A REQUEST for an extension to a development approval in Tamborine has been deferred by Council.
The application, MCU25/058, is for Material Change of Use for a Shopping Centre at 1 – 33 Tamborine Mountain Road, Tamborine.
Cr Kerri Cryer spoke to the motion, saying her views were indicative of many Tamborine residents.
“I note that officers, after discussion with council, recommended an extension of three years,” Cr Cryer stated.
“A shopping centre on the site was first proposed over 25 years ago through Beaudesert Shire Council, in 1999.”
Cr Cryer explained how the people of Tamborine were excited at the prospect of a small shopping centre in their town, but this hope had been dashed time and time again as further extensions to the approval were approved.
“Moving on to 2006, plans for an actual shopping centre in Tamborine were touted. The people of Tamborine were very excited and elated.
“They were finally going to have, albeit small, their very own neighborhood supermarket based centre for shopping in their village.
“This concept was then extended until the period between 2011 and 2013, a time when a town hall meeting was held, further invigorating the people of Tamborine, filling them with promises of a shopping centre.
“The time period stretched out until past 2013, then 2014.
“Finally, the development permit for a material change of use for a shopping centre was brought into the ordinary meeting for February 2015, the plans of which are still being used today.
“In 2020, 2021 and 2022, a further three years, extension notices were issued achieving automatic additional two years to the currency period, bringing us up to where we are today in 2025, some 26 years from when the shopping area in Tamborine was first talked about.
“With each new time frame, each new council, dreams for a shopping centre at Tamborine evaporate each time the extensions achieve approval.”
Cr Cryer said continual extensions are detrimental, however she suggested that the applicant seems to be keen to finally deliver on their promise of a shopping centre for Tamborine.
She moved that Council defer the matter to a future Ordinary Meeting to allow the applicant to make further representations to Council officers about the extension of the currency period under consideration.
The motion was carried unanimously.
