Legal action dumped

Project re-designed after stoush over a sewer pipe

THE developer of a new allied health facility in East Toowoomba is looking forward to construction, after clearing a final hurdle with Toowoomba Regional Council.

Duane Parkinson, director of Parkinson Chiropractic and Musculoskeletal Centre, is pushing ahead with his project to build Toowoomba Allied Health - a five tenancy health centre - on land at 8 Scott St, East Toowoomba.

The project was originally approved on March 5, but a sticking point emerged over the council’s requirements for the sewer line to be realigned, at an estimated cost of about $50,000 or more to the developer.

The company behind the project, Allied Health Partners, told the council the condition was not fair or reasonable, and that minutes of a pre-lodgement meeting on May 30, 2017, showed the council had offered three options regarding the issue - that the sewer could either be rerouted, realigned or replaced.

The company lodged an appeal in court against the condition requiring them to realign the sewer, but later withdrew after hitting upon another solution.

“We tried to have discussions with council and presented reasonable arguments, but they just wouldn’t alter their position that asking us to create over 90m of new sewer line was more reasonable than replacing 25m in position,” Mr Parkinson said.

Instead, they re-designed the building to avoid overlapping the sewer line.

The council approved a negotiated decision notice reflecting the change last week.

Mr Parkinson said he was looking forward to moving his business into the new facility alongside other allied health practitioners when it was completed. It is expected to be finished by early 2019.

A chiropractor has continuously operated from Mr Parkinson’s current 69 Campbell St site since 1947.