Residents and experts have say on what Sunshine Coast’s new planning scheme should look like

Residents and experts are already speculating what a shake-up to planning on the Sunshine Coast could look like.

Transportation, housing options and green spaces could get a major shake-up with consultation on the Sunshine Coast’s new planning scheme months away.

The Sunshine Coast Council has started the complex process to form a new planning scheme before 2024.

The new scheme would pose “significant changes” to some suburbs and help ensure the region was better prepared for the forecast population increase of almost 170,000 by 2041.

Preparing the new scheme comes at a cost of $2.16m but a Queensland planning expert said if done right the region had the potential to take on innovations not seen before in Australia.

University of Queensland urban planning expert Dorina Pojani said the council should pilot “state of the art” cycling and transport schemes.

“The Sunshine Coast could experiment with newer models of transport so do wider micro mobility lanes that allow for electric scooters, e-bikes and electric skateboards,” she said.

“It could turn itself into a world model of cycling-friendliness, like the city of Davis in California did.”

Dr Pojani said a planning scheme was important to provide certainty for residents and developers.

“My research has found where planning is too discretionary – where things deviate too much – then the community gets upset,” she said.

“They feel cheated and the developers don’t like it either because they too want some certainty when they purchase a property.”

Coolum Residents’ Association president Ray Barber said he hoped the council would maintain building heights and green spaces.

He said he was opposed to high rise development.

“When I first started paying attention to Coast planning 40 years ago we would’ve considered six to seven storeys as high-rise,” he said.

“High rise isn’t usually well done and it just spoils precincts instead of adding to them.

“There’s a few (at Coolum) and they stand out like pimples on a pumpkin.”

Mr Barber said the planning scheme had helped community groups fight against developments.

“Bunnings was a classic case where the scheme had a rural theme … and after about three attempts in the courts Bunnings and Wesfarmers sold the block of land (opposite Coolum State School),” he said.

“That was where the scheme was of great assistance.”

Organisation Sunshine Coast Association of Residents president Melva Hobson said a new planning document provided an opportunity to enhance housing options.

Ms Hobson, a former Redland City Council Mayor, also wanted it to incorporate the region’s carrying capacity for how it will handle the population increase.

She said she wanted to see more houses in the “missing middle” – being low-set or two storey townhouses.

“We have houses at Aura and Birtinya, you have the seven to eight storey apartments but we don’t see as many duplex or single-storey townhouses,” Ms Hobson said.

“It’s about choice – we need to think about what people of different ages want to live in.”

She said it was an opportunity for the council to reveal how well-equipped the region currently is for a population increase, and update figures on how many new dwellings are needed within coming decades.