Residents rally over theme park

FURIOUS Carrara residents have rallied against a proposed $600 million theme park planned for Carrara.

Developer Soncheng has proposed the Australian Legends World park, which will feature a resort and residential towers of up to 25 storeys built alongside amusement rides.

A crowd of 15 residents from streets surrounding the planned development held a rally outside the council’s Evandale Chambers yesterday morning.

The Carrara Flooodplain Neighbourhood Association urged Mayor Tom Tate and councillors to reject the development when it goes before the planning committee later this year.

Group president Neil Bartels said residents feared the development on the floodplain would cause problems for surrounding areas.

The public comment period runs until February 16, longer than the usual two-week turnaround. But councillors are not expected to vote on the project until late 2018.

According to plans, the development would be split into three precincts – the tourism area housing the theme park and a giant indoor ski slope, a residential area housing at least five towers and townhouses, and a neighbourhood centre which would include exclusive riverside homes.

The density of the towers could be as high as 769 bedrooms per net hectare and be 88m high – more than nine times the existing two-storey height limit.

The ski-slope would cover about 5200sqm and be a park centrepiece, along with a recreation of Uluru.

The development would stretch from the Nerang Railway Station to Lakeview Dr.