The Planning and Environment Court has dismissed an appeal against Sunshine Coast Council’s approval of a five-star resort complex at Yaroomba, paving the way for the controversial $900 million Sekisui development to proceed.
Development Watch and the Sunshine Coast Environment Council were granted leave to appeal in February 2022, after the Court of Appeal heard the matter in March 2021.
But the appeal against Sunshine Coast Regional Council and SH Coolum Pty Ltd was this week dismissed by Judge Nicole Kefford.
The Sekisui development was initially approved by council in 2018 despite community opposition, with about 9000 submissions opposed to it.
The community appealed that decision in the Planning and Environment Court but the council’s approval was upheld in June 2020.
The community, led by the local group Development Watch, then lodged the March 2021 appeal.
Related story: Sekisui project in limbo after community wins appeal
In her ruling this week, the judge outlined some background to the case.
“SH Coolum Pty Ltd wants to develop a vacant parcel of land located between the coastal townships of Coolum and Marcoola. The land is approximately 18.5 hectares in area and is located between Yaroomba Beach and David Low Way,” it said.
“The five-star resort complex is proposed to include a 220-room hotel, 2770 square metres of associated commercial space as part of the resort complex, an educational establishment, community use amenities (being Surf Life Saving Queensland facilities), and about 133 multiple dwellings (provided as serviced apartments for permanent and temporary accommodation).
“These uses are to be located across a series of buildings between five and seven storeys in height. SH Coolum Pty Ltd has not designed stages two to five in detail, but the Yaroomba Beach Master Plan sets parameters for the intensity of the development proposed on the subject land across all stages … (It) stipulates a maximum residential development density comprising a 220-room hotel and 740 equivalent dwellings.”
The question of allowable building heights was a key point of contention in the case.
“The expectation of some members of the community is that the subject land would not be approved for development at a height greater than 8.5 metres or two storeys,” the ruling said.
“The expectation of others is that the subject land would (or could) be developed to the greater heights of the Hyatt preliminary approval. The expectation of yet another group, which would include entities like SH Coolum Pty Ltd, is that development greater than the height of the Hyatt approval was possible.”
Related story: Sekisui’s Plan B revealed as resort remains in legal limbo
In her ruling, the judge indicated that she “read and carefully considered” 24,496 pages of submissions about the development application.
“My consideration of those 24,496 pages informs my ultimate finding that there is no uniform community expectation (local or otherwise) about the height of buildings and structures that should be permitted to occur on the subject land,” it said.
The ruling stated that legislation called for “broad evaluative judgment” that required consideration of other matters, which included: reflecting the character of the area as a low-key coastal urban community; compliance with the planning scheme other than with respect to matters of height; having no unacceptable impacts in terms of setbacks, overshadowing, overlooking, overbearing or site cover, visual amenity or traffic; net benefits in respect of traffic; no environmental risks or impacts; enhancement of the natural environment; need for the development; enabling economic and community benefits; increasing publicly accessible areas of open space; and an opportunity to develop an intensive tourism-focused development.
In conclusion, the ruling stated: “Taken in combination, the matters that support approval are compelling. They persuade me that the proposed development is meritorious and should be approved.”
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