By JOLENE OGLE
A local community group has slammed a developer’s decision to appeal the rejection of a proposed Lake Weyba development as “a total lack of respect for the community”.
Northbrook Corporation Pty Ltd lodged an appeal in the Planning and Environment Court last Wednesday against Noosa Council and Sunshine Coast Council’s decision to reject their proposed residential development at Lake Weyba.
Both councils rejected the proposed development, citing “unacceptable impacts on waterways and wetlands” among other environmental issues as the reasons for the rejection.
But the 10-page appeal document said the proposed development would not significantly impact the environment, nor adversely impact koala conservation, Aboriginal cultural heritage values, or conflict with the Noosa Plan or Maroochy Plan 2000.
Local community group, Friends of Lake Weyba (FoLW), have actively opposed the development proposal and this week slammed the developer’s decision to appeal the rejection.
FoLW secretary Christine Tainsh said the proposed development would have created an “irreversible scar on the western shores of pristine Lake Weyba”.
“There were over 1,000 public submissions objecting to Northbrook’s development proposal,” she said.
“It was rejected by both Noosa Shire Council and Sunshine Coast Regional Council as clearly not complying with their respective town plans on many different levels, and the conditions imposed by the State Government’s Department of Environmental Heritage Protection rendered the proposal unworkable.
“We believe that for the developer to appeal such an across the board, clear-cut refusal of their proposal decries a total lack of respect for the community and their elected representatives.”
Ms Tainsh said the developers would have another fight on their hands if their appeal was successful.
“The Noosa community is exceptionally passionate about its vision for the future of the area embodied in the Noosa Plan,” she said.
“If the developer wishes to defy this vision through the court system, they will find the community’s resolve will be very difficult to defeat.”
