By Evie Drinnan
The development application of the Riverside Industrial Sands site at Teneriffe has been stopped, as agreed between Council and developer Kokoda Property on April 11.
Acting on behalf of the developer, consultant Ashley Lane said in her letter to the Council: “The Applicant’s current period has been stopped to provide the Applicant with more time to work through and provide a comprehensive response to Council’s Further Advice request.”
In the Council’s request on March 5, they said: “The proposal is currently still not supportable…To progress the application, significant changes must be made to the proposal.”
Managing Director and Founder of Kokoda Property Mark Stevens said: “We had [initially] engaged with Council twice, who had given some premise on height, and [the submission] was largely in accordance with their advice.”
Council outlined in the Further Advice request the application’s main unresolved issues, particularly the height, bulk and scale of the three towers, their proximity to and domination of the river and streetscape, and community sentiment.
These issues and others were detailed in an Information Request on November 2.
The Information Request asked Kokoda to reduce the building height of the smallest of the three towers adjacent to the Woolstores to an “acceptable” 8 storeys.
In response, Kokoda reduced the planned height of that tower from 12 to 10 storeys on 22 November.
The other two towers remained at their original heights.
Two days later, public submissions opened.
Since the clock has been stopped, Mr Stevens said: “They’re considered closer to what we call code assessable… I can assure you that we will come down significantly in height.
“We are hoping to get some sort of clarity in the next 6 – 8 weeks with Council… I can assure you we are working diligently in the background to get to a good outcome for the community and ourselves,” Mr Stevens said.
President of the Teneriffe Progress Association Ben Pritchard said in the City Plan a Mixed Use development such as this would meet the Code requirements for that site if it comprised a 4 storey podium and three 15 storey towers.
“A development of this type and form would be Code Assessable under the provisions of City Plan. This means that the application would not need to be advertised and nobody would have any right to object to it or to appeal against any decision,” Mr Pritchard said.
Council’s request acknowledged the submissions that were received also demonstrate the community expectations have not been met.
Mr Pritchard said: “This development application is the most contentious development we have had to deal with as residents and as an association at Teneriffe.
“I know that our members and residents of Teneriffe and Newstead will welcome the redesign of this development to something that suits the special waterfront location of this site.”
Mr Stevens said: “When we roll out a… response to the concerns people have had, they’ll find that the architecture will change somewhat and the height will change somewhat.
“If we weren’t prepared to listen to the community, then we wouldn’t respond in a way that addresses height.”
To recommence the application, Kokoda Property must amend their plans to address the many issues raised by Council.
The application will recommence on 2 September unless brought forward by Kokoda Property.
Public not properly advised of submission period
According to the Queensland Government Planning Act 2016, Kokoda Property was required to publish a notice of the submission period at least once in a hard copy local newspaper for the proposed development’s area, as well as a hard copy state newspaper.
Only in cases where there is no hard copy local newspaper may they advertise in an online local newspaper.
Mr Pritchard said: “We were concerned with the inadequate process of advertising the [submission] period for residents to offer objections as the ad was only placed in a limited number of copies of the Courier Mail online and not the printed edition or the very well-read local Village Voice.”
This is despite having advertised community information sessions in the Village Voice in August 2023.
The notice was published on November 23, the day before submissions opened, exclusive to online subscribers who listed their suburb as Teneriffe.
Kokoda Property also chose not to publish a notice in a hard copy state newspaper.
“We went through both Council and Urbis (town planners for the development) and got clearance to advertise the way we did.
“I think because it wasn’t advertised in the Village Voice, it doesn’t equate to it not being done properly,” Mr Stevens said.
A spokesperson for Brisbane City Council said: “Our independent planning division made the decision the applicant’s online advertisement did adhere with the requirements of the State legislation.”
In their submission response to Council on 21 Dec 2023, Urbis Associate Director Sophie Lam, on behalf of Kokoda Property, said: “435 of the [454] properly made submissions received are in opposition to the development… Based on the total population of Newstead and Teneriffe… the submissions received equates to just 3% of the local community…
“While there is opposition, the submissions are not representative of the entire community, the vast majority of which have not submitted against the proposal.”
