A SIMPLE VERSION OF ORIGINAL DA TIMELINES ISSUES AND COUNCIL PROCESSES
The Sekisui House development application (DA) is a complex series of multi-page documents. The DA is buried in legalese, planning system minutae, and a generously healthy component of self-serving PR spin. Understandably – not many people are prepared to forensically wade through the sheer volume of material.
While it would take a brace of Town Planners to fully explain all the intricacies of Planning Acts and Planning Schemes the following is our attempt to clarify for you some of the issues, processes, and Council timelines surrounding the immediate future of Sekisui’s DA. We are well aware that should this DA succeed it may do nothing less than radically alter the social amenity of the Yaroomba we all know and love. We are opposing the Sekisui DA with all the strength at our disposal.
As you read it pays to bear the following in mind:-
Nothing surrounding this DA for Yaroomba Beach is set in concrete. Sekisui may follow through with the DA and seek a decision from Council. Sekisui might withdraw the DA and allow their consultants to give the DA another re-work before re-submission. Sekisui might receive an attractive offer for the land from another developer and simply bail out. The State Planning Minister might exercise ‘State Interest’ clauses in the Planning Act and take over assessment of the DA. We are not saying that any of these things will happen, we are simply pointing out that anything is possible.
START POINT & BRIEF HISTORY
At the end of March 2015 Sekisui House lodged with Council a request for an amendment to the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 (the legal framework for all development on the Sunshine Coast until 2031) as it applied to their site at Yaroomba Beach. After strong community opposition against any amendment to the height restrictions in the Planning Scheme, Council voted 10-1 against Sekisui’s request.
Under the Planning Scheme the vacant 18.5479 hectare Yaroomba Beach site is protected by a height covenant of 8.5 metres (2 storeys) and a low density zoning.
On 5 May 2017 Sekisui House submitted a full development application (DA) to Council that sought approval for the construction of 1007 units, a 220 room 24.5m high (7 storey) Hotel, restaurants, bars, and a shopping precinct. Transitioning building heights for the proposed development include 8.5m (2 storeys), 12m (3 storeys), 16m (4 storeys) and 24.5m (7 storeys) for the Hotel and serviced apartments. To say the least this is a massive development – in one single spot it contains as many units as exist in most of the high-rise apartment blocks between Coolum and Mudjimba.
ARE YOU AWARE HOW HUGE THIS DEVELOPMENT REALLY IS?
The proposed development, which will affect everyone residing from Coolum and Yaroomba through to Mt. Coolum and Marcoola, consists of 5 stages. Stage 1 is more than frequently advertised in our local media where a lot of Sekisui advertising dollars are being splashed about, but Stages 2 – 5 where the bulk number of units are hidden, rarely, if ever, gets mentioned. Here are the complete contents of all Stages:-
Stage 1: 78 units, 70 dual-key units, 16 single dwelling units, 220 room hotel, 2,770m2 shopping centre = 384 rooms/units
Stage 2: 139 units, 10 single dwelling units = 149 units
Stage 3: 152 units, 32 single dwelling units = 184 units
Stage 4: 178 units, 24 single dwelling units = 202 units
Stage 5: 288 units, 20 single dwelling units = 308 units
As you can see, each succeeding Stage packs in more and more units and the sheer scale of this 1,227 unit/room development has alarmed many local residents, and it does not conform to the height and density requirements for that land under the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014. However, under Section 242 of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 Sekisui House is able to include variations that are in conflict with the current Planning Scheme.
A TINY AMOUNT OF DRY STUFF
What planning legislation and zoning applies to the Yaroomba land?
Planning Scheme: Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 Local Plan Area: Coolum Local Plan Area Zone: Emerging Community Zone and Low Density Residential Zone.
Who will be operating the proposed hotel? Westin Resort and Spa – a subsidiary of parent company Marriott International.
How many parts are there to the Sekisui House DA? There are 3 parts.
