Official plans lodged for North Lakes golf course retirement village

Plans for the proposed retirement village and aged care home at the former North Lakes Golf Course have been officially lodged with council. SEE THE PLANS

Developers have made their plan to transform the former North Lakes Golf Course into a retirement village and aged care facility official lodging an application with the council three years after the golf course was closed.

The developers have hit another snag though with Moreton Bay Regional Council rejecting the initial application from The Village Retirement Group.

“Council’s legal team undertook a review of the development application to determine if the development application had been lawfully made,” a council spokesman said.

“The applicant has been advised that council is of the view that the development application cannot be accepted in its current form.

“The applicant has been provided with correspondence outlining the legal and technical reasons for this decision.

“Council will now await a response from the applicant.”

Plans lodged with the council three weeks ago have now been made public revealing exactly what TVRG hope to build at the site.

News of the golf course’s pending sale broke in 2018 with The Village Retirement Group signing the contract in 2019 and swiftly closing the golf course.

The closure of the award-winning course attracted protests from residents and club members, who formed the Save North Lakes Golf Course group.

TVRG made no secret it planned to turn part of the massive site into a retirement village and aged care facility.

Questions were raised about whether or not it was possible for a developer to lodge an application to redevelop part of the course into a retirement village.

An independent barrister investigated and in September found there was nothing prohibiting a developer from lodging an application with Moreton Bay Regional Council.

Last month the State Government knocked back a proposal from TVRG to build an independent school on the former golf course.

More than 1000 residents lodged objections to this proposal.

Plans lodged with council on October 19 reveal TVRG plan to build 250 low-rise independent living units and a single storey 120-bed aged-care facility.

The report details the former golf course will be split into six areas. Five of them will be reserved for open space and public parks featuring a multiple kiosks or cafes and markets.

Area 3 will be reserved for the retirement village and aged care facility.

TVRG hope to build 250 independent single storey units. The former golf course clubhouse will be repurposed to accommodate the community facilities associated with the retirement facility including dining spaces, a function rooms, health facilities, a swimming pool, gym and an outdoor bowling green.

The residential care facility is proposed to have a maximum of 120 beds in the single storey complex. Access to the facility will be via Copeland Drive.

A spokesman for Save North Lakes Golf Course said they had spent the past three years preparing to fight this application.

'Save North Lakes Golf Course' Committee Member Craig Brown at the closed North Lakes Golf Course. Photo: AAP /Richard Walker

“We are going to do everything we can to make sure the land stays as intended which is 100 per cent open space,” the spokesman said.

“This is a marathon not a sprint, we will take it as it comes, it has already been three years.

“We have a lot of members and a great community and committee all working towards making sure Nork Lakes remains as it was designed with a central corridor of green space through it.”

Council has given TVRG 20 business days to provide the appropriate documents to council including the Integrated Planning Act Forms.