Gold Coast development: Council to charge developers more to use public parks

Developers will be slugged thousands of dollars more and have new restrictions placed on them under a new reform which will retroactively impact approved high-rise towers.

Developers will be slugged thousands of dollars more to use public parks for storage and pay for their upgrade under major council reform.

Gold Coast councillors have revised the city’s park usage policy after nearly a year of community outrage. The laundry list of new requirements include developers being forced to pay rent of up to $3.50 per square metre of used space a week, up from $2.90.

Main Beach residents who last year opposed the policy have welcomed the decision.

The changes were approved on Tuesday by the council’s lifestyle committee and will go before full council next week. They will come into effect on August 1 if approved.

“Under the new rules developers will pay more, adhere to higher standards and be forced to be more transparent by being forced to publicly advertise how much they are paying council for the privilege of accessing our precious parklands,” committee chairman Hermann Vorster said.

“We have taken our time to develop the best policy in southeast Queensland which will attach itself retrospectively to all existing development approvals that have not yet commenced constructions.

Cr Hermann Vorster. Picture Glenn Hampson

“Under these moves, construction will no longer just be a walk in the park for developers.”

The new reforms, if approved, would include:

* Approval to use a park granted for one year only, with any extension requiring a fresh application to council;

* All revenue raised from the increased rental fees would go into upgrading the parks once completed.

* Applicants will be able to negotiate to directly fund the park upgrade in lieu of paying the rental fee.

* Tighter control when roads around parks can be closed to ensure least impact on the local community.

Main Beach Association’s Sue Donovan

The Bulletin last year revealed how a developer of a high-rise apartment tower at Main Beach secured use of a park to store construction huts for a year for cheap rent.

It also revealed developers of the 38-storey tower Midwater at Main Beach gave a $300,000 bond for the use of the historic Cable Park for a three-year period.

The park is the original reserve for the installation of the Pacific Telegraph Cable which connected Southport and Australia across the Pacific Ocean to Canada in 1902.

A report to council at the time found the current parks’ policy was failing, there had been “unapproved use” and a “continual challenge of managing increased bookings”.

Main Beach Association leader Sue Donovan welcomed the proposed changes.

“We are delighted, particularly given the enormous disruption caused by the Midwater development at Cable Park,” she said.

“We will hope these developers will pay a commercial rent for the space and the worry is that some have previously only had to pay a bond which they got back at the end of the construction period.”

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Originally published as Gold Coast development: Council to charge developers more to use public parks