1/ Preliminary Approval (in accordance with section 242 of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009) for a Material Change of Use to establish the Yaroomba Beach Master Plan (in accordance with the preliminary approval document).
2/ Development Permit for Material Change of Use (MCU) for Resort Complex, Multiple Dwellings, Short Term Accommodation, Shopping Centre, Educational Establishment, Community Use and Utility Installation.
3/ Development Permit for Reconfiguration of a Lot 1 into 26 lots (Creating 16 Dwelling House Lots, 2 commercial lots, 1 park lot, 1 access lot, 2 buffer lots, 1 transfer station lot, 1 principal body corporate lot & 2 balance management lots and access easement).
NOW THAT THE SEKISUI DA IS IN THE WARM EMBRACE OF SUNSHINE COAST COUNCIL – WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? WHAT STAGES WILL COUNCIL TAKE THE DA THROUGH?
APPLICATION STAGE - COMPLETED
Sekisui’s application with all supporting documents was submitted to Sunshine Coast Council on 5 May 2017. The application fee was paid and Council acknowledged receipt of the application on 19 May 2017 and deemed it to be properly made. All the necessary bells and whistles were correctly rung and blown.
INFORMATION AND REFERRAL STAGE – COMPLETED
The information and referral stage for an application gives Council and other relevant check-things-out agencies the opportunity to ask Sekisui House for further information needed to assess the application, and also gives Council the opportunity to receive advice about the application from other referral agencies.
Council sent quite a detailed Information Request to Sekisui for more information on 19 June 2017. Under the Fair Dealing aspect of Copyright Law we can bring you some snippets of the Information Request, and they do make interesting reading:-
Provide more information on "The economic, social and environmental impacts the community would experience if the proposed development did not proceed." We can answer that one – if the development did not proceed the environment and the turtles would be very happy, and the local Yaroomba/Coolum community would be exceptionally happy to avoid this inappropriate development blighting our landscape with high-rise apartment blocks. Also, the local real estate industry would be happy to not have 1007 units flooding the market, and the on-site managers of existing apartment complexes would be relieved to see their livelihoods no longer under threat. You must admit - there is great public benefit in the development not going ahead!
Provide more information on "What impact the resort will have on existing hotel operators." Well, competition is fierce in the hospitality game – a multi-nat resort owner is only interested in dragging in the bucks – they will not shed a tear if any of our local coffee shops, eateries or small hotels go under.
Provide more information on "Details of how the body corporate/s will be responsible for ongoing maintenance of publicly owned parks, roads, beach accesses and the lake." This refers to Sekisui’s big splash in the press about gifting 25% of their land back to the public. Do we really want Sekisui's trees, roads, lake, and a park 2/3rds the size of Yaroomba Park? Apparently the future on-site body corporate/s is going to be lumped with the maintenance costs. But what happens if the body corporate/s kick up their heels at the huge maintenance costs on this gifted ‘publicly owned’ land and end up in a litigious situation with Council – will we as the long-gouged ratepayers be lumped with the costs? Plus - would this also mean that Council will miss out on the rates on 5 hectares of highly expensive beachfront land - or will we have to pick up the rates tab?
More information please "It is uncertain how the proposed densities nominated in the masterplan (in future stages, excluding Stage 1) are achievable considering the desired built form, landscaping and infrastructure requirements in the Planning Scheme." Our Peoples’ Document, the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014, has been beyond clear on this matter. 8.5m (2 storeys) & low density applies to Sekisui’s Yaroomba land – perhaps Sekisui needs to pay someone to actually read the Scheme on their behalf? The scheme also declares it's own lifespan to 2031, so the Council needs to resist developers dollars to entice inappropriate changes to it, when it has only been in place for a few years.
Sekisui responded to Council's request with some information on 20 October 2018, not all that was requested., and advised Council that this should 'close' the information and referral stage (even though there were still outstanding referrals to State Government departments for comment on the DA).
