After 19 years of running his Noosaville Garden Centre turned Cooroibah Park Landscapes business, Gary Reaoch has been told by Noosa Council he must close down or move his nursery.
He has put a life time worth of work into his business, which is now located at 83 Edington Drive Cooroibah, and will no longer have an income from his family business.
Gary said it would cost him around $50,000 to move his business to a new area.
“I’ll obviously have to sell this property before I can even buy another one, so we’ll be starting from scratch and we won’t have income for the best part of six to eight months,” he said.
“They said we could put an application in to stay here, but they said they wouldn’t support it, and cost factor for the paperwork is $20,000.”
Garry said he was still getting over the shock of the situation.
“They’ve known about us since 2014 and we hadn’t heard a word from them since,” he said.
“Everybody in Noosa knows we’re here, we’ve been advertising in the newspaper and on Facebook the whole time.
“They didn’t come and say anything then but apparently just one person complains and they have to enforce their law after 19 years.”
Gary said when they first arrived in the area at Edington Drive in Cooroibah they didn’t have any neighbours.
“We started the nursery then and we’ve continued on ever since,” he said.
“I’ve been building the nursery for my son to carry on, he’s only 30, and now we have to sell everything.
“Basically I don’t know how we’re going to survive because we’ve still got overheads and we’ve still got insurances, registration of vehicles and everything.”
Gary said despite the set back, they would survive and come back bigger and better.
Council’s Development Assessment Manager, Kerri Coyle said Council has recently received a number of complaints from residents in the area regarding the operation of a garden centre, and the removal and burning off of trees, at a residential property in a cul-de-sac.
“Mr Reaoch has been advised that he requires approval to operate a garden centre from the site, and he has the following options – either cease the use, relocate to a more suitable premises, or lodge a development application with Council,” Kerri said.
“This was first brought to Council’s attention in early 2014 when Mr Reaoch sold the Noosaville Garden Centre (now Acres) on Gibson Road, Noosaville and started selling his leftover Noosaville Garden Centre stock from the Edington Drive property.
“He advised Council officers at the time that once this leftover stock was sold he would cease selling goods from the Edington Drive property. It is understood that he did cease trading from the site but residents’ recent complaints, and Council’s investigation, show that he has since recommenced and expanded the operations on the site.”
Mr Reaoch has been asked to address this matter and confirm his proposed actions by September 2020.
“Council has not received complaints about any other nursery operating in the Cooroibah area,” Kerri said.
“The property is zoned Rural Residential under the Noosa Plan 2020, and is located at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac with neighbours in close proximity.
“Under the Noosa Plan, a garden centre, which retails direct to the public, is identified as an inconsistent use for the area and is more appropriately located in a business centre, being a commercial use.”
