Gold Coast hinterland wedding operator: we will battle against council and residents

The joint owner of a hinterland wedding venue has slammed council officers as ‘turkeys’ and locals who have lodged complaints as ‘radicals’ ahead of a major decision about the site.

The entrance to Austinvilla Estate.

A WEDDING venue operator in the Gold Coast hinterland has described council officers as “turkeys” and some residents as “radicals” as a planning war erupts in the peaceful valley.

The Bulletin today reported that rural residents had made official complaints to council about alleged stag dos, hens nights and weddings at Austinvilla Estate keeping them awake until the early hours of the morning.

Treehouse accommodation at Austinvilla Estate, Austinville, Gold Coast

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Area councillor Glenn Tozer said he had received the complaints in the lead-up to a full council meeting tomorrow in which a report recommends against giving approvals for weddings to continue at the Austinville venue in bushland west of Mudgeeraba.

Austinvilla joint owner Noel Mewett today told the Bulletin: “We’re guilty of something because they don’t want us there. We’ll turn the music up as loud as we possibly can. I defy you to go to any one of the residents and say can you hear anything.

“You cannot hear a word. It’s an absolute rubbish and croc of s***, the whole lot of it. They’re telling lies. They are lying, I’m telling you.”

Mr Mewett said Austinvilla had several cancellations after media reports about a council meeting in which officers recommended rejecting its material change-of-use application.

Councillor Tozer urged couples to “do their homework and book at one of the great hinterland venues that are operating with the proper consent of council”.

Cr Glenn Tozer has spoken on behalf of residents. Photograph: Jason O'Brien.

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Asked if his clients were celebrating and staying on site on the nights before a wedding, Mr Mewett replied: “No, no, I’ve been living on site. If there was anybody making any noise they would be curtailed. We are so strict on our policies. There’s to be no drinking outside.

“We’re licensed, they’re not supposed to be bringing alcohol into the place. They’re supposed to be buying it from us and if they did smuggle it in they would be in their rooms.

“No-one is outside partying. We have a tennis court that people can play tennis and a swimming pool. They’re just normal social activities that nobody can hear. You need to come out and have a look at the place and say ‘what the hell are these people talking about’.”

Mr Mewett estimates he has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on acoustic changes to the function room and visited the homes of residents to record the sound to ensure all venues were operating below the noise limits.

He said the venue in the past four years of operation had received one noise complaint from a “disgruntled neighbour who has a history of being a serial complainer”.

“We have overwhelming support within the local business community and see this exercise of

having solicitors engaged as a waste of ratepayers’ hard-earned money which could be better

spent in other areas.

“No guests have ever had an accident nor caused any accidents on leaving this site since we’ve been in operation. The vexatious complaints made against our venue are not true and have absolutely no substance and it’s a case of put up or shut up.”

Some residents complained to the Bulletin about being woken up by Uber drivers on their driveway lost as they try to find wedding guests.

“This is a radical movement,” Mr Mewett said. “This is what I’m saying, there is no justification. They’re doing that because they wanted to stop our application going through.

“It’s wrong and Glenn Tozer hasn’t got the guts – we’ve asked him out several times, come out and have a look. We asked all the councillors, come out on Saturday night, we have another function on.

Austinville west of Mudgeeraba.

“(Council planning chair) Cameron Caldwell chaired a meeting and said ‘yes, well you’ve got all that time whilst you do that, just go through all the processes’ – so we are not trading illegally. We’ve got the full blessing of the council going ahead providing that we do all these things.

“We’ve done all these things and now some turkey in the council has said ‘oh we are not going to approve it’. On what grounds aren’t they, that’s the point? We are not impacting on anybody.”

Cr Tozer today said he had been on site and met with the joint owners there and at his office.

He said his position, from the beginning, was that the operators should limit their activities to the consent given for the site.

Mr Mewett said he expected the council would tomorrow refuse the application.

“We’re expecting it to be refused. There is no question about that,” he said. “We are in contact with our solicitors. And the council don’t have the be-all and end-all of this. This will go to the Land and Environment Court.”