Development Watch reveals fresh appeal against Sekisui’s Yaroomba plans
The fight against Sekisui House’s controversial Sunshine Coast beachfront project looks set to continue with a community group trying to raise $100k to reignite an appeal.
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The legal battle against the controversial $900m Sekisui House resort development at Yaroomba looks set to continue, as a community group vows to reignite its appeal.
Development Watch president Lynette Saxton has announced the launch of another appeal to the Supreme Court against the latest Planning and Environment Court decision to approve the five-star hotel and housing proposal.
It was thought the five-year fight had come to a close when Judge Nicole Kefford delivered her 269-page finding on June 9 2023, where she dismissed the initial appeal from Development Watch and the Sunshine Coast Environment Council and sided with the Sunshine Coast Council and developer Sekisui House.
“We are not done, we want to fight again,” Ms Saxton said.
Court documents show plans for a five-star, 220-room seven-storey hotel, commercial space, an “educational establishment”, Surf Life Saving Queensland facilities and about 133 other dwellings in buildings between five and seven storeys.
Lower density housing of three and four storeys in height was also proposed in parcels across the site.
Ms Saxton said the group’s legal team had found grounds for another appeal.
“Judge Kefford had made three errors in law, one of those errors related to the community’s expectations,” she said.
“We are going back to fight for our community against an intense high-rise development that has no place in Yaroomba, or Coolum for that matter.”
More than 11,500 submissions about the development were made to the council and of those more than 9200 opposed the development.
The Sunshine Coast Council had granted Sekisui House the approval in 2018 after a six-in-favour and five-against vote by councillors.
Rumours recently surfaced in the small beachside township over the sale of the land, with a caveat on a title hinting to the identity of a mystery party interested in snapping up the site.
Ms Saxton said they would now have to raise another $100,000 to cover the legal fees.
“We are deeply grateful this community still has the energy and resilience to fight on despite all it has endured and given,” she said.
Sekisui House has been contacted for comment.
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