Gympie council halts plans to turn Amy St home into function venue

Plans to turn an old doctors surgery near the Mary Valley Rattler into a function venue and overnight accommodation have been left in limbo.

Plans to turn an old doctors surgery near the Mary Valley Rattler into an 80 guest function venue with overnight accommodation have been left in limbo amid a lack of information. Pic: Ray White Gympie.

Plans to turn an old doctors surgery near the Mary Valley Rattler into an 80 guest function venue with overnight accommodation have been left in limbo amid a lack of information.

Owners Michael and Caroline Arnett asked to use the historic property, which sits across the road from the St Peter’s Church at the intersection of Amy St and Lady Mary Tce, for a range of events including weddings, wakes, birthday and Christmas parties, team building events, and exhibitions.

The new centre was proposed to operate under the name Proud Mary and host up to 80 guests.

However council staff said the plan conflicted with the region’s planning scheme and recommended at Wednesday’s meeting it be rejected.

Plans to turn an old doctors surgery near the Mary Valley Rattler into an 80 guest function venue with overnight accommodation have been left in limbo amid a lack of information. Pic: Ray White Gympie.

Councillors were told noise and parking were two major issues, with guests proposed to use on street parking.

New developments should ideally have all parking contained within the proposal.

The block’s zoning caused problems, too. It was split across two zones, residential and district, meaning half of the property was allowed to be used for function events already.

Mayor Glen Hartwig said this was further compounded by the fact under the council’s planning scheme, the site, which is not ideal for function events, would be perfectly fine to cater for dozens of children every day.

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Owners Michael and Caroline Arnett asked to use the historic property, which sits across the road from the St Peter’s Church at the intersection of Amy St and Lady Mary Tce, for a range of events including weddings, wakes, birthday and Christmas parties, team building events, and exhibitions.

“We’re saying you could put a childcare facility there … it will be supported because it fits with the jigsaw puzzle of the planning scheme but because we want to have people sleeping in two rooms on that property and possibly have events … that doesn’t comply,” Mr Hartwig said.

This was despite a childcare centre “having a far greater impact”.

“It’s crazy,” he said.

“The MCU (Material Change of Use) part of the planning scheme doesn’t make sense for regular people in the street.”

Mick Curran instead asked for any decision to be delayed to allow for further investigations into the plan.

Mr Curran raised the possibility of excising the function venue part of the application but keep plans to use the home as short-term accommodation, and asked if the owners might be approached about making such a split.

“I’d hate to see this proposal refused due to a lack of information, and I’d also hate to see it approved when there’s a lack of information,” Mr Curran said.

Councillors voted unanimously to delay a final decision, with the application intended to be brought back at the December 15 meeting.

Originally published as Gympie council halts plans to turn Amy St home into function venue