NOTIFICATION STAGE - COMPLETED
The Notification stage gave members of the public the opportunity to make Submissions, including objections, that must be taken into account by Council before an impact assessable DA can be decided. We encouraged all of you to voice your objections politely via the Submission process.
The Notification stage was commenced by Sekisui on 23 October 2018 by them publishing a notice in local newspapers, placing notice boards on the land and giving a notice to the owners of land adjoining the land they wanted to develop. However, the Notification period needed to be stopped a few days later, due to an 'administrative error' by Sekisui and Project Urban (two very experienced companies in lodging DA's). At that point, approximately 500 submissions had been received and uploaded to PD on-line (the Council's portal for development documents and information) before the Notification period was ceased and recommenced. Naturally, this caused much confusion for members of the Public about whether their submissions opposing the development application were accepted by Council, or needed to be re-submitted. We, of course, wondered what sort of strategy this was.
The Notification stage re-commenced on 16 November 2017 and ran until 17 January 2018.
During the Notification period, Council received over 12,000 written submissions. Some were duplicates and some were not properly made, so once the checks and balances were finalised, the total number of submissions regarding the DA amounted to 11,692. Being 8,897 opposed to the DA and 2,795 supporting the DA (76% against : 24% for), even though Sekisui claimed to have over 3,000 people supporting them (and a majority of the community) in massive Newspaper Advertorials and on social media.
So, by sending an objection Submission in 8,897 people have secured the right to appeal to the Planning & Environment Court about any Council decision concerning the Sekisui DA. This is definitely public interest at it's strongest! THANK YOU!
Now on to the Decision stage.
DECISION STAGE - this is where we are now (June 2018 - crunch time!)
Legally, Council (the Planning department in particular) is required to decide to support or reject the DA within 20 business days after the day the Decision stage starts. Council also, by written notice given to Sekisui, extended the decision making period by a further 20 business days to 15 March 2018. During that time Council summarised the submissions, and provided a report to Sekisui on 28 February 2018.
Sekisui reacted to the report showing the true level of public interest and concerns of the community, and sought to extend the decision period to 30th June 2018. Council agreed to this extension.
Sekisui then submitted 'minor changes' to the Development Application, again with a fanfare of PR spin in the media. The changes were so minor that no height of buildings changed, roadways were only widened to meet basic Council requirements and 8 units and 16 other dwellings were dropped from Stage 1 of the DA, which meant they added a little more open space (so the Hotel would have less views of residential unit and roofs to its south).
The machinations of deciding whether to DA should be approved by Council or rejected has not changed!
Under section 242 of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (SPA), Sekisui’s preliminary approval application may affect how the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 is applied by Council to the proposed development DA. Here we enter the convoluted world of legislation-speak where clarity of purpose and meaning sinks into a quagmire of obfuscation. The Sustainable Planning Act 2009 also states that Council’s decision must not conflict with the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 unless there are sufficient grounds to justify the decision, despite the conflict. This is where that old chestnut called ‘for or in the Public Benefit or some-such’ comes into play.
Purely assessed against the development codes and zoning or density requirements of the Planning Scheme 2014 the Sekisui DA should sink like a stone at this point – but, alas, it may still not. We need a bit of plain english here. Council is legislatively required under the Act to assess the Sekisui DA against the current requirements of the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014. The Sekisui DA and the Planning Scheme however are obviously in conflict, or to be more accurate, Sekisui is in conflict with the Planning Scheme because it wants to over-ride, amongst many other things, 8.5m (2 storeys) with 24.5m (7 storeys). Council officers are who will decide how it all plays out. They are legislatively bound under the Act to assess the Sekisui DA against the Planning Scheme, then they are legislatively bound under the Act to take into account how the Sekisui DA introduces conflict or variances into the Planning Scheme and also assess the DA on that basis.
