Growing pains!
Sue Brooks January 14th, 2010
Our Council is still using the previous Council Planning Schemes to assess development applications. Throughout the region there is land earmarked for development and zoned appropriately and much rural land that is not zoned for development. The Della Vista development was a proposed development for rural zoned land at Granville. This land has not been earmarked for development as supporting infrastructure such as sewerage and roads, not forgetting that future growth in Granville will bring forward the need to widen the Granville bridge, is not easily provided. It has been common practice in the past for developers to buy up rural land which is cheap to purchase and then apply to Council to permit development on this land. Under IPA anyone could apply to develop land anywhere for anything as there were no prohibitions like there used to be in previous legislation. This state of affairs led to developments being approved in the past that are now an expensive dilemma to maintain. I receive constant complaints about drainage and road problems from residents in such areas. I have also experienced many, many times developers crying poor to Council and promising ‘jobs, jobs and more jobs and cheap housing’ etc if Council approves their development. On gaining approval the property is placed straight on the market and the developer walks away with a handsome profit. Many of these developments have not been constructed.
Let us also not forget that many of the restrictions placed on development are State Government required restrictions. For example if you want to build something that will mean more traffic flowing onto a State controlled road the conditions placed upon you will often run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars to meet.
Retail development is another story. Although I personally believe we need more land, especially in Hervey Bay, for retail growth all our Planning Schemes currently limit the square metres of floor space allowed for retail development in any urban area. Planning Schemes are designed to try and protect existing retail development by limiting opportunities for new shopping centres etc. I don’t agree with these restrictions but they are the rules that Council has to operate under. Both Hervey Bay and Maryborough have already reached the limits for larger scale retail development as designated in our existing Planning Schemes. Recently Council has approved expansions to both Centro in Hervey Bay and the Souvlis development in Maryborough amongst other approvals in spite of the restrictions within our respective schemes.
Council does not hinder business nor development it merely wants to abide by the rules. I don’t believe in development being allowed just because someone wants to turn a profit. How would you like a panel beater spray painter setting up shop next door to your place? I am pleased that our Council development staff led by the very able Mr David King, continue to recommend developers look elsewhere when their plans don’t stack up against our Planning Schemes. If a developer decides to pursue a development when it is clearly in breech of the Planning Scheme recommendations then staff and Councillors should be refusing the application. I also believe that these very same Council staff together with Councillors bend over backwards to facilitate development whenever it is possible to do so. I am glad that this Council has strong leaders who don’t cave into developers demands and I certainly don’t want our Council to follow the path down which Wollongong Council did!
The current Centro development is a case in point. I don’t vote on this development as I part own a business within the centre so feel able to comment. While the Hervey Bay City Council did take a long time to bring this application to Council none of the conditions currently being disputed are ‘new’. In fact Council recently approved the earlier opening of the centre overturning the initial decision. As previously mentioned the current Planning Scheme does not believe there is a ‘need’ for more retail space in Hervey Bay since the development of Pialba Place and other approved yet not built, retail developments. So in fact Council, in my opinion, is doing its best to give permission for this development.
Land development is the most critical issue for our region as we go forward. I do want to live within a city within a region that puts business and residential development in the right places and designs development to ensure we continue to have a free flowing road network. I didn’t choose to live here to end up in a grid locked city where travelling from one end of the city to the other takes as long as driving in Brisbane does!
In conclusion. We are now rapidly approaching the time for a new Planning Scheme. We will have a Regional Plan and a new regional Council facilitated Planning Scheme. Instead of complaining about the restrictions that we have now can I ask that you all put your thinking caps on and get involved in deciding what we want and where. I hope to grow older in a region that is sensibly planned with good quality residential and commercial development appropriately serviced by good quality infrastructure.
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- Comments(6)
Sue
The new planning scheme can not come fast enough and in the meantime it would be good for council to work with developers rather than ‘play hard ball’ as admitted in yesterday’s paper in relation to the Centro project.
Coming out of difficult economic times and in a region desperate for jobs, there is absolutely no cause for council to be difficult for projects that are close to fitting ‘within the box’. If the region was already bursting with major projects and excess shopping centres and so on then I’d think differently.
As for the Dela Vista and MSF projects, my suggestion for those people is that if they can stump up the dollars to build a second bridge into Granville, doing so alleviating the additional traffic their projects would create over the existing bridge, then they have every right to be upset with council. If not.. they probably need to give up or go to another region.
Ben Council does not play ball as hard as some developers do. Council is not perfect and I have always said there is room for improvement but we have had great difficulties attracting qualified planning staff and have done our best with what we have. Yes maybe we could process some applications more quickly but how do you get blood out of a stone?
