Nearly 500 Noosa residents have used written submissions to give a massive thumbs-down to a proposed 40-unit development in Tewantin, resulting in a huge win for the local community – and for the ongoing integrity of its planning scheme.

The development application was made directly to the state government through its new State Facilitated Development (SFD) process, which can bypass local government planning legislation provided it includes a minimum 15% component of “affordable” housing, in this case six units.

But it also breached town plan building heights among a number of other town plan conditions.

Prior to the state election last October, the LNP said it would acknowledge Noosa’s town plan in its planning decision-making should it win government, however the applicant behind the Tewantin development, Poinciana Blue Pty Ltd, lodged it anyway, making it a test case for the new government’s promise.

But deputy premier Jarrod Bleijie has revoked it, listing numerous reasons including that he was unconvinced the “affordable” units were in fact so, also that the development’s scale wasn’t in keeping with the village character of Tewantin – and he acknowledged the huge community and council concerns held about the application’s inconsistencies with the town plan. 

Mr Bleijie also noted the applicant had “not sought to respond to Council’s and community concerns through the Application”.

An ecstatic Noosa Mayor Frank Wilkie said he was impressed by Mr Bleijie’s revocation of the application, “and I thank [him] for following through on his pre-election commitment to ensure SFD projects comply with the Noosa Plan”.

“The SFD process bypasses council and potentially allow developments of any height on any site, which if left unchecked could negatively impact the profile and liveability of Noosa forever,” Cr Wilkie said.

In total, 495 submissions were received from the community during the public notification period, including from council and Noosa state MP Sandy Bolton.

Noosa Parks Association president Tony Wellington thanked everyone who made a submission in the application process.

“And thanks to the coalition of community groups. Once again, Noosa has demonstrated it is willing to fight to retain its intrinsic values.”

Tony Wellington, NPA President.

The news adds to further decisions on local development, with the March round of Noosa Council meetings producing two significant outcomes that highlight increasing diversity in adjoining riverside suburbs.

Noosaville’s prized riverfront avenue, Gympie Terrace, will undergo a partial facelift on one of its most significant street corners.

Council has conditionally approved a development application to transform the 3750 square-metre property block of Gympie Terrace, Thomas and Albert streets, which currently contain a small car park and shops, Italian eatery 250 Grammi and Whisky Boy wine bar, and the site of a former petrol station, since demolished.

The three-storey development will house food and drink outlets facing Gympie Tce and Thomas St, and include 16 upper-level units for short-term accommodation (STA), and 57 car parking spaces, with entry from Albert St.

Also, a much-anticipated application to restore the heritage values of Tewantin’s historic Royal Mail Hotel whilst upgrading its interior also passed muster.

A main feature of the redevelopment will be the demolition of the bottle shop building and amenities block, to be replaced by two beer gardens, with proposed conditions “to ensure acoustic fencing is provided to the northern and western areas of the beer garden as well as restricting hours of operation and noise levels”, the staff report says. 

The northern beer garden will be located on the bottle shop’s current position. 

The outdoor smoking area looking out on Poinciana Avenue will be developed into the southern beer garden with an adjacent designated outdoor smoking area.  To accommodate this, the existing amenities building will be demolished with a new awning added to the hotel building facade. 

The current vacant block bordered by Blakesly and Diyan streets will be retained as a 30-space car park.

Renovation of accommodation units in the main building will include separate bathrooms for each unit.

The hotel site is “also identified  as  being  in  the  Heritage  and  Character  Area  Overlay  –  Local  Heritage Place”, the council report says. 

“The proposed alterations are considered sympathetic to the original building with conditions imposed to address aspects such as balustrade and fencing.”