One of the owners of a Sunshine Coast brewery has flagged potential changes to the business to improve efficiencies and reduce the impact on neighbours.
Terella Brewing, North Arm, has become popular over the past five years with people who want to have a drink, listen to live music, take their children to the petting zoo, or visit the monthly twilight markets or other events.
Although the brewery has a large fan base and some supporters in the neighbourhood, others are unhappy about the impact on the rural amenity.
Brandt Bamford, the driving force behind the operation, said changes in the pipeline at Terella included a restaurant, a boutique vodka and gin distillery, gazebos, bitumen carparking, potential infrastructure improvements, and acoustic measures.
Mr Bamford said the number of people on site at Terella was “not sustainable” and “not fair to the neighbours, so we must adapt”.
He said the potential changes were aimed at “reducing the number of people here on-site by increasing the average spend”, by offering more services such as in-house dining as well as wine and spirits.
“The prices will not go up – by increasing the minimum spend it means offering other services to help generate revenue, so we don’t need thousands of people here just to make wages,” he said.
The changes would be the subject of a material change of use application yet to be lodged with the council although a pre-lodgement meeting had been held, he said.
Mr Bamford said the “overwhelming majority” of local residents supported Terella but he hoped that having dining inside and bringing people into gazebos with piped music at controlled levels would eliminate any potential noise impact on nearby residents.
He discussed the yet-to-be finalised plans with locals at an informal meeting earlier this month and explained that some measures, including courtesy buses, had already begun to reduce the business’ impact.
“Have we made mistakes in the past? Yes. Have we learned from them? Yes. Will they happen again? Not if I can help it,” he said.
Help us deliver more news by registering for our FREE daily news feed. All it requires is your email at the bottom of this article.
Sunshine Coast News has been in contact with nearby owners and residents, some of whom have issues with noise and traffic and some of whom do not.
Carrie McNamara said she had heard music and loud voices from people who had had been drinking late into the night, that cattle and horses on her property were disturbed by the ongoing loud noise and strobing lights, and sleep was directly affected.
Suzie Tindall said she was sick of the music, which she described as “a constant thumping bass sound” in her house.
Ms McNamara said Terella-related traffic and parking along Bunya Road, an 80kmh rural road with narrow verges, was a safety issue and a hindrance when moving within the immediate community.
She said the noise from Terella was not compatible with a rural area where people bought their homes in what was a peaceful and quiet environment, and nor was it compatible with a nearby wildlife corridor.
Ms McNamara acknowledged Terella had a lot of supporters but “they go there, have a phat time, and go home.”
“If I’d wanted to live near a pub, I would have bought a house in town right next door to one, because that’s what it sounds like when noise travels so easily in a rural environment.”
She said that it appeared that Mr Bamford and his brewery had basically “walked in through the back door without any consideration for people in the area, without any consideration for our lives”.
A North Arm resident who asked that her name be used to avoid neighbourhood friction, said Terella’s impact had been “only for the better” and “quite a few people” along nearby Running Creek Road “all love it”.
Sean McLean, a tenant on Ms McNamara’s property, said the noise was occasionally “like the bass maybe if you were living in town and there was a 21st birthday”.
He found the brewery responsive to problems and it was “trying to work positively” with the community to resolve any matters, such as noise and parking.
Terella is in a rural zone and approved for intensive horticulture, and Mr Bamford said he did not need any further approvals for the current activities there.
A Sunshine Coast Council spokesperson said “an ancillary brewery” was able to operate on the property “in accordance with specific requirements”.
Council confirmed it had received noise complaints relating to activities at the property and was working with the operator to address the concerns.
”Council’s preferred approach is to work with community members and businesses to achieve voluntary self-compliance,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Attorney-General and Justice said liquor licences were only granted for operations which had town planning and development approval.
The spokesperson said a usual requirement to publicly advertise an application for a liquor licence had been waived in the case of the brewery.
Scroll down to SUBSCRIBE for our FREE news feed, direct to your inbox daily.
“As the Terella Brewing application was assessed as a low community amenity risk, the advertising requirement was waived,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said Terella’s licence allowed for low-level amplified music “which would restrict the provision of live music” but all licensees had a responsibility to ensure noise did not adversely affect neighbours.
Ms McNamara was “shocked that the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation and Sunshine Council have not respected all community members through their due diligence responsibilities by performing environmental and community impact studies and contacting every stakeholder before allowing such a business to commence and continue to grow beyond what is conducive to the environment in which it resides”.
Mr Bamford said the coming material change of use application, if approved, would place limits on Terella that did not yet exist in terms of crowd numbers and live music.
“An MCU change will allow the council to better impose limits on the volume of people at our venue and would also mean a substantial upgrade in landscaping and infrastructure to allow for less community impact,” he said.
Mr Bamford said Terella made significant positive contributions to the community.
“We employ 40 staff members, many of whom are locals,” he said. “We support 30 local musicians and 23 local food truck vendors. We use local ingredients from nearby farmers, such as Buderim Ginger and fruit purees from Yandina-based Tropico.
“We donate to numerous local charities annually, host breast cancer galas and support local sporting clubs and schools. We fundraise for the local fire brigade and have Santa come on fire truck as Christmas.”
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
