Mermaid Beach residents angered by City Plan say they will fight to keep the village charm
MILLIONAIRE’S row residents have fired a warning shot at developers and the Gold Coast City Council with plans for legal action to halt new towers being built in their suburb.
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DEVELOPERS have targeted the wrong Gold Coast suburb to jam towering developments in, warn Mermaid Beach residents.
Owners of properties ranging from units in three-storey walk-ups to multimillion-dollar mansions are preparing to take their battle to court in a fight to preserve Mermaid Beach’s village charm.
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Mermaid Beach Community Association president Alf Vockler said a meeting was being called to discuss legal action against the suburb’s newest threat, a proposed 22-storey building in Peerless Ave.
Two high-rises have been approved in the past six months in areas that until 2016 had a seven-storey height limit.
But the planned 22-storey tower by Mosaic Property Group at 49 Peerless Ave has stirred up passions all over again.
“Nobody wants to open their front door and look at a 22-storey building,” Mr Vockler said.
“We can’t lodge objections against it because it fits within this planning scheme and is code assessable.
“We are now calling for a meeting to discuss legal action.”
The Mermaid Beach community has demanded action from Division 10 councillor Paul Taylor to stop unlimited height towers in Peerless Ave and four-storey buildings throughout the exclusive suburb.
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The developments are being approved under the City Plan introduced in 2016.
The City Plan has been criticised for allowing overdevelopment south of Broadbeach by councillors Daphne McDonald, Pauline Young and Dawn Crichlow.
Yesterday, the Gold Coast Bulletin revealed inaugural city architect Philip Follent believed the plan was capitulating the Gold Coast to the greed of development.
Residents consider Peerless Ave as the dam wall for development, the line in the sand to hold back the tower developments that characterise Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise and to preserve the village charm that attracted them to buy into the suburb.
In February 2016 the new City Plan came into effect, changing the northern side of Peerless Ave from a seven-storey maximum to unlimited.
Since then a 25-storey retirement tower was approved for 15-19 Peerless Ave and a 44-storey residential tower at 272 Hedges Ave.
Peerless Ave resident Nick Haney said even if the building complied with the height limit, the development could be refused on other grounds such as setbacks and density.
“I feel like we are getting lip service from the council about this,’’ he said.
“Mermaid Beach in particular is the wrong suburb to try to do this in. It is an exclusive suburb. The residents have now been wound up and they will fight this.
“If ratepayers don’t want this then they shouldn’t be approved.”
Another Peerless Ave resident, Adrian Christopher, said the street had been divided. On one side would be unlimited high-rises and on the other there would be residential homes.
“Nobody in the street was given any indication this was happening,” he said.
“We bought into a three-storey walk-up in 1998. We bought because of the village feel and it is all gone.
“And it is not just our street, it will be all of them if we don’t find a way to stop them.”
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Division 10 councillor Paul Taylor said the community was consulted about the City Plan, between June 17 and July 29 in 2015.
“I agree with them too, I wouldn’t like to be looking at a high-rise and I will be doing my utmost to stop them but I don’t know if Peerless has already flown the coop,” he said.
“I will make sure it doesn’t happen further down in Mermaid Beach.
“It can’t happen further south unless there are changes to the town plan and I will make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Mosaic Property Group managing director Brook Monahan said the development was heavily focused on design-led outcomes and was respectful of both the existing, high value urban form of Mermaid Beach and its local residents.
“Our internal community engagement team is already in direct conversation with local community members as this forms a critical part of our development process to respectfully engage and transparently share information with all key stakeholders,” he said.
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