ANOTHER major development has sparked passionate debate in and out of Noosa Council Chambers, but deputy mayor Bob Abbot said Noosa needed to get with the times.
In a report to the Planning and Organisation Committee meeting on Tuesday afternoon, council staff recommended the approval of the planned development for 139 Eumundi Noosa Road and 30 Lionel Donovan Drive that would see a 24-hour fuel station, convenience store and fast food outlet constructed.
Issues were raised by the Planning and Organisation Committee in regards to the competition the development would pose to local business, but Cr Abbot said if developments such as this aren’t approved then the only 24-hour service station and fast food outlet would remain in Noosaville’s residential area.
Cr Abbot said there was a need for a 24-hour fuel station “in town” and said there needed to be some “re-thinking” on 24-hour trading.
“Why don’t we get it operating so there are 24-hour services? Why do we limit ourselves and a lot of what we do in town planning,” he said.
“My view is do you want it in a residential area? Is that what we’re trying to achieve by stopping this sort of thing from happening on this site?”
Cr Abbot said the council was being “anal” about the development and questioned whether the council needed to think more broadly.
“Is that not the type of facility you see everywhere you go nowadays? Will it not resolve some of the problems we have?” he said.
“Unless you go to McDonald’s, you cannot get a decent cup of coffee in this town after 8pm.”
Local business owners gathered outside the council chambers before the meeting to protest the inclusion of a Tradie’s Cafe in the development application.
Noosaville Snack Bar owner Cindy Carington-King, who has operated in the same building for five years, said she believed the economic analysis of the proposed development didn’t consider the existing services.
“They haven’t got their figures right,” she said. “There are three industrial snack bars, plus a cafe and a number of mobile food vans that come into the area and service that side (of the road), plus we deliver. A great deal of our business is to that side of the road.”
Cindy said local businesses are already struggling to keep afloat and the addition of another fast food outlet would only make things more difficult.
“Another reason they gave us is people can’t get across the road, people don’t want to cross the road,” Cindy said. “But we see people cross the road there all the time and we deliver.”
Cr Tony Welling said it was a “challengeable assumption” to assume people didn’t or wouldn’t cross the road.
“It’s not that difficult. It’s not Parramatta Road after all,” he said. “It has a nice big median strip.”
The decision on the proposed development will now go to the General Committee meeting on 1 June.
