Main Beach Tower: the vote by councillors after debate at full council and threat by residents
Residents have made a last-minute plea to councillors not to approve a controversial tower, saying it is a “watershed moment” for development on the Gold Coast. Here’s what they - and the developer - have to say. And what the vote was.
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UPDATE:
A LUXURY boutique tower with an Australian first featuring sky garages has been approved by councillors — but there may be a legal protest by angry Gold Coast residents.
Only councillors Darren Taylor, Peter Young and Daphne McDonald opposed an officer’s recommendation to approve a code assessable application for the 26-level building opposite the Southport Surf Lifesaving Club.
Councillors asked that special consideration be given in the building assessment to fire and safety regarding the car lifts and showrooms — the sky garages are expected to be home to expensive vehicles.
Cr Taylor and Cr Peter Young along with Southport councillor Brooke Patterson asked questions on behalf of concerned residents about shadowing and carparking.
Cr Hermann Vorster acknowledged the concerns of residents but assured them that council officers had conducted a “judicious and thorough approval” and he was satisfied with their report.
He believed the development would help Main Beach which had been struggling economically and restore confidence in the retail strip.
Planning committee chair Cameron Caldwell also supported what he regarded as a “modest high rise in a high rise setting” and indicated he had taken a strong interest in the application, having previously lived in the suburb.
“I wouldn’t want anyone in that suburb to think we take things lightly because we don’t,” he said.
But Main Beach Association leader Sue Donovan revealed residents were considering their legal options.
“The Main Beach Association is deeply disappointed with today’s vote, but not at all surprised.
“This is just one of a series of Council approvals of grossly non compliant developments, such as recent decisions affecting Palm Beach and Burleigh,” she said,
“We thank the councillors who took the time to seriously investigate the flaws of this development , particularly councillor Peter Young and our local councillor, Darren Taylor.
“This unpopular decision was foreshadowed at last week’s planning committee meeting where it was clear that councillors were being given answers by officers that were either inadequate or misleading.”
Ms Donovan said residents had felt the necessity to provide expert reports on fire
safety, traffic management, overshadowing to council planning officers but it had made little difference.
“Affected property owners will meet later this week to consider an opinion from their Brisbane legal advisers on whether to take their objections to the decision to the Planning and Environment Court,” she said.
“Should this happen, it would require substantial funding from affected property owners who stand to lose up to 15 per cent of their property value should Monaco actually be built. Such action would also involve council in irresponsible and wasteful use of ratepayers’ money.”
EARLIER:
COUNCILLORS have approved a controversial luxury boutique tower at Main Beach.
Councillors Darren Taylor, Peter Young and Daphne McDonald were the only councillors to vote against the development application.
Southport-based councillor Brooke Patterson had also asked questions about the impact of shadows and parking.
The recommendation touched on fire and safety concerns with councillors asking that the building assessment consider the car lifts and showrooms.
The building was described as the “first of its kind” for main beach because vehicles will be inside apartments.
EARLIER:
RESIDENTS have reached out at the last minute to urge Gold Coast City councillors to vote against a new Main Beach tower.
Main Beach Association leader Sue Donovan emailed all councillors at 8.30am in the lead-up to a full council meeting at 10am which will decide the fate of the Monaco tower application opposite the Southport Surf Life Saving Club.
“You may have seen the story in this morning’s Bulletin,” Ms Donovan wrote, referring to the developer making claims about the Pintari pool opposite their site being shaded in winter due to its own building height.
“Please be aware that the Pintari pool is NORTH (sic) of the building, so cannot possibly be shaded by it.
“This is just one of many claims by the developer that do not hold water.
“Before voting on this development today, please take the time to watch the three-minute video we sent you yesterday, together with the table summarising errors and omissions in officers’ responses to councillors’ questions posed at last week’s PEC (planning) meeting.
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“I believe that today’s decision will mark a watershed for council’s reputation in its assessment of development applications for bulky buildings on very small sites. This decision will adversely impact all of the Gold Coast, not just Main Beach.
“Please don’t let the COVID emergency influence your vote: COVID will pass, while an overly bulky building that poses real risks to public safety and ruins the amenity of adjacent buildings will destroy the neighbourhood character of Main Beach forever.”
The developer of the tower earlier rejected concerns by residents about parking, saying the millionaire apartment owners will not be leaving their cars on the street.
Ignite Projects Pty Ltd managing director Josh Foote also disputes concerns about shading.
He has provided photographs of the neighbouring Pintari tower pool which shows shadowing from its landscaping.
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Residents from the tower and members of the Main Beach Association spent the weekend attempting to gain more evidence on traffic and shadowing to stop the Monaco project, emailing their findings to councillors.
But Mr Foote told the Bulletin: “The Monaco apartments sell for circa $5 million. These people will be very unlikely to park their vehicles on the street like it is claimed, so we will not be adding to the on-street parking issues.
“They claim our proposed building will make the weekend parking worse and I put it to you — where can you find a park on the beachside, in any Gold Coast suburb on the weekend, with ease?
“Beachside parking is and will always be difficult. Our building will not make it any worse.”
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The Main Beach Association sent councillors data showing traffic volume in Stafford Ave for the nine-hour period from 7.30am to 4pm on Sunday.
“It was a cold windy day, five weeks prior to Southport Surf Life Saving Club commencing the Nippers season and full beach patrol. There were 736 vehicle movements over a nine-hour period, 35 of them buses, 661 cars and SUVs, six trucks, seven motorcycles and 28 bicycles,” the association said.
