Community
30 October, 2023
Council goes for gold
A MULTI-million dollar apartment complex at Kewarra Beach has been given the green light by Cairns Regional Council despite a last minute attempt by the area councillor to stop the development.
The Golden Lakes project, which involves 216 units in three six-storey buildings and two single-storey buildings and 333 car parks, is at 1 Moore Rd on the site of an old quarry which now includes a lake. It had previously been approved which had lapsed.
Officers recommended the development application for approval, subject to reasonable and relevant development conditions.
There were just two objections, mainly on the grounds of inconsistency with the low density residential zone and character of the area, increased traffic along Moore Rd and Discovery Drive, and a strain on essential services.
Division 9 Councillor Brett Olds told the council meeting on Wednesday he would not support the development.
“I have been to town and back on this,” he said.
He said the area was zoned low density and Golden Lakes was high density.
Cr Olds said it was in a rural-residential area and residents did not want footpaths, a store or service station on every corner nor high traffic volumes.
He said with the Palms development in the same area, involving a school, water park, holiday park as well as new housing, vehicle numbers would increase rapidly on Moore Rd and Discovery Drive, causing traffic jams at school run and commuting times.
Cr Olds said the “look and feel of the suburb” would change dramatically. Other aspects were the heights of the buildings and the reduced setbacks.
He described the project as being “plasticine” and it was being “bent around to get an outcome” to suit the developers.
There was just one road in and out towards the Cook Highway with no alternatives, Cr Olds said.
He said the community wasn’t being listened to and the reason there were so few objections was that residents had been threatened with legal action by the developers, so were too frightened to make submissions against the application.
Planning director Ed Johnson said there were only two objections which indicated there was not much concern.
He said the application complied with most performance outcomes, that the traffic aspects were within standards, that the buildings nestled into the landscape and not much of the site would be cleared of vegetation.
Cr Johnson said the developer would also be required to heavily landscape the buildings with vertical gardens.
Deputy mayor Terry James, who chaired the meeting, told Cr Olds that the city desperately needed new housing stock and the council could not keep “knocking back” applications.
He said many residents who had bought in the area would have been aware of the project, which had been on the drawing board since 2007. Cr Olds and Cr Amy Eden voted against the application which was approved.
