A 400-person church facility could be opened to a much wider range of events under a new proposal.
Hm.church Ltd has lodged a development application with Sunshine Coast Council to add Function Room to the approved uses at its Sportsmans Parade property at Bokarina, allowing the existing building to be hired for events not necessarily connected with religious activities.
The application follows a show cause notice issued by the council on May 29 over a number of matters concerning the premises.
A Sunshine Coast Council spokesperson said: “Sunshine Coast Council issued HM Church with a Show Cause Notice regarding compliance matters associated with the approved development. The applicant has since lodged applications seeking amendments to the approval, which are currently under assessment by Council.”
Sunshine Coast News has contacted Sunshine Coast Council and hm.church for further information about the show cause notice, including the matters raised and the current status of the process.
Planning consultant Urban Catalyst 3 stated in a cover letter: “Amongst the matters raised was the notion of the land being used as a Function Facility.”
The proposed Function Room use would include external weddings and receptions, funerals and wakes, baby showers, private functions, corporate conferences and seminars, ministry events and charity and not-for-profit events.
The building would not be expanded and the maximum occupancy would remain at 400 people.
Application documents also propose retaining operating hours of 7am to 10pm, with amplified sound stopped and patrons required to leave by 10pm.
“The site is not intended to operate as a late-night entertainment venue or nightclub,” the planning report states.
The application comes less than a year after the $2.85m facility opened as the permanent home of hm.church, which had spent about two decades operating from venues including the Chancellor Park Tavern, Venue 114 and Kawana Waters State College.
At the time, operations manager Darren Lockwood told SCN the venue was also intended for broader community use.
“Beyond Sunday services, the space is designed as a multi-purpose community venue that can host weddings, conferences and special events, creating opportunities for connection and positive impact throughout the Sunshine Coast,” Mr Lockwood said.
The Function Room would now be limited to a maximum active area of 510sqm at any one time, using combinations of the auditorium, foyer, seminar room and recreation area.
The planning report states the limit would allow the existing 34 car parking spaces to satisfy the parking rate applied by the applicant to the proposed use.
Large church and Function Room activities would generally operate separately because they would use the same parts of the building, although smaller events could occur at the same time at the discretion of the site manager.
HM.Church Ltd is also seeking changes to the bespoke planning framework applying to the site.
The broader Kawana Waters planning rules have already been changed to allow for a Function Room use in this area.
However, two more detailed planning documents that specifically apply to the property also need to be updated. Applications to make those changes were lodged in September and were still before Sunshine Coast Council when the planning report was prepared on September 25.
The report states the proposed Function Room use would fit within the planning framework if those changes are approved.
The application also includes an acoustic assessment with proposed measures to manage amplified sound, people leaving events and vehicle movements.
The applicant says noise from functions would generally be lower than the existing church use because many events are expected to attract fewer people than a typical Sunday service.
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Stockland, which was consulted about the proposal, told Urban Catalyst 3 in February it had no specific objections to it progressing to council, while identifying event timing and traffic as considerations.
“The only consideration will be timing of events and impact on traffic, which no doubt council will raise if they haven’t already,” Stockland development director Matthew Patullo wrote.
