Council wins final appeal in long-running dispute with property developer
A developer's bid to shift multimillion-dollar infrastructure costs to ratepayers has failed after the state's highest court refused to hear their challenge against the council.
A long-running battle over who foots the bill for infrastructure in a Whitsundays development has ended with a win for council.
Homeland Property Developments, the company behind the Whitsunday Paradise development asked the courts to overturn a council decision that placed responsibility for delivering and funding key water supply and sewerage upgrades on the company.
Homeland Property Developments argued the works should be treated as major “trunk” infrastructure usually reflected in council planning.
The project, planned across a 234sq m site south of Bowen, includes more than 1700 residential lots to be built over 10 stages.
Council approved the development in 2020 with conditions requiring the developer to build new water and sewerage infrastructure at its own cost, including works that would also support existing homes in neighbouring Whitsunday Shores.
Homeland Property Developments appealed that decision, saying those conditions were unfair and should be classified differently.
If successful, the appeal would have meant the company could seek offsets or refunds from council for the multimillion-dollar upgrades.
The Planning and Environment Court rejected that argument earlier this year, and the Queensland Court of Appeal has now refused to grant the company permission to challenge that outcome.
The court found council was not required to treat those works as trunk infrastructure under its planning scheme.
It said the most recent version of council’s infrastructure plan did not identify any trunk water or sewerage infrastructure for the site, and therefore the cost-sharing the developer was seeking did not apply.
It also noted that some of the infrastructure design work was not far enough along to justify changing the conditions.
Homeland Property Developments were ordered to pay the council’s legal costs.
The decision come just months after the state government announced funding for a $33m sewer project which will include a new sewer main from central Bowen to Whitsunday Paradise, five sewage pump stations and upgrades to existing infrastructure
Work on the sewer main is expected to begin within 12 months and be completed within three years, with 380 homes projected to be delivered in that time.
