The campaign to Save Yaroomba from the Sekisui multi high rise development is over.
Friends of Yaroomba President, Jim Moore, said the long painful process had elements of a Shakespearean tragedy with the love of place by the community versus the opportunity for profit by an external force.
“While we are naturally disappointed with the outcome, we are extremely proud to have been key players who led the massive fundraising campaign despite an obvious strategy to wear us down and out.”
“By banding together our community managed to raise $600,000 for legal expenses and made life so difficult for the global property development company that they finally pulled out and sold the precious beachside land.
“We have shown just how much locals love Yaroomba. Several community groups and individuals along with Coolum and North Shore Coast Care are involved with the preservation of its unspoilt beachfront with quite a unique ecosystem including nesting grounds for the endangered loggerhead turtles.
“We hope the new land owner will recognise the strength of our community’s resolve, and design a development that complements these special natural attributes, and even enhances them. Surely that is what new residents buying into the development would want anyway.”
Mr Moore said the fundamental issue was the Town Plan.
“A home owner and local builders must abide by all the extensive rules and regulations down to minute details, but cashed up developers can do deals to bypass and override the same Town Plan.”
“We fought to uphold the current Town Plan as it should ensure certainty for everyone. It is a complex set of rules put together by experts with extensive input and effort from a variety of community stakeholders, and at considerable cost to local ratepayers.”
“The Shakespearean plot has made this community much stronger. Together we showed that the voice of the people does matter. We won an appeal in the Supreme Court which is an amazing accomplishment for a tiny community. Three esteemed judges agreed with us that our voices had not been heard.
“Sadly that decision had to go back to the planning court judge who, again, did not hear the voices of over 9000 people.”
The future for Friends of Yaroomba is bright, as the organisation can now focus on positive events and activities to enhance daily life within our community. Several events are already in the pipeline. New members are welcome at facebook.com/friendsofyaroomba
