Whitsunday Regional Council approves Port of Airlie subdivision proposal

Councillors were at loggerheads with their planning department over this Airlie Beach development but in the end they had little choice.

Cr Al Grundy maintained The Cove Road at the Port of Airlie should be reserved for "resort style" commercial development, rather than residential. Picture: Kirra Grimes.

Developers have won approval for a controversial Airlie Beach subdivision after Whitsunday Regional Council found it had “no alternative” but to accept the recommendation of its planning department.

Meeting in Collinsville on May 26, five out of seven councillors voted in support of the six-lot Port of Airlie subdivision proposal, after Development Assessment Manager Doug Mackay told the group they had run out of time to request further information from the proponent.

Cr Jan Clifford moved to defer the decision to a future meeting to allow councillors time to assess the Cove Road proposal in the context of several other active and pending planning applications for the port precinct, so they would “know what the whole house was going to look like” rather than “building it brick by brick”.

But Mr Mackay advised the council only had a couple of days to deliver a decision before it was automatically deemed a refusal, in which case Meridien was likely to make a successful appeal to the Queensland Planning and Environment Court.

He said the only grounds for refusal under the planning scheme were the proposed lot sizes which fell short of the minimum 800 square metres required for lots in a mixed use zone.

But with indicative plans showing the lots were of an “acceptable” size and could “adequately accommodate substantial dwellings,” Mr Mackay said the council had “no alternative but to approve it subject to conditions”.

Mayor Cr Andrew Willcox, pictured with Development Assessment Manager Doug Mackay, wanted to know if the council had any grounds to refuse the subdivision proposal. Picture: Kirra Grimes.

Reiterating comments from the May 12 meeting in Proserpine, where councillors resolved to defer the application so they could conduct a site visit, Crs Clifford and Al Grundy voiced concerns about potential issues arising out of further residential development in the Port’s mixed use zone.

These included inadequate space for car and boat parking, an “unsightly” build up of rubbish bins, and other “general amenity” impacts arising out of the proposed dwellings’ proximity to bus and cruise ship terminals.

Cr Grundy said the site visit, conducted the previous week, had only confirmed his fears about a “hotchpotch” of development applications that may be “incompatible” with the operation of the existing marine terminal.

Mr Mackay said the council could impose conditions on developers that would address concerns around parking space and general amenity, and was already working on a waste management policy in relation to development sites to solve issues specifically related to kerbside bins.

He said development applications for the Port of Airlie would be assessed individually as they were received as there was no adopted masterplan for the precinct and no indication that the owners intended to present such a plan.