Golden Age: Gold Coast new super suburb offers last chance for central house and land package and to get planning right
A GOLD Coast property will soon be home to a new $1 billion master planned suburb which will transform the site and is being touted as the last chance to build the Aussie dream of a home on a block of land close enough to get views of the Glitter Strip
Golden Age
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A $1 BILLION new master planned suburb will soon be marketed as the last chance to build the Aussie dream of a home on a block of land close enough to get views of the Glitter Strip.
But the Gold Coast Bulletin, after obtaining documents and meeting with stakeholders, can reveal the Pacific View Estate at Worongary presents a dramatic change in planning direction for the Gold Coast.
As the new home for up to 12,000 residents, the massive greenfield site between Nerang and Mudgeeraba will ease population pressure.
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But before much of the hinterland super suburb is built, the State Government and Gold Coast City Council in their dealing with the consortium developing the project will do the heavy lifting on planning infrastructure.
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Work is underway upgrading the area’s water and sewer system, commitments have been made for a new railway station and assessments are starting on the need for a new school.
Unlike the catch-up being played out in the city’s fast growing north, as shown in the Golden Age series, the new hinterland residents will not be queued on an offramp for up to an hour waiting to get on to the Pacific Motorway.
Families in the morning peak hour were taking 23 minutes to crawl 150 metres to reach an on-ramp from Yalwalpah Road on to the M1 at Pimpama in the Coast’s north.
Pacific View Estate fronts an upgraded six-lane M1, residents will be able to cycle to a new railway station and arterial roads are being planned now to cater for expected traffic in 10 years.
The suburb was planned after the Perth-based Perron Group bought the 342ha parcel of vacant land that had belonged to reclusive millionaire Robert “Spiney Bob’’ Anthes, who died in 2004.
Deputy Premier Jackie Trad in March 2015 announced the Government had approved the project after a call-in, predicting it would provide a $3.2 billion boost to the economy and about 2700 jobs during the construction phase.
The project’s web page says the development is “planned to come to the market in 2018” and will be built over stages in the next 10 years.
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The developer is reluctant to put up a set time line but council insiders forecast sales will begin next year and construction will start in 2020.
The council has begun upgrading sewer works and education bureaucrats are monitoring the demand for a new school.
Hinterland councillor Glenn Tozer told the Gold Coast Bulletin: “In the 2016-17 budget, more than $14 million was allocated to the Merrimac west sewer augmentation project. The sewer and wastewater upgrade in that precinct was in anticipation of development like this.
“We have Hinkler Drive receiving future capital works, we have the M1 expansion done there, and we have the M1 works southbound in progress.
“We’ve done a number of significant projects to make the traffic much better. There is more to do and we need to spend more on the road network.”
Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon confirmed Education Queensland would continue to assess the needs of the new Coast suburb and monitor population trends.
“The Gold Coast’s population is expected to reach 928,000 over the next 25 years, with the area requiring approximately 159,000 new dwellings by 2041,” Ms Scanlon said.
“It is anticipated that Pacific View Estate will provide approximately 3500 dwellings.”
Ms Scanlon said the Government had a strong and proven track record on delivering education infrastructure the Coast needed to keep pace with growth.
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“Since July 1 2015, more than $167 million has been invested to deliver new schools, new classrooms and upgrade classrooms in the Gold Coast area,” she said.
“A further $81.7 million will be invested into education infrastructure in the Gold Coast region in the 2018-19 financial year.’’
Documents reveal that after a call-in, the Government required the developer to complete several major technical studies.
The estate’s development code allows for lots ranging from 180 sqm to 1500 sqm and apartment buildings up to eight storeys.
A village centre with maximum ground floor space of 15,000 sqm is likely to have a supermarket chain as an anchoring client.
The estate’s planning allows for an industrial precinct that would include manufacturing and storage facilities.
The east-west corridor provides for a “central green open space spine” to provide a breathing space across the suburb.
The Government has required to the developer to provide designs for new intersections along Hinkler Drive, the western arterial road running beside the M1.
The plans would need to show what land had to be acquired and that the intersections would be safe.
The Government has requested “adequate storage capacity in turns” and that intersections would cope under a “10-year design horizon” when the project opens.
Documents also show the developer must pay a road network contribution fee of $1169 per dwelling to Queensland Transport.
Project development manager Chris Alston, of CRA Group, declined to speculate on a starting date, saying “we are still in the planning approval phase”.
“We’re working through all that from a Federal and State Government perspective. Council commenced the sewer works. That was a good job that they did there,” Mr Alston said.
The developer was given no guarantee of timing of the planned Merrimac railway station, which is to be one of three new Coast stop-offs as part of the Cross River Rail upgrade.
But Labor says it intends to make good on its last election promise made by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on a visit to nearby Robina station.
The other new railway stations will be at Pimpama and Helensvale North – both growth areas.
“I think that’s a really strong infrastructure tick for the Coast in terms of the whole Cross River Rail strategy, in the way it ties the Coast to Brisbane. It’s a really positive thing. I don’t think the Coast has picked up on the power of it yet, what it will mean for us,” Mr Alston said.
While the developers had been given the tick for buildings up to eight storeys, they caution that the intensity of development would be dictated by market demand.
“Greenfield opportunities for house and land on the Gold Coast is a diminishing resource. It’s well placed with its centralised location, infrastructure rich with the Motorway on front door,” Mr Alston said.
“The services are in the ground. We have the potential for being on the railway. We’re talking about a potential school and a mix of dwelling types. It will be appropriately scaled. We will be doing the house and blocks of land first.”
Mr Alston said the project offered a point of difference to the “densification of light rail” on the Glitter Strip with its high rise towers.
“This is about families, and giving the ability for people to secure the great Australian dream of a house on a block of land that’s usable with modern benefits of a true master planned estate,” he said.
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“It’s not as though we are at the fringe area where you are being forced to live. The benefits of the centrality of the location can’t be over stressed.
“It’s the ability for people who have been in established houses now for maybe 20-odd years, have some capital growth, they can build a house that they may not have been able to do.”
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