Medical centre in the balance

AN APPLICATION for a new medical centre in Noosaville that is likely to be refused by council is a case of “bad timing”, according to Councillor Jess Glasgow.
An application to build a two-storey medical centre on land that is currently zoned as residential is before council, with staff recommending the refusal of the material change of use.
According to a report presented to the Planning and Environment Committee on 9 August, the application to build on Goodchap Street and Val Crescent in Noosaville is “unplanned” and conflicts with the Noosa Plan.
Cr Glasgow said he didn’t support the medical centre development because, while it was opposite the Noosa Hospital, it was proposed for residential land, but he added it was a shame the application had come through now when council was in a legal battle over the Noosa Civic development.
“Health is a huge industry that we should be capitalising on,” he said.
“I’ll acknowledge we have a missed opportunity with this health development in Goodchap Street.
“We have all these great ideas for office space and health in Noosa Civic, which is correctly zoned, and here we have a prime example of business, a developer and a commercial company knocking on our door, saying we want to be involved in this part of the world in Noosa.”
Cr Glasgow said the Noosa Civic development would be perfectly suited to the proposed Goodchap Street medical centre, but poor timing meant the region might lose out on the benefits of the development.
“This is a very simple situation of bad timing because we’re caught up in court with QAC,” he said.
“I feel, as a council, we are completely ready for those kinds of developments and industry coming into Noosa. We have got an area that is 10 minutes from Hastings Street (at Noosa Civic) and we’re saying ‘go nuts’. We want this industry here, just don’t do it in residential zoning. You don’t want to splinter it.”
Councillor Ingrid Jackson is also passionate about the medical centre development, urging Noosa Council to approve the application for a material change of use from residential zoning to allow for business development.
Cr Jackson said she disagreed with the staff’s recommendation to refuse the application because she was in “favour of diversifying the Noosa economy” and she supported the Noosa Plan’s intent for the Noosa Civic business centre “providing a range of business uses”.
Cr Jackson said she believed there was a high demand for health services in the area and that will only grow; the application didn’t significantly impact the local traffic and was ideally located to create a medical hub around the hospital.
A decision on the application had not yet been made, with discussions on the application held over to the general committee meeting on Monday 15 August and then held over again at the ordinary meeting on Thursday 18 August.