Premium Content
Subscriber only A proposal to allow short-term letting at a Maroochydore high-rise apartment building has gained momentum once again after the developer was forced to halt the bid in March. After discovering the arrangement, the Sunshine Coast Council issued a show cause notice in September last year to the building s body corporate for breaching short-term letting restrictions by acting as an unapproved hotel. Direct Rentals had applied to turn 23 units in the 72-unit building into short-term accommodation in February. However, after an extension, Direct Rentals lodged an updated application on April 27 to include an additional unit, taking the total to 24.
Council planning staff and former CEO Michael Whittaker appeared at-odds over conditions for a rooftop bar in the Sekisui House Yaroomba Beach proposal just weeks before its approval. Internal emails released as part of a recent Sunshine Coast Council Right to Information disclosure of more than 3000 pages revealed differing opinions over the conditioning of usage for the rooftop aspect of the proposed hotel. On May 24, 2018, Mr Whittaker requested planning staff make some improvements to the presentation to be given at a workshop with councillors about a month before they voted to approve the controversial project 6-5 in a special council meeting.
In response to the notice, Direct Rentals has applied with the council to turn 23 units in the 72-unit building into short-term accommodation. However, in a letter to Direct Rentals dated February 12, council advised that the application had not been properly made. The letter explained that the application required written consent of the body corporate. Whilst it is recognised that the application included legal advice, the short term accommodation use includes an area on the ground floor used as the reception area, which is within the common property of the complex, the council s principal development planner Marc Cornell said in the letter.
Councillors Greg Rogerson, Jason O Pray, Jenny McKay, Ted Hungerford and Rick Baberowski voted against the development on June 21, 2018. Councillors John Connolly, Christian Dickson, Steve Robinson, Tim Dwyer, Peter Cox and Mayor Mark Jamieson voted in favour.
Dickson had no knowledge of mooted refusal: Cr Dickson said his only insight into the assessment was that council planners had been concerned about a number of matters ranging from height, density, traffic, environment and resident objections . At no stage was I aware that a refusal had been proposed and reviewed by senior staff including those from Strategic Planning and Economic Development, he said.