Residents might sue over bowls club development

AS residents consider legal action over the approval of a retirement complex at Tarragindi Bowls Club, its manager says they finally have a bright future.

Tarragindi residents Keith & Liza Wieland are opposed to a proposal for a retirement building at the bowls club. Picture: Jack Tran

AS residents consider legal action over the approval of a retirement complex at Tarragindi Bowls Club, its manager says they finally have a bright future.

RetireAustralia planned to build 94 units and residents’ amenities in a U-shaped structure around a championship bowling green, new clubhouse and park.

The council approved it on January 24, after an 18-month assessment and 1800 public submissions.

The complex ranges from three storeys, where it backs on to neighbours at Andrew Ave, to five storeys next to the Tarragindi Recreation Reserve.

The development originally ranged from five to seven storeys.

Tarragindi Residents Alliance president Liza ­Wieland said residents felt “betrayed” that, even with so many objections, the council did not reject it.

Mrs Wieland said a possible legal appeal had come up in conversation, but “it’s an expensive avenue so it would require careful ­consideration”.

“People are bitterly, bitterly disappointed ... Everything about it is just wrong. The height, the scale — the building is huge,” she said.

She said it set a precedent for medium density in the low-density area, a change that should have been made to the neighbourhood plan after public consultation.

Yeronga Services and Community Club general manager Nathan Young said it bought the club in 2008 and ran it for eight years before looking for options to keep the business afloat.

He said the plan had a “genuine community outcome, through its ability to preserve the bowls club for the future”.

RetireAustralia chief executive officer Alison Quinn welcomed the approval but recognised the community response to the project had been mixed.

“The approved design has seen a significant reduction in height and scale from the initial submission, together with improved and more ­accessible community amenity,” she said.

Construction will begin mid or late this year. The clubhouse shut last year and all its memorabilia will be removed before demolition.

Councillor Krista Adams (Holland Park) said the ­RetireAustralia development was a win for the community and the city.

She said the council had worked for an outcome “that sees a new bowls club, a great recreation area and some seniors’ living in Tarragindi”.

It is the first retirement complex approved on privately owned sport and ­recreation land under the council’s Retirement and Aged Care Accommodation Incentives (RACAI).

She said the development would not set a precedent for higher density in Tarragindi because the complex was ­approved under specific guidelines in the RACAI. Cr Adams said residents had been “rightly” concerned about the original height, which was reduced.

“I know there’s a lot of people that don’t like this policy but we do need to ­provide for the ageing population. And people can’t keep saying, ‘no, not in my backyard’, because it has to go in somebody’s backyard.”

Cr Steve Griffiths (Moorooka) said he was appalled at the decision.

Opposition City Planning spokesman Jared Cassidy said the RACAI had “serious flaws” including loss of sport and recreation land.

He said the incentives “basically wipes the slate clean for aged care developments and says the City Plan and neighbourhood plans zoning don’t apply”.

“Our suburbs are for everyone. We need to get the balance right for all,” he said.

State Labor MP for Miller, Mark Bailey, said there had been three meetings attended by hundreds of people, a petition with 1000 signatures and almost 2000 submissions.