The group also supplied diagrams showing the shadow that would be cast over the Pintari recreation amenity by the 85.7m-high Monaco building along with one cast by a hypothetical compliant building of 37m.
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“The diagrams for June, September, October, November demonstrate that the impact of Monaco is a total shadow with long duration for seven months of the year — but for the compliant building it is partial and short-lived,” the association said.
Mr Foote provided photographs to the Bulletin showing the current shading at Pintari over the pool from their existing trees and their own building.
“The pool is in shade in winter already, so the proposed building will not make it significantly worse. Our shadow model shows that there will be little to no shade in summer when the pool is actually used,” he said.
LAST WEEK:
A COUNCIL planning committee has voted to approve a controversial new apartment tower in beachfront tourism hot spot Main Beach.
Only Division 5 councillor Peter Young voted against the project, which nearby residents claimed would create traffic chaos in the already congested area.
The development will now go to a meeting of full council for final approval.
Residents opposed to the proposed 26-level Monaco building in Macarthur Parade, on a site opposite the Southport Surf Lifesaving Club, have sent photographs to The Bulletin showing traffic at a standstill in surrounding suburban streets.
Councillors at a planning committee meeting on Thursday are expected to tick off on recommendations for approval on the code assessable project but not before opponents vent about traffic safety concerns.
Main Beach Association leader Sue Donovan said unit owners in neighbouring towers on the weekend would use a drone to show gridlock around the suburb on roads leading to The Spit.
“When the nippers arrive in the morning the place is just packed from 6am. There is nowhere to park. There’s no room in the street when the buses pass through,” she said.
Planning consultants for the developers in their report to council talked up the “low traffic generation of the proposed development”.
Ignite Projects managing director Josh Foote has strongly rejected the claims by opponents, noting the planned luxury tower will contain only 25 units.
“I think we will add value to Main Beach more than take it away with traffic impact,” he said.
“There will be a lot of wealth and money brought into the community. We’ve put a lot of effort into designing this building. It’s only 25 apartments, it’s not a significant amount of traffic going in there.”
But residents, in a document prepared by their planning and development consultants, wrote: “The proposal has the potential to add 50-plus vehicles to the already steady flow of traffic to Stafford Ave. A Surfside bus also travels along Stafford Ave every 25 minutes.”
Residents admit the development application complies with carparking with 33 spaces provided across two basement levels accessed by a single car lift, another 18 within the tower and three visitor spaces on ground level.
But MBA maintains the system is “poorly arranged and unreliable”.
“These arrangements are likely to compromise the immediate road network, cause on-street parking congestion and constrain the likely use of on-site parking particularly for short durations,” a report by planning and design consultants for residents said.
“Due to the difficulty of access, it would be expected that many residents would not bother to park in the basement, and even a lesser extent in the tower, when attending the site for short durations.”
EARLIER:
ANGRY Main Beach residents say a proposed apartment tower looks like “a pimple on your nose” and will end the landscaped look of the luxury beachfront suburb if approved.
Councillors are expected to receive an officer’s report at a planning committee on Thursday recommending approval of the 26-level “Monaco” building at Macarthur Parade.
Lobby group the Main Beach Association formed a subcommittee of residents from the nearby Pintari, De Ville, Admiral North, Yachting Towers and Newport on Main Towers apartment buildings and has employed lawyers.
Athena Swan, from the Pintari units, said she had concerns about aesthetics, traffic, parking and shade if the tower replaced the current three-storey dwelling.
“Twenty-six storeys on such a small parcel of land with limited room for setbacks, position to adjoining boundaries and limitations for space for any common property will make this property look like a huge pimple on a nose,” she said.
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“All of the surrounding properties have luxurious setbacks, large areas for facilities and common property, lawns, trees and resort surroundings. This project will look totally out of place — crowded and ugly.”
Ms Swan believes the sky garages which will create “high-rise car pollution” in the suburb.
“It’s not at all attractive and not keeping with the vibe of Main Beach which is already fighting to keep its village atmosphere. We already have too many vehicles on the ground without having to see them in the air.”
Ms Swan said the planned tower would cause more high-rise shade.
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“As I live in Pintari Apartments this building will overshadow our pool recreation area. Their (the applicant’s) own shadow study shows that they will cast shadows over our pool at least 80 per cent of daylight hours.
“If the planning committee supports the planning officers’ recommendation to approve this development, it will change the character of Main Beach forever. While the adjacent buildings have a small footprint amongst green and leafy surrounds, Monaco is a bulky building the length of two buses crammed on to a tiny site of 899 square metres.”
Ignite Projects told the Bulletin: “We believe the Monaco creates a unique and positive landmark within Main Beach and will only enhance the suburb and benefit the community.”
Some councillors needing strong evidence to not follow the officer’s recommendation.
Main Beach Association leader Sue Donovan has been meeting with councillors in the lead-up to the vote on the code assessable application.
Some councillors indicated they will need strong evidence to reject the project.
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“There is no formal framework for public comment or objection,” Ms Donovan said. “However, the Main Beach Association representing the Monaco Committee, which in turn represents the interests of approximately 176 owners in the adjacent buildings, has prepared a document as advice to councillors and council officers.”
Many Main Beach unit owners regarded the project as an “overdevelopment” that did not comply with the City Plan’s setback and site coverage acceptable outcomes.
“The non-compliant bulk causes loss of views and overshadowing of the three adjacent recreational amenity areas for most of the year and shades Pintari and Admiral North balconies in winter,” Ms Donovan said.
Originally published as Main Beach Tower: the vote by councillors after debate at full council and threat by residents