SUAREZ CHALLENGES PARKING DEFICIENCY IN COOLUM ANZ BANK REDEVELOPMENT APPLICATION

Division 9 Candidate Maria Suarez has called on retiring Councillor Steve Robinson to step up and take action over the development application currently being assessed by Council at the former ANZ bank site in Coolum.

“The development application seeks to increase the building area from 238sqm to 328sqm by adding a partial second floor” said Suarez.

“That’s an increase in gross floor area of over a third, yet the application suggests it’s a ‘minor change’. However, the big issue here is the parking deficiency.”

“There are currently only 8 spaces on the site and the applicant seeks to reduce this to 7, taking away one space for the redevelopment.” “For a site with 328sqm of floor area, the Town Plan would normally call for the provision of one parking space per 20sqm of building area, which is 16 parking spaces” said Suarez.

“The applicant is seeking approval for the redevelopment to proceed with just 7 parking spaces. That’s a deficiency of 9.”

“Council’s Parking Study for Coolum shows there is already a serious parking deficiency in the Birtwill St commercial precinct and the study’s strategic actions include ‘requiring new development to provide for its own parking demand in accordance with the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme’.” said Suarez.

“On recent form this ‘development at any price’ Council will waive the application through, which just adds further to the local parking problems.”

“I am calling on Councillor Robinson to urgently step in and have the application called to Council for rejection before Council goes into Caretaker mode.” she said. “This Council has been far too ready to ignore its own town planning requirements.”