About now, Council officers will have read all of our Submissions and taken them into account, along with all the complexity in the DA from Sekisui. Council officers may recommend to elected Council members to reject the DA because it does not conform to the Planning Scheme, or that Council should reject the DA because it is pretty obvious that the majority of the submitters (76%) do not want this high-rise development. Or, Council officers may propose that there are sufficient grounds (public benefit) for Councillors to go right ahead and approve Sekisui’s DA, with certain conditions attached, (despite what any of us might think).
At this point our elected Mayor and all Councillors of Sunshine Coast Council should also be doing a bit of hefty assessing of their own regarding their re-election chances at the next local government elections if the DA is approved. We should be emailing and respectfully reminding them of such as well.
Once the decision about the Sekisui DA is made (by a Vote of Councillors) Council must inform Sekisui and all Submitters of the result. Here is when the appeal process to the Planning & Environment Court opens up and various interested solicitors and barristers will probably start to feel very happy about their future financial prospects.
Also, as unlikely a scenario as it is, the State Government Planning Minister does have the power under the Planning Act to call-in or take over the assessment of any particular DA if there are 'state interests' involved. In such a rare circumstance all the work we put into our Submissions would not be wasted - in fact our Submissions would grow in importance because, as part of the common material for the DA, they would have to be considered at any State Government level assessment of the DA.
SO THERE YOU GO!
That’s the unpacking of the various issues and processes surrounding the Sekisui DA as we see it. Remember, anything could happen and nothing is set in concrete. There are a range of choices open to Sekisui, as there are for Council, as there are for we residents of the shire. How things play out greatly depends on who makes what choice when and how everybody else reacts to it. On our Website and Facebook Page we will keep you fully informed of any changes that affect the journey of the DA. It is our hope that, ultimately, the DA will be consigned to a well deserved oblivion.
While it would take a brace of Town Planners to fully explain all the intricacies of Planning Acts and Planning Schemes the following is our attempt to clarify for you some of the issues, processes, and Council timelines surrounding the immediate future of Sekisui’s DA. We are well aware that should this DA succeed it may do nothing less than radically alter the social amenity of the Yaroomba we all know and love. We are opposing the Sekisui DA with all the strength at our disposal.
As you read it pays to bear the following in mind:-
Nothing surrounding this DA for Yaroomba Beach is set in concrete. Sekisui may follow through with the DA and seek a decision from Council. Sekisui might withdraw the DA and allow their consultants to give the DA another re-work before re-submission. Sekisui might receive an attractive offer for the land from another developer and simply bail out. The State Planning Minister might exercise ‘State Interest’ clauses in the Planning Act and take over assessment of the DA. We are not saying that any of these things will happen, we are simply pointing out that anything is possible.
START POINT & BRIEF HISTORY
At the end of March 2015 Sekisui House lodged with Council a request for an amendment to the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 (the legal framework for all development on the Sunshine Coast until 2031) as it applied to their site at Yaroomba Beach. After strong community opposition against any amendment to the height restrictions in the Planning Scheme, Council voted 10-1 against Sekisui’s request.
Under the Planning Scheme the vacant 18.5479 hectare Yaroomba Beach site is protected by a height covenant of 8.5 metres (2 storeys) and a low density zoning.
On 5 May 2017 Sekisui House submitted a full development application (DA) to Council that sought approval for the construction of 1007 units, a 220 room 24.5m high (7 storey) Hotel, restaurants, bars, and a shopping precinct. Transitioning building heights for the proposed development include 8.5m (2 storeys), 12m (3 storeys), 16m (4 storeys) and 24.5m (7 storeys) for the Hotel and serviced apartments. To say the least this is a massive development – in one single spot it contains as many units as exist in most of the high-rise apartment blocks between Coolum and Mudjimba.
ARE YOU AWARE HOW HUGE THIS DEVELOPMENT REALLY IS?
