By KATIE DE VERTEUIL
WITH Sekisui having submitted amended concept plans of their controversial
20 hectare development site at Yaroomba, to Sunshine Coast Council (SCC) on Tuesday the issue is once again brightly in the spotlight.
Sekisui is proposing to build a five-star international hotel, conference facilities and residential development on land it owns at Yaroomba Beach.
The issue being, that 15 of the 17 proposed buildings are in excess of the town plan, meaning changes would have to be made to the planning scheme to accommodate the development.
The local community has slammed the project, holding numerous protests and plastering Yaroomba and Coolum with anti-development placards.
While little is yet known about the amendments, Sekisui House Senior Development Manager Evan Aldridge is confident that the changes will go through due to proficient community consultation by the company over the past 12 months.
According to Mr Alderidge, the team had now received feedback from more than 1,000 Sunshine Coast community members, with largely positive results.
“As promised the team has been working through the range of comments gathered and is looking at how to best incorporate the feedback into the revised proposal to submit to Sunshine Coast Council,” Mr Alderidge said.
“We remain committed to working with the community and council for the best outcome for short and long term benefits to Sunshine Coast residents.
“While there is some opposition to the proposal, our community engagement program and independent survey has also found increasing strong support within the Sunshine Coast community.
“Based on their existing knowledge, 64 per cent of residents were either supportive or neutral toward the development,” Mr Aldridge continued.
The results highlighted majority support for all of the benefits with greatest support for sustainable building practices (82 per cent) and permanent job creation (80 per cent).
The survey also highlighted community concerns around the Coast’s 15 per cent youth unemployment rate.
Younger residents (18-29 age group) showed majority support (94 per cent) for permanent job creation.
“Residents aged 18-29 were the most supportive of the development overall with 80 per cent of this age group supportive of the proposal, 13 per cent neutral and just 6 per cent opposed,” Mr Alderidge said.
One group fighting against the development is Development Watch Inc and they strongly dispute the latest feedback claims by Sekisui.
“We monitored 472 of the 648 people it consulted at its Information Sessions and 100 per cent of the people we spoke to were against the high-rise component of the development, “President Lynette Saxton said.
“In relation to Sekisui’s independent telephone survey, we obtained a copy of the questions asked and there is no mention of high-rise or changing our planning scheme.
“Only 400 residents were contacted in this telephone survey – this is not a statistically valid survey number for a population of 250,000 people.”
OSCAR, the peak association for residents and community associations, also commissioned a ReachTEL poll in November last year, where 1050 residents were surveyed.
The results were 46.5 per cent against, 18.9 per cent undecided, 19.2 per cent said they did not know and only 15.4 per cent were in support.
This poll also found that 53 per cent of residents would be more likely to support a councillor who opposed high-rise development in new areas on the Sunshine Coast.
“We have been lobbying the councillors via emails for over 12 months now,” Ms Saxton said.
“Councillor O’Pray says he alone has received over 10,000 contacts from concerned residents.
“At this stage, we have four councillors who have said they support us 100 per cent.”
Development Watch, in conjunction with the Sunshine Coast Environment Council and other community groups, is holding a Community Information Session on Saturday 11 April at 2pm at the Coolum Civic Centre.
The Mayor, all councillors and Sekisui have all been invited to attend.
To date, only Councillor O’Pray has accepted.
“At the end of the day, Development Watch asks Sekisui to respect our community and submit its proposal for assessment against our Planning Scheme,” Ms Saxton said.
“We also ask council not to facilitate approval of a future development application by amending the Planning Scheme.
“If council votes to amend the Planning Scheme, we also hope that this most undemocratic process will be remembered by all at the next council election.
“We are not against development – we just want appropriate development in accordance with our Planning Scheme.”
