Noosa Council and the Peregian Beach Community Association have had another victory in the marathon battle to retain the Town Plan protections of the old caravan park site in the village.
The Planning and Environment Court has found that a motel is an essential component of the approval for the developer Thomco.
PBCA President Barry Cotterell said that approval resulted from a negotiated settlement after eight days of hearing, and “yet again, the developer had tried to walk away from the agreement and the Noosa Plan.”
Mr Cotterell said this was just the latest community win in a saga that’s dragged on for more than 12 years, “costing all of the community dearly, in court costs and lost economic opportunity for the whole village”.
Noosa Council and the PBCA have fought to hold Thomco to the agreement to build the 32-room motel as part of stage-one of the development, to ensure lower cost visitor accommodation is available in the village as stipulated by the Noosa Plan.
Mr Cotterell said “only two councillors, Ingrid Jackson and Jess Glasgow, had supported the developer’s application to change the terms of the negotiated settlement”.
The court referred to the fact that since 2007, despite numerous approvals, Thomco had only built the IGA and a few shops.
The PBCA President applauded the Council for defending the Noosa Plan, and Peregian Beach residents who had donated funds to the cause.
Mr Cotterell has called on council to seek the costs of the unsuccessful application from the developer as it was clearly and substantially outside the terms of the Noosa Plan.
He called on Thomco to urgently build the motel as approved, or “sell it to someone who will”.