The proposed development, which will affect everyone residing from Coolum and Yaroomba through to Mt. Coolum and Marcoola, consists of 5 stages. Stage 1 is more than frequently advertised in our local media where a lot of Sekisui advertising dollars are being splashed about, but Stages 2 – 5 where the bulk number of units are hidden, rarely, if ever, gets mentioned. Here are the complete contents of all Stages:-
Stage 1: 78 units, 70 dual-key units, 16 single dwelling units, 220 room hotel, 2,770m2 shopping centre = 384 rooms/units
Stage 2: 139 units, 10 single dwelling units = 149 units
Stage 3: 152 units, 32 single dwelling units = 184 units
Stage 4: 178 units, 24 single dwelling units = 202 units
Stage 5: 288 units, 20 single dwelling units = 308 units
As you can see, each succeeding Stage packs in more and more units and the sheer scale of this 1,227 unit/room development has alarmed many local residents, and it does not conform to the height and density requirements for that land under the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014. However, under Section 242 of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 Sekisui House is able to include variations that are in conflict with the current Planning Scheme.
A TINY AMOUNT OF DRY STUFF
What planning legislation and zoning applies to the Yaroomba land?
Planning Scheme: Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 Local Plan Area: Coolum Local Plan Area Zone: Emerging Community Zone and Low Density Residential Zone.
Who will be operating the proposed hotel? Westin Resort and Spa – a subsidiary of parent company Marriott International.
How many parts are there to the Sekisui House DA? There are 3 parts.
1/ Preliminary Approval (in accordance with section 242 of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009) for a Material Change of Use to establish the Yaroomba Beach Master Plan (in accordance with the preliminary approval document).
2/ Development Permit for Material Change of Use (MCU) for Resort Complex, Multiple Dwellings, Short Term Accommodation, Shopping Centre, Educational Establishment, Community Use and Utility Installation.
3/ Development Permit for Reconfiguration of a Lot 1 into 26 lots (Creating 16 Dwelling House Lots, 2 commercial lots, 1 park lot, 1 access lot, 2 buffer lots, 1 transfer station lot, 1 principal body corporate lot & 2 balance management lots and access easement).
NOW THAT THE SEKISUI DA IS IN THE WARM EMBRACE OF SUNSHINE COAST COUNCIL – WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? WHAT STAGES WILL COUNCIL TAKE THE DA THROUGH?
APPLICATION STAGE - COMPLETED
Sekisui’s application with all supporting documents was submitted to Sunshine Coast Council on 5 May 2017. The application fee was paid and Council acknowledged receipt of the application on 19 May 2017 and deemed it to be properly made. All the necessary bells and whistles were correctly rung and blown.
INFORMATION AND REFERRAL STAGE – COMPLETED
The information and referral stage for an application gives Council and other relevant check-things-out agencies the opportunity to ask Sekisui House for further information needed to assess the application, and also gives Council the opportunity to receive advice about the application from other referral agencies.
Council sent quite a detailed Information Request to Sekisui for more information on 19 June 2017. Under the Fair Dealing aspect of Copyright Law we can bring you some snippets of the Information Request, and they do make interesting reading:-
Provide more information on "The economic, social and environmental impacts the community would experience if the proposed development did not proceed." We can answer that one – if the development did not proceed the environment and the turtles would be very happy, and the local Yaroomba/Coolum community would be exceptionally happy to avoid this inappropriate development blighting our landscape with high-rise apartment blocks. Also, the local real estate industry would be happy to not have 1007 units flooding the market, and the on-site managers of existing apartment complexes would be relieved to see their livelihoods no longer under threat. You must admit - there is great public benefit in the development not going ahead!
Provide more information on "What impact the resort will have on existing hotel operators." Well, competition is fierce in the hospitality game – a multi-nat resort owner is only interested in dragging in the bucks – they will not shed a tear if any of our local coffee shops, eateries or small hotels go under.
