was heard by councillors and members of the community seated in the public gallery.

It was Deputy Mayor Adam Belot who supported a recommendation from the council’s officers that Livingstone approve the development application, despite the proposed development not meeting some of the assessment benchmarks under the Planning Act 2016.

Council officers had advised councillors there were “circumstances that favour council exercising its discretion to approve the development”.

Councillors were provided with details of those circumstances.

Developer Rob Carr.

Cr Belot subsequently moved a motion that council endorse the officers’ recommendation to approve the development application, and that was seconded by Mayor Andy Ireland.

But when it came time to vote, after hours of discussion, Crs Belot and Ireland had no other support at the council table.

Councillors Andrea Friend, Glenda Mather, Nigel Hutton and Rhodes Watson voted against the motion and it was lost.

Cr Pat Eastwood was not present at the meeting due to personal circumstances which were explained at the start of Tuesday’s proceedings in the council chambers.

The development application was first lodged with the council in October 2021 for the site of vacant land across from the Pine Beach Hotel in Emu Park on the Capricorn Coast.

The application met with strong feedback from locals as it went against a planning scheme which limited developments to four storeys, but as Tuesday’s meeting heard, the council has discretionary powers to still approve projects in excess of that height.

The first plans for the Emu Park Apartments included seven storeys, with 49 units and shops on the ground floor, estimated to be a $35 million build.

A total of 192 submissions were received in the two-week public notification period - 12 of which were in support and the remainder had objections to the development as proposed.

The developer then went back to the drawing board and tweaked the plans, and the revised development application tabled at Tuesday’s council meeting was for a six-storey development which included 66 units and shops.