Community & Business
19 March, 2022
Resort-style living for Atherton development
A UNIQUE resort-style housing development proposed for Atherton will add $2.1 million to Tablelands Regional Council’s coffers, with an infrastructure agreement struck and preliminary approvals in place for the 25-hectare site.
The development proposal is from Sunshine Group Australia, which manages The Lakes resort in Cairns, and will provide both short-term and permanent accommodation in a mix of units and houses.
The two-staged development will feature facilities not seen before in a residential housing project – a man-made lake with a viewing platform, communal areas, a community centre which will include a cafe and gym, a BBQ area, pathways, and a large resort-style pool.
The design allows for 66 accommodation units, 76 community title lots, and a manager’s residence, and allows for short-term accommodation for locals and tourists, and permanent residents, particularly those in the over 50s sector.
Tablelands Mayor Rod Marti described the development as “highly significant and setting a new benchmark for housing in the region”.
“The Nasser Road development would give further impetus to the very strong growth that the Tablelands is experiencing,” he said.
Mayor Marti was also pleased the project would cater to much-needed medium and high-density housing options while also accommodating a tourism component.
“This ticks many of the boxes of our desired future housing offering to enable people to stay living in the region when they have outgrown the need for a larger family home or acreage,” he said.
“We know that currently one in every four households are single-person and we have a limited offering of units across our region.
“We welcome Sunshine Group Australia’s proposal and desire to invest in our Tablelands region and encourage similar types of development applications to meet current and future housing requirements.”
Before council voted at its recent meeting to approve the infrastructure agreement and to allow the CEO to tick off other preliminary approvals to expediate the matter, Mayor Marti raised a few questions about water run-off to ensure any water coming off the urban infrastructure would not affect good quality agricultural land to the south of the development.
Officers advised that a storm-water drainage plan required for the development would dictate where the water would go.
Councillors also questioned the reduction in infrastructure fees for the developer, which were reduced from $2.5 million to $2.15 million, noting that the drop in the fees reflected the construction of two-bedroom homes or units which attracted a $18,000 fee for each structure instead of three bedrooms which would have cost $22,500 each.
Officers advised that if a purchaser desired a three-bedroom home, additional fees would then apply.
