Eumundi Holdings, Formosa family dispute over Eumundi supermarket plans in court

A dispute over who will build Eumundi’s first supermarket may be subjected to a court hearing if developers cannot reach an agreement. See the latest update.

Formosa Family's proposal (left) and Eumundi Holdings' plans (right) are in the running to become Eumundi's first supermarket.

One of two developers vying to build a Sunshine Coast suburb’s first supermarket has revealed the next steps in its battle to gain approval for its plan.

Eumundi Holdings lodged their plans to build a supermarket and specialty retail block on the southern end of Eumundi in 2022 and took the matter to Planning and Environmental Court in September, 2023 after Sunshine Coast Council’s lack of response marked the application as “deemed refusal”.

In October, 2023, the Formosa family applied to develop the closed Eumundi Butter Factory into a supermarket as part of their “Our Village Eumundi” project which includes four precincts.

Eumundi Holdings revealed plans to open a small supermarket at Eumundi.

Formosa family spokeswoman Louise Formosa previously said approval was received in 2019 for the low-density, boutique organic and eco-retail shopping centre in precinct one and the family had also been given preliminary approval for their supermarket plans – precinct three – at the butter factory.

On September 29, 2023, and December 8, 2023, the court ordered all involved parties to declare their stance on the approval of the Eumundi Holdings’ proposal, which the Formosa family and development group Stockwell opposed.

Eumundi Holdings development director Alex Rigby said Stockwell became a co-respondent as they had lodged an objection during their development’s advertising period alongside the Formosa family.

Design concepts for precinct three of the Our Village Eumundi development were lodged with council. Picture: Jared Poole Design

Mr Rigby said councillors had voted 5-2 in favour of their application and then issued a draft for approval conditions which became a “crucial milestone” for their planned project.

“However, the landscape shifted on December 15, as both Stockwell and Louise Formosa formally declared their opposition to the approval of the development application,” Mr Rigby said.

The matter last appeared before court on February 2 to find a resolution and is now to progress to a “without prejudice” mediation, Mr Rigby said.

If the parties fail to reach an agreement, the dispute will proceed to a full hearing.

Mr Rigby said the ideal outcome for Eumundi Holdings would be for his application to be approved quickly following strong support shown by Eumundi residents for the project.

Their application received 160 submissions during its public consultation period, 150 of which were in support, he said.

“The support from the Eumundi community has been overwhelmingly supportive and we thank them for their support.,” Mr Rigby said.

“It’s simply not acceptable in this day and age to have charity groups pay for Eumundi pensioners to catch a taxi to do their supermarket shopping in a completely different town to where they live.”

The developer said his proposed location close to an existing roundabout would allow convenient access for Eumundi residents and the supermarket would not be affected by significant traffic due to the Eumundi Markets or general parking issues.

“The Formosa application is impact accessible and requires the construction of an expensive roundabout which, in our opinion, makes their project economically unviable,” Mr Rigby said.

The proposed supermarket would be in close proximity to an existing roundabout.

Ms Formosa and a Stockwell spokeswoman both declined to comment given the matter is still proceeding through court.

A Sunshine Coast Council spokeswoman said council was not able to provide comment regarding the proceedings but said time frames and processes for application decisions can vary.

Mr Rigby said he hoped the court process will deliver a favourable outcome this year.

“The court proceeding is an expensive process for everyone given there are four parties involved, namely, the developer, Sunshine Coast Council, Stockwell and Formosa,” he said.