Shock move: Red light to super tower light rail development in Gold Coast suburb

Angry residents of a Gold Coast suburb are calling on council to remove the light rail overly map which has launched a wave of super tower development through their beachfront suburb.

• Main Beach population to increase four times by 2040
• Southport to become Gold Coast’s live music venue

ANGRY Main Beach residents are calling on council to remove the light rail overly map which has launched a wave of super tower development through their beachfront suburb.

In a stunning move, council planning chair Cameron Caldwell made the suggestion to protesting residents at the Main Beach Association annual general meeting on Tuesday night.

More than 200 residents attended the event at the Southport Yacht Club and another 67 watched on zoom due to COVID restrictions, ready to back several motions as part of a “call to action” to reform council’s planning powers.

The Bulletin in an exclusive report on the eve of the meeting revealed how the suburb could quadruple within 20 years, the population increasing by 420 per cent reaching 16,411 people.

Residents aware the tram route had allowed for code assessable developments with bigger and bulkier buildings than existing apartment buildings in large landscaped grounds voiced fears that the suburb east of Tedder would “become Hong Kong”.

Cr Caldwell had told residents: “Why don’t you ask council to put forward amendments that remove that overlay. We just did it on the beachfront, we proposed to do that.

“If it is of concern, make that suggestion, I’d be very happy to hear it. Okay.”

Cr Caldwell admitted council had to work much better in dealing with “constrained sites”.

But he was not going to add fuel “to the drama” of a slide being presented which showed “red buildings like Hong Kong all the way through Main Beach’.

“I think that is very unlikely,” he said, leading to heckling from some residents.,

“We need to be very mindful of working on where the problems are and helping to address them.”

When a resident suggested the suburb already had too many super towers, Cr Caldwell replied: “Well, it’s never too late.”

Before Cr Caldwell spoke residents in town planning presentations accused council of “dropping the ball” and “sadly not taking a long term vision” for the suburb after approving the recent Masthead and Monaco super towers.

Residents complained that the code assessable applications meant they were not notified about “massive structures on small blocks as little as 400sqm”.

A female resident told the meeting: “We are freaking out about Masthead and Monaco. You have nothing to go forward to protect our lifestyle here.”

Main Beach Association leader Sue Donovan admitted she was “stunned” by the suggestion by Cr Caldwell which prompted an extra resolution to the meeting.

Residents later unanimously voted to remove the light rail overlay code for Main Beach, applauding the move. The MBA will now write to council and the State Government.

They also asked council introduce a “trigger” so that code assessable development applications which exceed acceptable outcomes by five per cent become impact assessable providing property owners with rights to object and appeal in planning courts.

Main Beach Association leader Sue Donovan — succeeding in getting planning reform.

Ms Donovan told the Bulletin: “We will be writing to council and the State Government, and follow this up very quickly. It will be a great change.

“We have no arguments with the light rail overlay itself, in Southport. But a kilometre away from light rail (at Main Beach) is ridiculous.”

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