High-rise at the end of Mooloolaba Spit is not acceptable. I am calling on the State Labor Government to rule this out and to protect our vital marine-based industries and services after the Government was caught out secretly investigating redeveloping the end of the Spit with increased height limit.
There is already a Spit Master Plan, formed in 2009 with public consultation which called for this area to be opened up to greater public access. This vital location for the Water Police, Marine Pilots, Maritime Safety Queensland and Boat Harbour Controllers needs to be protected and improved, but any redevelopment of this site must be within the current approved height limits.
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The Mooloolaba Spit Master Plan (2009) was created after broad community consultation and called for the rationalisation of land uses in the Government and Peninsular precinct. It didn’t say there should be commercial high-rise development in this area, but that the Spit area near the river mouth should be opened up to public parklands while also keeping these vital emergency and marine services located here.
The current Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme (2014) allows for development in the harbour to a maximum of 8.5m (up to four storeys) but it was revealed that the Department of Transport and Main Roads was investigating the opportunity of putting an integrated tourism focused development on this site which may exceed current height limits, in order to attract private sector investment.
I agree with local residents and business owners that we don’t want an increased height limit here and more traffic congestion in an already busy area, which is why I have launched a petition calling on the State Government to rule out high-rise development here and instead remove obsolete buildings, improve the existing maritime related services and open up the balance of the area for more public open space.
This site is also crucially important for our local fishing industry and for managing our busy waterways and I don’t want to see these vital land uses under-mined by a tourist facility.
Local residents and a wide range of stakeholders need to be able to have their say about what the State Government is planning for this strategic location at the mouth of the Mooloolah River. Please let me know what you think about this.
