RESIDENTS and members of the Tamborine Mountain Preservation Association met to discuss a new application lodged with Scenic Rim Regional Council for a retirement facility at 24-34 Macdonnell Road.
The developer, Cedar Falcon Consultants and Investments Pty Ltd, have applied to build 59 dwellings consisting of 44 two-bedroom independent living units and 15 three-bedroom dwellings.
The lots will range in size from 242m2 to 288m2 and the development will include 14 visitor carparks and a central building housing an office, a multi-purpose room, leisure and dining deck, craft room and gym.
Under the Scenic Rim Growth Management Strategy 2041, adopted in November 2022, four possible sites have been identified for retirement facilities on the mountain: Kidd Street, the end of Beacon Road, 129 Long Road and Macdonnell Road.
This means potentially developers could buy the remaining two sites: Beacon and Long Road (also the site of the new Gallery Road carpark) resulting in four new retirement facilities on the mountain.
With the current shortage of doctors on the mountain, a lack of water and sewerage services as well as other infrastructure issues this would place enormous pressure on the community.
At the TMPA meeting Councillor Hay said developers will be keen to rush through plans for approval prior to proposed amendments in the planning scheme which are likely to stipulate they include services for ageing in place, such as co-located care facilities.
She said the Macdonnell Road publicly available plans indicated a different development from the existing smaller Capo Lane retirement village as they were more linear, with gutters apparently virtually touching and potentially limited access for fire trucks and other services and a single entry from a state-controlled main road (based on available documents including the Site Sectional Elevations).
Councillor Hay said the need for new retirement facilities on the mountain had not been definitively quantified and COVID had skewed our demographics due to the influx of residents moving from southern states.
The Kidd Street Living Gems resort developers have been given a fourth extension of time to submit a response to council questions and now have until May, which brings the response time to 11 months.
The Macdonnell Road facility and Kidd Street development will be out for public submissions at some point in the future.