Provide more information on "Details of how the body corporate/s will be responsible for ongoing maintenance of publicly owned parks, roads, beach accesses and the lake." This refers to Sekisui’s big splash in the press about gifting 25% of their land back to the public. Do we really want Sekisui's trees, roads, lake, and a park 2/3rds the size of Yaroomba Park? Apparently the future on-site body corporate/s is going to be lumped with the maintenance costs. But what happens if the body corporate/s kick up their heels at the huge maintenance costs on this gifted ‘publicly owned’ land and end up in a litigious situation with Council – will we as the long-gouged ratepayers be lumped with the costs? Plus - would this also mean that Council will miss out on the rates on 5 hectares of highly expensive beachfront land - or will we have to pick up the rates tab?
More information please "It is uncertain how the proposed densities nominated in the masterplan (in future stages, excluding Stage 1) are achievable considering the desired built form, landscaping and infrastructure requirements in the Planning Scheme." Our Peoples’ Document, the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014, has been beyond clear on this matter. 8.5m (2 storeys) & low density applies to Sekisui’s Yaroomba land – perhaps Sekisui needs to pay someone to actually read the Scheme on their behalf? The scheme also declares it's own lifespan to 2031, so the Council needs to resist developers dollars to entice inappropriate changes to it, when it has only been in place for a few years.
Sekisui responded to Council's request with some information on 20 October 2018, not all that was requested., and advised Council that this should 'close' the information and referral stage (even though there were still outstanding referrals to State Government departments for comment on the DA).
NOTIFICATION STAGE - COMPLETED
The Notification stage gave members of the public the opportunity to make Submissions, including objections, that must be taken into account by Council before an impact assessable DA can be decided. We encouraged all of you to voice your objections politely via the Submission process.
The Notification stage was commenced by Sekisui on 23 October 2018 by them publishing a notice in local newspapers, placing notice boards on the land and giving a notice to the owners of land adjoining the land they wanted to develop. However, the Notification period needed to be stopped a few days later, due to an 'administrative error' by Sekisui and Project Urban (two very experienced companies in lodging DA's). At that point, approximately 500 submissions had been received and uploaded to PD on-line (the Council's portal for development documents and information) before the Notification period was ceased and recommenced. Naturally, this caused much confusion for members of the Public about whether their submissions opposing the development application were accepted by Council, or needed to be re-submitted. We, of course, wondered what sort of strategy this was.
The Notification stage re-commenced on 16 November 2017 and ran until 17 January 2018.
During the Notification period, Council received over 12,000 written submissions. Some were duplicates and some were not properly made, so once the checks and balances were finalised, the total number of submissions regarding the DA amounted to 11,692. Being 8,897 opposed to the DA and 2,795 supporting the DA (76% against : 24% for), even though Sekisui claimed to have over 3,000 people supporting them (and a majority of the community) in massive Newspaper Advertorials and on social media.
So, by sending an objection Submission in 8,897 people have secured the right to appeal to the Planning & Environment Court about any Council decision concerning the Sekisui DA. This is definitely public interest at it's strongest! THANK YOU!
Now on to the Decision stage.
DECISION STAGE - this is where we are now (June 2018 - crunch time!)
Legally, Council (the Planning department in particular) is required to decide to support or reject the DA within 20 business days after the day the Decision stage starts. Council also, by written notice given to Sekisui, extended the decision making period by a further 20 business days to 15 March 2018. During that time Council summarised the submissions, and provided a report to Sekisui on 28 February 2018.
Sekisui reacted to the report showing the true level of public interest and concerns of the community, and sought to extend the decision period to 30th June 2018. Council agreed to this extension.
Sekisui then submitted 'minor changes' to the Development Application, again with a fanfare of PR spin in the media. The changes were so minor that no height of buildings changed, roadways were only widened to meet basic Council requirements and 8 units and 16 other dwellings were dropped from Stage 1 of the DA, which meant they added a little more open space (so the Hotel would have less views of residential unit and roofs to its south).
The machinations of deciding whether to DA should be approved by Council or rejected has not changed!
