Gold Coast Development: Controversial Main Beach tower rejected setting stage for legal fight
A controversial $100M luxury tower planned for a Main Beach site has been rejected despite its developer selling $65m worth of its units. READ THE SURPRISE REASON WHY
Council
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A CONTROVERSIAL $100M luxury tower planned for a Main Beach site has been rejected despite its developer selling $65m worth of its units.
In a bombshell decision, council officers gave a thumbs down to the 29-storey La Mer tower earmarked for a Main Beach Parade site, saying it was an “overdevelopment”.
The move has set the stage for a high-stakes legal battle in the Planning and Environemnt Court. Developers QNY Group and Polites Property Group say they will appeal.
QNY Group director Anthony Quinn was surprised by the decision and insisted the developers had made “all efforts” to work with council.
“Despite our compliance with the city plan and density and site coverage requirements, the City of Gold Coast has issued a refusal,” he said.
“Based on the City Plan provisions, La Mer warrants favourable consideration, so to attempt to have the decision overturned, we will now proceed with lodging an appeal to the Planning and Environment Court.”
Polites filed the project with council in April and were so confident of its approval it was launched to the market in June and had pencilled in construction to begin in May, 2022.
Officers in their refusal for La Mer wrote: “The subject site is located within Main Beach, which represents a distinct local character of high-rise development in a generous landscape setting.
“The proposed development represents a dominant built form that will significantly impact on the reasonable expectations for tower development within the Main Beach locale.
“The proposed tower is not responsive to the lot size, site context, the surrounding context and setting of adjacent properties, and therefore represents an overdevelopment of the site.”
Officers said the project did not comply with the City Plan, failing to fit with the outcomes and purpose of the light rail overlay code. The code governs the size and scope of developments allowed within 800 metres of the tram route.
The tower, if built, will have 29 single-level three-bedroom units, including a giant penthouse suite with its own terrace overlooking the ocean.
It is one of a wave of new developments proposed for Main Beach in the past two years, several of which are under construction. The development on Main Beach Parade and Beulah Lane was for a 114.6 metre and 33 storey high rise on a 751sqm site.
The proposed site cover for the tower form was almost 48 per cent which officers believe would result in narrow insufficient setbacks from the tower floor plates.
“The proposed southern tower setback of 2.4 metres from the slab edge and three metres from the wall, as well as a 10.4 metre separation from the neighbouring development is not considered to be appropriate for a tower of this height,” officers wrote.
La Mer is the second tower refused this year, with council in September winning a case in the Planning and Environment Court over its refusal of the controversial Ovation tower on the corner of Woodroofe Ave and Main Beach Parade for similar reasons.
Main Beach Association leader Sue Donovan welcomed the council’s decision but questioned why the criteria was not used to stop several other recent high density projects.
“Reading council’s reasons for refusing the proposed development makes us wonder why the same criteria were not applied when several similarly non-compliant developments were approved in Main Beach and beyond,” she said.
“For example, reasons for the refusal include the unacceptable proximity to Carrington Court, the adjacent building, and the impact on its residents’ privacy and visual amenity – their views – as well as overshadowing of the surrounding area.
“The refusal also refers to the character of the surrounding area which features generous landscaping — something totally absent from La Mer and several other recently approved developments.
“We have to ask ‘Why the change of heart?’ Could it be council realises belatedly not even the Light Rail Urban Renewal code should be used to justify developments so non compliant with the City Plan.”
The decision follows a protest meeting organised by the Main Beach Association in July, where planning chair Cameron Caldwell asked residents to put forward amendments on the light rail overlay map which previously triggered stunning high-rise developments. A Bulletin report had revealed the suburb’s population could quadruple within 20 years to 16,411 people on the back of high-density developments, and the MBA had shocked councillors with research which showed a Hong Kong skyline in their luxury suburb.
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