Corella Rd property developer loses appeal over Gympie development fine

A Gympie property developer slugged with a six-figure fine and costs over a subdivision near the region’s biggest golf course has taken the matter back to court.

Gympie developer Correla Rd Dev Pty Ltd (director Philip Goodman pictured inset), which was slugged with $225,000 in fines and court costs for breaching body corporate laws in 2023, has lost its latest effort to have the decision thrown out.

A Gympie developer slugged with $225,000 in fines and court costs for breaching body corporate laws has lost their latest effort to have the decision thrown out.

Corella Rd Dev Pty Ltd was fined in 2023 after the body corporate of the Gympie Pines Fairways Villa Estate, next to the city’s golf course, took it to court over plans to change the subdivision without the corp’s permission.

The body corporate launched the action after Corella Rd failed to give it 30 days’ notice on the plans when they were lodged with Gympie Regional Council in 2020.

Members of the body corporate only heard about the proposed changes due to coverage by The Gympie Times.

Corella Rd Dev was found guilty of breaching Section 29 of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act following a trial in Gympie Magistrates Court.

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Gympie developer Corella Rd Dev Pty Ltd, directed by Philip Goodman, has been fined $125,000 and ordered to pay more than $115,000 in costs after breaching Queensland's body corporate laws in a landmark case. No convictions were recorded.

The company was fined $125,000 and ordered to pay another $115,594.92 in costs.

Newly published Supreme Court documents reveal Corella Rd then appealed the conviction in the Gympie District Court, which found the magistrate erred in how he construed the law around a “current development proposal”.

However the district court said the developer still intended to change the scheme in a way inconsistent with its existing approval and dismissed the appeal.

Corella Rd Dev then sought to appeal this ruling in the Supreme Court with fresh evidence.

This appeal was unanimously refused by three justices of the court.

In her published decision, Justice Susan Brown said Corella Rd Dev found the district court “erred” in its construction of Section 29 of the Act and the magistrates court was in fact correct.

This meant the new evidence Corella Rd Dev sought to introduce was “irrelevant”, Justice Brown said.

Justice Brown ordered Corella Rd Dev Pty Ltd to pay the body corporate’s costs in relation to it’s the refused appeal application.

She said there was “substance” to the developer’s claims that it was denied natural justice in the magistrates court, it did not pursue this in its district court appeal “when it was open for it to do so”.

Justice Brown found the developer’s essential case was that preliminary approval for the estate had lapsed “and it ran not only the trial but the appeal before the district court judge on that basis”.

“In the circumstances, I do not consider that any substantial injustice will be suffered by the applicant if leave is not granted,” Justice Brown wrote.

Justices David Boddice and Debra Mullens agreed with these findings.

Justice Brown ordered Corella Rd Dev Pty Ltd to pay the body corporate’s costs in relation to the refused appeal application.

Originally published as Corella Rd property developer loses appeal over Gympie development fine