Developers are confident that a seven-storey unit building proposed for Kings Beach will not significantly impede the views behind, despite it testing a preferred outcome of the planning scheme.
Project Urban has lodged a material change of use application on behalf of Kings Beach Sand Pty Ltd for a 23-unit complex at Verney Street comprising seven storeys plus a basement car park.
Under the Caloundra local plan code, any part of a building above six storeys high should cover less than 25 per cent of the actual ground area of the site.
A town planning report accompanying the application states the top storey has a site coverage of 48.9 per cent.
Kings Beach Sand co-owner Matthew Bond said the building would not dramatically block view from behind.
“My understanding, and I’m not a town planner, is that they do that to protect significant views from properties behind but we don’t feel that it’s ruining anything,” he said.
“We want to get as much out of the site and appropriate zonings as we can.”
A town planning report says the Verney Street development would be 45.5m AHD (above sea level), while eight-storey buildings at Maltman Street South and Queen Street, which define the west and northern ridgelines, are 70m and 65m AHD respectively.
“This ceiling height is approximately 20-24m below the heights of these nearby developments,” the report says.
The report says any effects on views or shadows cast by the building would be no worse than could be expected of any other development on the site that made the most of the zoning.
The development would be across two blocks of just over 700sqm each, which are currently occupied by a 1970s brick home and an older-style cottage.
The planning report says there are already four-storey medium-density buildings either side and batten screening on lower levels of the proposed unit building would maintain privacy.
Kings Beach Sand Pty Ltd is owned by Mr Bond and Troy Barnes, two of the directors of the Citimax Property Group in Brisbane.
Mr Bond said this would be their third project in Caloundra, following Ocean Verge, two doors up in Verney Street, and another currently under construction in Moreton Parade.
The building has been designed by Brisbane architect Angelo Patrick.
Mr Bond said the large three- and four-bedrooom units would suit downsizers, who were strongly represented among purchasers at the firm’s other projects.
The complex would include a pool, barbecue area and gym, and spaces for 53 cars and four motorcycles, with landscaping and fencing to screen the parking from the street. A special feature will be a dog wash-down area at the front of the building.
“I reckon there’s about 15 approved pets in Ocean Verge and the state government has changed the laws with regards to being able to keep pets so we thought if we could have a dog wash out the front as people come off the beach, that’s something people would like,” he said.
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