Controversial towers approved the day before long weekend

After lodging plans just before Christmas, a Chinese-backed tower project has now been ticked off - the day before a long weekend.

Spring Hill residents are furious after Council officers approved a controversial hotel and unit development near one of Brisbane’s last remaining historic terraces.

The approval was lodged on Council’s online portal, developmenti, last Friday, just before the long weekend, after developer Keylin Land Holdings asked for an extension in March.

Council’s reasons for approving the project have yet to be lodged.

The development application was lodged just before Christmas.

On March 31 Council wrote to Keylin about “further issues’’, but they included only concerns about stormwater holes and other technical matters.

The Government’s State Assessment and Referral Agency also raised only minor concerns despite locals saying the towers would dominate nearby heritage buildings up to 160 years old.

Artist's impression of the two 15-level towers proposed for the old Energex site in Spring Hill.

However City Planning Chair, Krista Adams, has previously said Council’s officers raised concerns as early as January about the buildings’ design including setbacks, separation and facades.

“Concerns were also raised about pedestrian access and wayfinding, stormwater drainage and vegetation on the site,’’ Cr Adams said.

“The applicant has provided a response to these concerns and Council requested further information about waste management, stormwater and driveway access...

“Brisbane is constantly changing and Council ensures the neighbourhood plans adapt to accommodate growth, while protecting the look and feel of our suburbs.

“The Spring Hill Neighbourhood Plan was reviewed in 2014 and adopted in 2018 and included three rounds of community consultation.’’

Protest signs on a nearby unit building which occupants say will now become a dark and airless canyon.

The developer infuriated residents with plans for the two high-rises.

They described the project as a “visual obscenity’’ which would blight Gregory Tce, one of only three heritage-listed terrace house precincts left in Brisbane.

About 80 people lodged submissions critical of the project and 300 people signed a petition calling for the project to be stopped.

Neighbours said the 15-level buildings, on the site of the old Energex building on the corner of Warry St and Gregory Tce, would create a dark, airless ghetto.

Keylin Group is planning to build 113 units and a 120-bed hotel, 323 sqm function facility, pool, bar and restaurants.

Neighbours said Warry St, one of the oldest streets in Brisbane, was too narrow for traffic generated by the proposal.

“The visual obscenity of the proposed development is stark. Viewed from any perspective, the sight lines of the proposed development are grossly incongruent with the height of the current built environment along this part of Gregory Tce,’’ one resident said.

The precinct, which boasts gracious heritage homes including Carrington Manor and Grangehill, was laid out in the days of horse and cart and was never designed for modern traffic, neighbours said.

“The hotel would look down on children in the childcare centre,’’ resident Melissa Botha said.

“We are not opposed to development, however we are concerned with the current proposal, in particular the lack of consideration given to the historical and cultural significance of Spring Hill and the significant health, safety, traffic, amenity, issues it will generate.’’

The project is code assessable despite its huge bulk.

Office furniture and fittings thrown into a carpark during demolition preparation works for the old Energex building.

That means neighbours have no power to appeal it in the Planning and Environment Court.

They also were not required to be notified.

“The only reason we found out is we have a friend in the development industry who alerted us,’’ Ms Botha said.

Labor Opposition Leader, Jared Cassidy, said last month that Brisbane residents were “sick and tired of this LNP Council shutting them out of the planning process’’.

“Six years ago the LNP changed Council’s planning scheme to make 90 per cent of developments code assessable,’’ Cr Cassidy said.

“That means in nine out of 10 development applications, residents don’t know about it and don’t get a say.

Keylin’s planners said in DA documents that: “There is no doubt this site acts as a gateway to Spring Hill. It will be visible as the first building when approaching from the future Victoria Park Masterplan entry, viewed across the suburb when approaching Spring Hill from the City, and the northern suburbs.

“We have therefore strived to provide an architectural built form that is modern yet enduring, with a scale responsive to the context it will be viewed from, and sensitive of the changing local vernacular.’’

For more details of the twin towers project visit developmenti and search for application numbers A005608964 and AO05679852