An argument between a developer and body corporates about access in a beachside enclave has escalated to court action.
Beachside Yaroomba Land has gone to the Planning and Environment Court to break a stalemate with Coolum Beachside communities that it says is holding up its land development at Yaroomba.
BYL is part of the Dennis Family Corporation, which wants to develop the land formerly earmarked for the Sekisui resort into housing, in accordance with a past approval.
Documents filed with the court indicate that body corporates representing the neighbouring gated Beachside communities are yet to agree to requests BYL has put forward to progress its development.
Lawyers for BYL have filed an application and supporting documents with the court to force the principal body corporate for the existing Coolum Beachside villages to provide access and easements for services to the BYL land.
The application asks the court to rule that the body corporate for Coolum Beachside has contravened a development approval by failing to provide satisfactory access to BYL’s lots, not properly providing easements for access and infrastructure, and not providing an internal access road to BYL’s land.
It asks the court to order the body corporate for Coolum Beachside to grant easements and pay compensation for “loss and damage suffered as a consequence of its contraventions”.
BYL’s argument relies on a 2007 preliminary approval for the Hyatt Regency residential community, under which it wants to develop the land for residential use.
Exhibit and affidavit material indicates the body corporate for Coolum Beachside has not provided the consent BYL needs for its application to be accepted by the Sunshine Coast Council. The court application seeks to have this consent requirement waived.
A letter from BYL’s lawyers to the body corporate for Coolum Beachside’s lawyers in July said “proceedings will commence shortly” and called on it to give consent “in the interests of mitigating loss”.
The lawyers for the body corporate of Coolum Beachside replied that it did not have enough information to make a decision.
Coolum Beachside is the principal body corporate for the body corporates for the gated communities of Belle Mare Beachside, Cala Luna Beachside and Whitehaven Beachside, which are also named in the court proceedings, as is the Sunshine Coast Council.
The matter is set down for a directions hearing on January 25 and a related matter in the Supreme Court is due to be heard in February.
BYL’s land was the subject of a previous court case when community groups challenged a Sunshine Coast Council decision to approve the seven-storey Sekisui resort on the land, only to have their victory overturned on appeal.
A representative of the body corporate for Coolum Beachside was not available for comment but offered Sunshine Coast News a sit-down meeting later in the new year.
A BYL spokesperson said the firm was simply seeking to get on with delivering the original masterplan for the site, the same approval that created the existing Coolum Beachside communities.
“We now have two cases heading for the courts, costs are mounting on both sides and we foresee them eventually exceeding $1 million in legal fees,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said BYL would welcome the opportunity to find an amicable solution.
“We are now simply seeking to get on with delivering the original masterplan, the same masterplan under which Coolum Beachside residents built or purchased their homes,” they said.
“We can agree on a structure that provides existing residents comfort, but BYL is determined to ensure that the masterplan can be delivered in accordance with the development approval issued by council.”
