‘Our Village’ is green at heart

AFTER more than two years of planning, development applications are about to be submitted to Sunshine Coast Council for Our Village Eumundi – a proposed eco-development encompassing the Highway Motors and Butter Factory sites on Memorial Drive, the old railway corridor, and the dwellings on Cook Street in Eumundi.
A development application for stage one and a development application for preliminary approval for stage two will be submitted within the next week with full information.
The details of the development were revealed at a community information session on Monday 5 December where attendees learnt about the coming development.
Our Village Eumundi is the combined vision of the Formosa family team, Louis and Janet Formosa and their two daughters Jenny and Louise Formosa, who are the long-term owners and operators of the very successful Eumundi Parkside and Eumundi Square.
Working with local architects Jolyon Robinson and landscape designers James Birrell Design Lab, project consultant Louise Formosa said she sees the development as a social focal point for the town connecting the community and engaging them both culturally and environmentally.
“Stage one of Our Village Eumundi concentrates on reinvigorating the Highway Motors building, taking care that the development is sympathetic to the natural topography of the site and the heritage of the existing buildings and corridor,” Ms Formosa said.
“The development incorporates a social ‘piazza’ area where locals and visitors alike can enjoy a coffee, buy their locally-sourced and organic produce, visit complementary businesses such as professional advisors and health and wellbeing practitioners or simply enjoy some ‘up-cycled’ retail therapy.”
Louise Formosa said the hub would incorporate environmental best practice standards such as the OSCA waste composting system, underground water storage and permaculture features.
“We are setting some ambitious but achievable sustainability targets including operating ‘off the grid’ within 10 years as a result of solar energy,” Ms Formosa said.
“We also intend to reduce mains water usage by 25 per cent in five years and are working towards having stage one of Our Village depositing just 10 per cent of its waste into landfill within this timeframe.
“Environmental values really are at the heart of this development and we’re dedicated to preserving the Eumundi way of life, and catering for local needs while raising the bar in ecotourism.”