A former sand mine could be transformed into a 69-lot business park under a new proposal submitted to Sunshine Coast Council.
A development application has been lodged to create the Sippy Cleantech Enterprise Park on two lots totalling almost 42 hectares at 23 Parkyn Road and 110 Sippy Creek Road, Tanawha.
The application, submitted by Project Urban on behalf of Riversleigh Super Pty Ltd and Habania Pty Limited, details plans for the 69 lots to be delivered in two stages.
If approved, 68 standard lots ranging from 1200sqm to about 4300sqm would be created, along with Lot 100, which would comprise 25.45 hectares and include an existing dam, drainage channel and vegetation buffers.
A development application report says the business park would be intended to accommodate “low-impact and soft industry” such as cleantech, e-commerce, technology and knowledge-based businesses.
“The site is ideally suited for the proposed development having been rehabilitated following cessation of the previous extractive industry use and now presenting as a cleared and level site area suitable for industrial and business park development,” it says.
“The site is easily accessible to a major road arterial (the Bruce Highway) as well as exhibiting a high level of connectivity to the master-planned community of Harmony for supply of future employment options.”
The business park would be accessed from Parkyn Road, with a new 25m-wide road connecting the lots.
This is not the first time the site has been the focus of proposed development.
An application to develop an 82-lot industrial and business park was lodged in October 2023 but withdrawn in May 2024 after the council advised that an application involving prohibited development could not be made, citing the clearing of native vegetation and development in a Koala Priority Area.
The total area of the lots in the current application is 11.03 hectares, down from 13.4 hectares in the 2023 application.
The site was also the subject of a 2019 development proposal for a tourist park incorporating 461 sites. It was approved in 2020 with conditions.
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The planning report acknowledges an industrial park is not listed as a consistent or potentially consistent use in the Rural Zone, but argues “time and events have overtaken the current rural zoning intent for the site”.
“It has been used over the last 30 years for extractive industry purposes. The extractive resource has now been exhausted and the site rehabilitated,” it says.
“The land is also included within the urban footprint under the SEQ Regional Plan.”
An economic need and impact assessment report prepared by Foresight Partners says the proposal would help address a forecast shortage of industrial space in the region.
“Based on comparison of supply and forecast demand, the current vacant supply represents around a 4.6-year supply,” it says.
“This is well below the generally accepted benchmark of a rolling 15-year supply, indicating a need for additional supply and demonstrates a clear and pressing need for additional supply.”
The development application is for preliminary approval for a material change of use of premises, including a variation request, for industry and business uses, and a development permit for reconfiguring a lot.
The variation request seeks to change the levels of assessment for future development applications over the site, overriding the Rural Zone benchmarks, and to alter the permitted building heights, lifting the current 8.5m restriction to allow buildings up to 12m.
The application is subject to impact assessment.