Under section 242 of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (SPA), Sekisui’s preliminary approval application may affect how the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 is applied by Council to the proposed development DA. Here we enter the convoluted world of legislation-speak where clarity of purpose and meaning sinks into a quagmire of obfuscation. The Sustainable Planning Act 2009 also states that Council’s decision must not conflict with the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014 unless there are sufficient grounds to justify the decision, despite the conflict. This is where that old chestnut called ‘for or in the Public Benefit or some-such’ comes into play.
Purely assessed against the development codes and zoning or density requirements of the Planning Scheme 2014 the Sekisui DA should sink like a stone at this point – but, alas, it may still not. We need a bit of plain english here. Council is legislatively required under the Act to assess the Sekisui DA against the current requirements of the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014. The Sekisui DA and the Planning Scheme however are obviously in conflict, or to be more accurate, Sekisui is in conflict with the Planning Scheme because it wants to over-ride, amongst many other things, 8.5m (2 storeys) with 24.5m (7 storeys). Council officers are who will decide how it all plays out. They are legislatively bound under the Act to assess the Sekisui DA against the Planning Scheme, then they are legislatively bound under the Act to take into account how the Sekisui DA introduces conflict or variances into the Planning Scheme and also assess the DA on that basis.
About now, Council officers will have read all of our Submissions and taken them into account, along with all the complexity in the DA from Sekisui. Council officers may recommend to elected Council members to reject the DA because it does not conform to the Planning Scheme, or that Council should reject the DA because it is pretty obvious that the majority of the submitters (76%) do not want this high-rise development. Or, Council officers may propose that there are sufficient grounds (public benefit) for Councillors to go right ahead and approve Sekisui’s DA, with certain conditions attached, (despite what any of us might think).
At this point our elected Mayor and all Councillors of Sunshine Coast Council should also be doing a bit of hefty assessing of their own regarding their re-election chances at the next local government elections if the DA is approved. We should be emailing and respectfully reminding them of such as well.
Once the decision about the Sekisui DA is made (by a Vote of Councillors) Council must inform Sekisui and all Submitters of the result. Here is when the appeal process to the Planning & Environment Court opens up and various interested solicitors and barristers will probably start to feel very happy about their future financial prospects.
Also, as unlikely a scenario as it is, the State Government Planning Minister does have the power under the Planning Act to call-in or take over the assessment of any particular DA if there are 'state interests' involved. In such a rare circumstance all the work we put into our Submissions would not be wasted - in fact our Submissions would grow in importance because, as part of the common material for the DA, they would have to be considered at any State Government level assessment of the DA.
SO THERE YOU GO!
That’s the unpacking of the various issues and processes surrounding the Sekisui DA as we see it. Remember, anything could happen and nothing is set in concrete. There are a range of choices open to Sekisui, as there are for Council, as there are for we residents of the shire. How things play out greatly depends on who makes what choice when and how everybody else reacts to it. On our Website and Facebook Page we will keep you fully informed of any changes that affect the journey of the DA. It is our hope that, ultimately, the DA will be consigned to a well deserved oblivion.
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The Save Yaroomba Group (as a sub committee of Friends of Yaroomba Inc) is dedicated to the preservation of social amenity in the Yaroomba Village area. We are not opposed to appropriate development or economic growth across the Sunshine Coast region or the Yaroomba Beach precinct. We are opposed to the Sekisui Yaroomba Beach development because it does not conform to the reasonable restraints contained in the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014. The Sekisui DA will greatly affect the social environment for all residents in the Yaroomba Beach Community, and our aim is to ensure that the Sekisui Yaroomba proposal fully adheres to the height and density requirements stipulated for the Yaroomba Beach district in the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014. We welcome appropriate development to Yaroomba Beach, but we will strenuously oppose the current form of the Sekisui Yaroomba Beach proposal. If you would like to support our cause to save the Yaroomba Beach Community from this inappropriate Sekisui Yaroomba development, you are welcome to either donate via the facility on this website, or join our email list to receive updates.
