A new two-level daycare facility could be on the way to the heart of a coastal suburb.
A development application has been lodged on behalf of Bridgeman Enterprises for a material change of use to establish a childcare centre at Golden Beach.
There are plans for the building to be located at 36-38 Landsborough Parade, which is currently occupied by a cafe and pathology clinic. It would be on the corner of a main intersection, next to the Golden Beach Medical Centre, near several shops and four resorts.
The town planning report, prepared for the application, stated there is “a lease commitment in place from a reputable childcare service to operate from the premises”, accompanied by illustrations of the facility including signage for Green Leaves Early Learning.
Green Leaves operates dozens of childcare centres around the country, including two on the Sunshine Coast, at Pelican Waters and Birtinya.
The report stated that the centre would cater for 108 kids – from infants to children aged five.
It would operate Monday to Friday from 6.30am to 6.30pm “to enable parents to drop children off before work and collect them after work”.
“There will be a total of 18 staff members onsite on any given day,” the report stated.
“The proposed development will provide a full-service facility over the two levels, with seven activity rooms, associated sleep rooms, staff breakroom, laundry, kitchen, storerooms, front reception, offices areas, dedicated children’s bathrooms and two staff bathrooms, as well as 805.1sqm of outdoor playscape area.”
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The building would reach 9.45m, which is below the 12m limit, and there would be 18 staff car parks and 16 customer car spaces, with basement car parking accessed from Jellicoe Street. The main entry would face Landsborough Street.
The report stated that an early learning centre was a good fit for the area.
“The proposal contributes to the Golden Beach Local Centre being retained as a local (not full service) activity centre, by providing for the day-to-day child-minding needs of local residents,” it said.
The report also elaborated on building and landscape design.
“The proposed development contains a high-set built form with a high-quality contemporary architectural design that provides significant visual interest,” it stated.
“The design uses a range of external finishes and building materials to create variation.
“These include rendered blockwalls, textured painted brick, vertical and horizontal lightweight weatherboard cladding, natural timber tone cladding and batten screening, glazed and solid balustrading and ample window openings of varied shapes and sizes.
“The development presents a coastally-inspired colour scheme overall, which predominantly consists of white tones that will contrast with the ample green landscapes provided towards the street frontage.
“The north-west and south-east corners of the site will be landscaped with a combination of densely planted garden beds, comprised of trees, shrubs and ground covers and turfed areas associated with the outdoor playscapes.
“Further, the upper level will comprise a dedicated turfed playscape.”
The centre would back on to residences, but the report detailed that measures would be taken to ensure neighbours would not be adversely affected.
“The proposed development will not cause any noise related environmental nuisance or harm, beyond what would be reasonably expected in a centre,” it stated.
“Notably, the subject site is able to be developed for a hospitality use that operates at night time and includes amplified music (but) the proposed development will cease operations at 6.30pm each day, with children likely not playing outside in the evening in any case.
“It is proposed to provide 1.8 metre high acoustic fencing along the western boundary and a deep planted landscape buffer to acoustically buffer the playscape area from the residences to the west.”
Sunshine Coast News has reached out to Green Leaves for comment.
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