Gold Coast hinterland wedding venue: Locals complain about noise

Rural residents say their peaceful valley in the Gold Coast hinterland feels like party central Surfers Paradise with wild stag dos and hens nights by an alleged illegal wedding operator.

RURAL residents say their peaceful valley in the Gold Coast hinterland feels like party central Surfers Paradise with wild stag dos and hens nights by an alleged illegal wedding operator.

The Bulletin has received complaints from Austinville residents about the Austinvilla Estate west of Mudgeeraba which faces legal action from the Gold Coast City Council.

Treehouse accommodation at Austinvilla Estate, Austinville, Gold Coast

Councillors at full council tomorrow will vote on an officer’s recommendation to refuse an application for a wedding venue.

If councillors disagree, it will allow the venue to operate legally and stop enforcement actions in the planning and environment court.

Residents do not want their names disclosed for fear the neighbourhood dispute will worsen but have complained to council about the three-day long partying before weddings leaving them awake until 2am.

One resident claimed: “Last night we had drums beating. We had to put the television up to hear it. They arrive with their eskies, champagne and glasses.

“I walk out on my veranda and there’s four blokes doing a wee. I have my grandchildren coming here. We’ve had cars coming up the track, blowing their horns (at all hours). We have a bobcat. My husband has had to pull someone over a bank (after their car went down).”

Council has been told the venue is allegedly not operating under its original approval to host conventions and after upgrading its facilities with a function hall and wedding chapel hosting weddings for up to 123 people.

Properties near the wedding venue — council maps.

Some properties are within a few hundred metres in bushland further west of the Boomerang Farm and Panchos Tex Mex Restaurant on Austinvilla Road off Gold Coast Springbrook Road.

“We are not looking to be Surfers Paradise in the bush. We don’t need hens and stags parties here. We are having Uber drivers on our driveways at two in the morning. Our dogs are going ballistic,” a resident said.

Apart from band noise, residents in submissions to council planners have warned about use of fireworks and potential bushfire hazard, privacy concerns with drones and fears of traffic accidents.

A property owner accused Austinvilla of “running ahead of its applications to council” and many upset residents until recently believing operators had permission to conduct weddings.

AUSTINVILLA WEDDING VENUE COULD CLOSE AFTER RESIDENTS COMPLAIN

Aerial of boundaries on wedding venue at Austinville in the Gold Coast hinterland.

“Council has every right to call them into line. Their development has merit but they are not above the law in regards to applying through the appropriate channels like everyone else,” a property owner said.

“We have five wedding venues in our valley. As far as I know the others all comply with council laws.”

Residents are opposing a material change of use which would enable the venue to operate seven days a week until midnight with a maximum of 130 guests. It is likely two weddings can be staged along with three-night “conferences”.

Mudgeeraba-based councillor Glenn Tozer who supports the officer’s recommendation said council could move forward on prosecutions in the planning and environment court once councillors at full council voted to refuse Austinvilla’s current application.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE BULLETIN FOR $1 A WEEK FOR THE FIRST 12 WEEKS

Cr Glenn Tozer is dealing with complaints about the wedding venue. Photograph: Jason O'Brien.

“Yes, they’re holding those events (stag parties and hens nights) out here. We have received complaints about that sort of activity,” Cr Tozer claimed.

An Austinvilla spokesman after the committee decision expressed “disappointment” at council’s recommendations given the owners had converted a derelict property into an “award-winning, thriving, family-run wedding and events venue.”

“We are somewhat surprised our development on 111 acres, that has been trading since the mid 1980s and is now one of Queensland’s leading venues, doesn’t have the support of a council that is currently looking at approving smaller venues of only 3-4 hectares with no existing business in the Currumbin Valley,’ the spokesman said.

Austinvilla failed to respond yesterday by deadline for today’s story.