Arundel Hills Country Club: Controversial development dumped as housing crisis solution revealed
City leaders are poised to dump the controversial Arundel Hills Country Club development, as a solution to the housing crisis is unveiled which would deliver up to 30,000 homes.
Gold Coast
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Gold Coast City Council with the backing of the new state government is poised to dump the latest plans for the $150 million Arundel Hills Country Club redevelopment.
A super majority of councillors, on receiving an updated officer report at a special meeting on Tuesday, are tipped to repeal the temporary local planning instrument (TLPI) introduced by former planning and local government minister Meaghan Scanlon.
The report will include a notice from new Deputy Premier and Planning Minister Jarrod Bleijie supporting the City’s request to remove the TLPI rezoning from the site.
City planning chair Mark Hammel expects the City would remove the TLPI because a properly-made application was never received.
“I can’t pre-empt a decision of council, but given the majority support for the unanimous refusal and non-backing of the TLPI I’m confident on Tuesday of a successful result,” he said.
Bonney MP and Housing Minister Sam O’Connor in an update to residents on his Facebook page said he made a clear election commitment to protect the green space.
“The LNP said we would put the future of Arundel Hills back in the hands of our council and our community. That’s exactly what we’re doing,” he said.
Mr O’Connor told the Bulletin the government had written to the City supporting their request to remove the TLPI which fast tracked development plans.S
“After a decade of Labor going to war with local governments across Queensland, the LNP will reset this relationship and work with councils and communities to build one million more homes by 2044,” he said.
The overwhelming majority of residents on Mr O’Connor’s Facebook page were supportive. But environmental campaigner Ceris Ash wrote: “Isn’t it (the development application) in the Planning and Environmental courts anyway. Council can say no – court can still say yes.”
Mr Hammel said the appeal was “still alive” because it was part of the original application.
“At this stage the next mention of this item is not until March next year,” he said.
Earlier this month in a bombshell letter, the City told developers that it had rejected their 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, warned any approval roadblocks would stop public access to the green space.
In October developer 3 Group revealed its new masterplan for the site, allowing for nearly 800 homes, far above the minimum of 650 set by Ms Scanlon when she 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. A total of 790 dwellings would be achieved under the masterplan.
In September, Ms Scanlon announced the TLPI opening the way for the developer to end court action and work with council on progressing the project.
Mayor Tom Tate, who staunchly opposed Ms Scanlon’s intervention, said the next step to solving the city’s housing crisis would be to work with the new government to introduce a TLPI to ramp up development along the light rail route.
“We need to build up, not out and the best way to do that is on the light rail corridor. Main Beach has done well, Palm Beach has already started even though the light rail has not got there yet,” he said.
“How we do that is to map out a temporary planning instrument so we can release up to 30,000 dwellings and that will go a long way to helping improve supply.”
The new minister would need to be satisfied that the state interests which supported the imposing of the TLPI could be protected, State Development said.
Ms Scanlon argued that her key reason for intervening was to provide more housing and low-cost accommodation during a cost-of-living crisis.
“An assessment would need to be undertaken by the department to determine any change in the facts and circumstances,” a department spokesman said.
“Regardless of the outcome of the 2024 state election, the Gold Coast needs more than 6000 new dwellings each year to meet demand for diverse and affordable homes. In 2023, only 4771 dwellings were approved by Gold Coast City Council.”
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Originally published as Arundel Hills Country Club: Controversial development dumped as housing crisis solution revealed
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