Angel Crowden goes to court to appeal Redland City Council rejection of planned wedding venue

A “ring card girl” has gone to court in a bid to get the green light to build a wedding and function centre in Brisbane’s east next to “core koala habitat” after the council knocked her back.

The Capalaba property, which is subject to a development application for a proposed wedding or function centre. Photo: Realestate.com.au

A “ring card girl” has gone to court in a bid to get the green light to build a wedding and function centre in Brisbane’s east next to “core koala habitat” after the council knocked her back.

On Friday December 22, Angel Crowden, one of four co-owners of an acreage property in Capalaba, filed an appeal in the Planning and Environment Court in a bid to overturn the Redland City Council’s (RCC) December 20 decision to refuse plans to build a function centre for weddings and other small gatherings.

The RCC told Mrs Crowden that it was rejected because the proposal was “not small scale” and was not “for a community service function” and would impact the area’s residential amenity.

Angel Crowden in her role as a professional ring card girl and a model – Facebook

Angel Crowden. Photo Supplied Instagram

The council’s refusal states that Mrs Crowden had proposed to build an “acoustic barrier” along the “whole length of the northern boundary” of the address, but the RCC submitted that this “will restrict movement of fauna” between the acreage and “core koala habitat” north of the site.

But Mrs Crowden states in her appeal that the acoustic barrier “is not proposed” to run the whole length, rather it would extend two metres east of the north access door to the wedding centre, to allow animals to migrate.

Speaking outside of court Mrs Crowden said the barn would be built outside the koala habitat and she was “concerned about” ensuring they are not impacted by the development.

Mrs Crowden’s appeal states that the development application should have been approved because the proposed centre would fill an unmet demand in the Redlands area for a venue for small scale wedding or engagement parties through to gender reveal parties, baby showers and naming days.

The proposed “barn like building”. source: submission to council

The proposed development would host parties for up to 80 people, with a maximum of one event per day in a “barn like building” with a gross floor area of 250 sqm on the 0.96ha site.

She states that noise from weddings and engagement parties won’t bother neighbours because they will “limit the volume of music played” and will only let 20 or less people on the outdoor deck, reducing to 10 patrons until 10pm then closing the outdoor areas at 10pm.

Speaking outside of court Mrs Crowden told The Courier-Mail that the venue would allow locals the opportunity to be married in the area, in a beautiful setting, for a reasonable cost.

“We got married on Coolangatta Beach for two grand all up, it would have been nice to get married locally,” she said, of their struggle to find a suitable location for an affordable price in the Redlands.

A drawing of the proposed “barn like” wedding and function venue – photo Supplied

Mrs Crowden said they planned to create lush landscaped gardens with a fountain and flowers as photographic backdrops to rival wedding venues including Sirromet Winery and the Rainforest Gardens at Mount Cotton.

The proposal also included 26 parking spaces, down from an initial proposal of 36 parking spaces and the initial proposal was also for a larger 358 sqm function facility.

It sits next door to the Redland Rays Baseball Club and is surrounded by other low-density acreage properties, the appeal document states.

Mrs Crowden has owned the home for five years together with husband Cameron and her parents Mark and Rachael, where they all live together.

“I’m completely new to this process, it has been more complicated than I thought at the start,” she told The Courier-Mail.

“We’ve spent over $30,000 getting all these assessments done,” she said of traffic, environmental and planning needs assessments.

The family purchased the property for $900,000 in August 2018, property records show.

No defence has been filed and no date has been set for hearing.

Originally published as Angel Crowden goes to court to appeal Redland City Council rejection of planned wedding venue