Petition to move Rainbow Beach Sports Club music festival

The Rainbow Beach Sports Club has fought off an attempt by some nearby residents to force its upcoming This is Living music festival to relocate - but that could be the last time.

A growing Rainbow Beach music festival held by the town's Sports Club, which will this year feature guests including Ian Moss, has become tangled in noise and planning laws, with some questions also raised about their impact on the town’s hugely popular fishing classic.

A Rainbow Beach music festival is set to continue despite a push by some residents for it to be shifted amid noise concerns and questions over its compliance with planning rules.

Organisers of the Rainbow Beach Sports Club’s This is Livin festival said the 2023 event was expected to draw more than 1000 guests in to the beachside town, despite the late push to get it moved elsewhere.

The festival will take place in the club’s Turana St carpark on Saturday, November 18.

A number of residents want it to be moved elsewhere because of the noise.

Gympie councillors were told at Wednesday’s special meeting to address a 27-signature petition opposing the festival’s location, and that one of the proposed new sites was the “centre block” at the corner of Rainbow Beach and Clarkson Drive.

The block is about 300m from the club.

Council officers said in their report the Club had development approval for an entertainment venue but that did not cover outdoor events.

This was despite it having hosted at least two festivals in the past.

Gympie Regional Council officers have recommended this year’s Rainbow Beach music festival at the Sports Club go ahead, but future events will need planning approval.

Sustainability director Adrian Burn said at least one of those may have breached planning rules.

“If you have an event with less than 1000 people, and it’s the first event at the site, you don’t need (a permit),” Mr Burns said.

“If you have more than 1000 people you need a local law permit and then if you have a second event … at the site … then it is deemed development and needs development approval.”

Neither of those events appeared to have drawn any complaints, Mr Burns said. The Rainbow Beach Fishing Classic had though.

Mr Burns said the fishing classic, which broke records in 2023, “probably has existing use rights”.

“Technically it has development approval,” he said, adding the Sports Club - which also hosts the fishing classic - would have to request those rights if there was ever a complaint and challenge to that.

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Gympie council sustainability director Adrian Burns said complaints had been received about the town’s popular Fishing Classic in past years, but officers were “reasonably confident” it would have existing use rights due to the length of time it had been running.

“Officers are reasonably confident that we would be able to approve those existing use rights based on the length of time that event has been there,” he said.

The council’s officers recommended this year’s music festival go ahead “as a result of the short time frames … and the commercial commitments made by the Sports Club” with council guidance.

The club would need to apply for a minor change to its development approvals to cover future outdoor events.

On Tuesday, before the council’s meeting, club general manager Ashleigh Jensen said the festival was moving forward and the club was happy to work with the council.

It was “disappointing” there had been some opposition to it, she said.

“We don’t want to cause any disturbance in the community.”

More than 1000 festival tickets had already been sold, with guests coming from Tin Can Bay and Cooloola Cove to enjoy the fun and drive more outside money into the town.

“We want to do things right,” Ms Jensen said.

Originally published as Petition to move Rainbow Beach Sports Club music festival