Plans are afoot to add workers’ accommodation to an equine hospital under development on the Sunshine Coast.
Sarah Walters and Dan Chapman, owner-operators of the Stroud Homes Sunshine Coast franchise, are building a hospital for horses on Bunya Road, Bridges.
The couple hope to negate the need for members of the equine and racing industries on the Coast to cart their horses to Gatton for x-rays and complex veterinary procedures.
They have now applied to the Sunshine Coast Council for a material change of use to allow the construction of rural workers’ accommodation as part of the complex and to approve an existing demountable building.
A development assessment report submitted with the application says the accommodation is necessary to support the veterinary care that will be offered on site.
The development would comprise nine bedrooms in what the report describes as a “boarding house configuration, with common kitchen and laundry facilities”.
The accommodation would be within 24m of the equine hospital facilities and would have “traditional design elements, including hip and gable roof forms, eaves and weatherboard cladding”, the report says.
Twelve parking spaces would be provided, meaning one for each bedroom and three for visitors, plus two motorcycle spaces.
The report says the property is outside of Unitywater’s service area and the accommodation would be served by rainwater tanks and an on-site sewage treatment system, while stormwater would drain into Running Creek.
It says rural workers’ accommodation is a consistent use of land within the rural zone, would not have an adverse impact on landscape values or important ecological areas, and would have all necessary infrastructure.
Plans show the approved equine hospital will include two surgery rooms plus a standing surgery area, recovery boxes, vet and nurses’ offices, laboratory, sterilisation room, pharmacy, reception area, consultation and waiting rooms, plus a toilet and sleeping area.
The accommodation would share the same driveway access as the hospital and have a similar 3m landscaped buffer, and no vegetation would have to be cleared for it to be built, the report says.
“The development has been designed to have a direct connection and utilise existing access points and associated infrastructure where possible,” the report says.
“The development is not proposed over environmentally sensitive areas and will not impact upon surrounding rural or sensitive land uses and therefore should be supported by council.”
Sunshine Coast News has contacted Mr Chapman and Ms Walters for comment.
