Arundel Hills Country Club redevelopment: Council’s bombshell letter over expansion plans
A bombshell letter has upped the stakes of the controversial Arundel Country Club redevelopment saga, as the project’s developer issues a warning. THE LATEST
Gold Coast
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Gold Coast council in a bombshell letter has told Arundel Hills Country Club developers that it has rejected the revised plans, effectively stalling the multimillion-dollar golf club redevelopment.
In a separate move, the developers after the election of the Crisafulli government, aware the LNP is opposed to the project, warn any approval roadblocks would stop public access to the green space.
In October developer 3Group revealed its new masterplan for the site, allowing for nearly 800 homes, far above the minimum of 650 set by the then-Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon when she overruled the Gold Coast City Council and revived the project.
The site would be divided into five precincts, only two of which will be residential, with the rest to become sporting facilities for A.B. Patterson and the council or open space and conservation.
“(There will be) staged residential subdivision within precinct 1 and precinct 2, for a variety of lot sizes ranging from 187 sqm to 2034 sqm, and delivering a combined minimum 650 dwellings across the site,” the masterplan reads.
“A total of 790 dwellings are achieved under the Masterplan.”
The Bulletin has obtained the Gold Coast City Council letter where council planners warn that they do not accept that the latest plans were “properly made or correctly lodged”.
They believe because the application fails to comply with planning laws, some components are not “acceptable development” but “assessable development”.
Those components include how “affordable housing” in the precinct will be managed, and more detail on retail, health and sporting facilities.
The officers warn this could trigger “impact assessment” on some aspects of the proposal, which opens up for submissions from residents.
Officers remarked that “it is uncertain what land uses are being proposed, the details of the proposed land uses, and the precincts the land uses are proposed within, to determine whether the land uses are code or impact assessable”.
Council is now warning that to remain code assessable under the TLPI the applicant must amend their development application to address identified assessment issues.
City planning chair Mark Hammel said the key issue was the speed of the TLPI introduced.
“What we have got here is they lodged a master plan and other applications with it – we are not sure what they’ve put in is an accepted outcome or not,” he said.
“It’s the problem of a hastily prepared TLPI and not enough thought put into the practical implication of the instrument.
“The City of Gold Coast warned their counterparts in the state that they had concerns about the drafting of the document.
“A lot of these concerns were to do with how council would do an assessment against the document, the practical implications of it. It would appear those concerns were well founded.”
The developer has until November 27 to respond to council.
“I suspect this is going to go down the path of a lot of money being spent on planning lawyers arguing over things, which again is really annoying, when if there was more time spent drafting this instrument in the first place and listening to council, we wouldn’t be in this position.”
3Group boss Steven Kleytman has warned both the council and Government about delays which could keep the former golf course site from being used by the public.
“The only way Arundel can be a Green Space is to be developed. If it doesn’t get developed it stays as private land, enjoyed only by the landowners. Green space equals developing Arundel,” he said.
Housing Minister and Bonney MP Sam O’Connor said he had campaigned before the October poll on ensuring the site’s future was decided by the council working with the community.
“I’m not responsible for it as Housing Minister. It’s under Planning. I’m intending on raising it with the Deputy Premier’s office, who is the Planning Minister,” he said.
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