Approval for new 14-level tower rips heart out of Palm Beach beachfront village

Approval of a 14-level tower in Palm Beach is causing division with concerns ‘the heart is being ripped out’ of the southern Gold Coast beachfront village.

Approval of a 14-level tower in Palm Beach is causing division with concerns “the heart is being ripped out” of the southern Gold Coast beachfront village.

Veteran area councillor Daphne McDonald failed to gain enough support at a full council meeting on Tuesday to stop the 34-apartment project replacing three houses on a side road immediately west of the Gold Coast Highway.

Of the 14 councillors, only Peter Young, Darren Taylor, Glenn Tozer and Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden supported Cr McDonald. Mayor Tom Tate was absent from the meeting.

Council officers recommended approval subject to several conditions, but Cr McDonald argued the “50 per cent uplift in height” should not be allowed because the development did not meet all the strict criteria for approval.

“What we are seeing in Palm Beach is two, three, four times the density of what’s under the Town Plan,” she said.

“What we are seeing now is the heart of Palm Beach is being ripped out. We are losing our soul by some of these high-rise developments. They are covering nearly 90 per cent of the block. There is very little landscape.”

Planning committee chair Cameron Caldwell, who supported the officer’s recommendation, said he appreciated community angst about what was perceived to be some relaxation about the mapped height for buildings.

But he said council was trying to create “an absolute handbrake” to ensure people knew the ultimate height for buildings in locations allowing medium-density development.

“The difficulty we face as a city is there is going to become even more housing pressure,” he said.

Cr Caldwell added this development was well designed and close to transport options.

“We actually need to be delivering housing product in these well-serviced locations to ensure future generations of Gold Coasters can actually live the genuine Gold Coast lifestyle in suburbs like Palm Beach,” he said.

“Or quite frankly everyone will get priced out of the marketplace.”