In relation to Centro. It is my understanding that Centro were very aware that Council was doing its utmost to facilitate this development in light of the fact that the Planning Scheme did not support a retail development of this size at this time. The Planning Scheme looks to the future and predicts that the future population would need X metres of retail space and so declares a development the size of Centro to be premature. There is also much debate on retail developments across both Maryborough and Hervey Bay impacting negatively on each other.
The conditions mentioned in the Chronicle in relation to Centro are not new conditions and were recently negotiated. I recommend anyone interested in the truth to read the Council agenda and minutes from that meeting held late last year. The Public Art component, for example can incorporate landscaping, signage, seating, paving etc. In other words all the things that a shopping centre would be doing anyway so is not ‘an extra charge’ as such and this had been explained to the developers ages ago. The million dollars does not need to be spent on a fancy statue or sculpture is what I mean.
The mobility corridor work is in lieu of a footpath which all developers have to provide these days and was agreed to early on. What may have changed is infrastructure charges and possibly Main Roads contributions. Main Roads is very demanding on the provision of adequate services at the intersections with Boat Harbour Drive.
So Ben I don’t believe Council is being difficult. Council is trying to facilitate a development and get the best outcome for both the developer and the community. Council is not going to simply let any developer develop without supplying the required infrastructure and without building to a certain standard etc. I certainly do not want developers to be permitted to develop inferior quality product. But sometimes even that does occur. Pialba Place was given approval even though that centre is now somewhat disjointed. But future development should improve that centre and at the time Council thought that the development was needed so it was approved even though we were concerned about the layout etc.
The same for the Souvlis development in Maryborough. Council was determined to facilitate it which was difficult as again the development did not meet Planning Scheme guidelines
So maye the lesson is to read Council agenda’s and minutes and not believe the senstationalist criticism of Council and pro ‘development at any cost’ stance that the Chronicle is taking of late!
And lastly why don’t we read stories about the successful developments around town that were approved and constructed and are functioning well now? All this negative press does nothing to attract people to want to come and live here now does it!
Why DON’T we read all those good stories Sue?
Apart from Bunnings coming to Maryborough, when WAS the last time any new business came to the region and created more than a handful of jobs?
I don’t know that I care any more, I too am joining others in looking elsewhere for my future. Unless things turn around the Fraser Coast is destined to become another sleepy retirement village. Might suit those of you heading towards the end of your working careers but the younger generation need jobs and a future too!
Ben,
You appear to have lived in Maryborough a long time. So tell us, what have past councils done to attract new business?
Based on all I have read and heard, Maryborough has been in decline since the ’60′s possibly even longer. I know of businesses in Maryborough that have closed since I have lived in the region.
The very things you dream of often close businesses eg.
Hervey Bay used to have around 4/5 hardware stores, now to the best of my knowledge we have Bunnings and one other. Watch the hardware stores in Maryborough over the next couple of years. As these large all under one roof complexes open up, the strip shops close down,
you know your local run and owned shops. The people you or your children went to school with, LOCALS.
As I have said many times before parochialism has killed this region, instead of working as one, each town has tried to do it’s own thing. In this day and age it just won’t work. I hate to be a pessimist, but logic says it is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.
The Fraser Coast Regional Council is going to have to make a lot of very hard decisions, as a result a lot of people are going to be upset. But people’s wants are going to have to take second place to peoples needs.
End of sermon,
Sadman
I’ve lived in Maryborough long enough to know the last term of Maryborough’s council was probably its most progressive and positive for the city.
Under Mayor Hovard, the council was progressing many projects ranging from the inner city revitalisation which saw a very run down Wharf Street precinct revitalised, cleaned up and rebranded as Portside. This work has been continued under the new council although in my humble opinion their contractors took far too long to undertake the work and this hurt businesses in the affected area greatly.
On an industry attraction level, there was the ill fated flight school, plans for an enhanced airport precinct with new facilities and new businesses. I caught a glimpse of the master plan drawings in one meeting over another project and I was excited to think council was actually looking at improving the viability of the airport even if the flight school was a ‘freebie’.
Out in Granville, extensive work was done with the former State Development department to develop a marine industry precinct which as I understand would have allowed many of the industrial businesses in Hervey Bay’s marina to relocate to specific industry precinct freeing up valuable land for more tourist type development around the marina.
My own favourite, the Motorpark was also a joint council initiative aimed at creating many new jobs and industry opportunities also.
Crs Hovard, Nioa and O’Connell would certainly be able to enlighten us further but I feel I have listed off enough of the efforts to demonstrate that our councillors were making an effort when it came to Maryborough’s future.
Ben,
Nice try. “The council was progressing many projects”, how many did they finalise?
I would suggest this council is “progressing many projects”. But it is yet to be seen how many are completed.
After all your time in Maryborough Ben, all you can talk of is dreams!!!
Sadman