Palmy parking wars rev up
A LUXURY tower planned for Palm Beach is prompting residents and a councillor to raise concern about overdevelopment and sparse parking but its developer says it’s within the rules.
Sherpa Property Group is planning to bring a 14-storey residential complex with 34 units to Palm Beach.
The Perspective Nexus will overlook Currumbin Alley and sit opposite the popular Pirate Park.
Submissions for the tower ended on Thursday last night and Division 13 councillor Daphne McDonald said concerns from residents were being analysed by the town planning committee.
“They are applying for a 50 per cent uplift but that comes under a very strict criteria,” she said. “Under the town plan there are guidelines about the footprint of developments. A lot of things need to be considered.”
Ms McDonald said she was concerned the tower would contribute to an already overdeveloped region and said Palm Beach and the Gold Coast “deserves better”.
“A lot of these developments, which I’m not happy about, are going way over their density and way over their setbacks,” she said.
“When you put a lot of these developments together, it’s not a good outcome for the community.
“We need to accommodate the population but we can do that without these overdeveloped sites.”
A Sherpa Property Group spokesperson said the developer’s aim was to “underdevelop” a site, rather than “overdevelop” and the proposal was within the city plan’s maximum 43.5m building height limit.
“One of our core values is less is more, so instead of pushing a greater number of smaller units, we are proposing 34 spacious residences,” they said. “We’re doing that because there is demand for apartments with more space.
“Council is progressing with reducing building heights in areas of Palm Beach. The Nexus site is not one of these areas and can achieve 43.5m under the existing provisions and proposed change to the City Plan.”
Residents have previously voiced frustration about the lack of parking in Palm Beach and there are concerns the Nexus site will add to the logjam.
In September locals supplied images to the Bulletin showing five vehicles – suspected to belong to tradies – crammed nose-to-tail outside a construction zone, rendering the walkway inaccessible to passers-by.
I understand threestorey I walk-ups. odd understand the block of units here but this is and there just overkil
Palm Beach resident Janine Kroehn said the Nexus site would make an already populated area worse.
“I know how busy it is and how hard it is to get a park,” she said. “We’re already bursting at the seams. Can we handle this?
“The area is already very crowded with swimmers and
walkers, along with Dune Cafe being very popular.
“I understand natural growth and why people knock down houses and put duplexes on. I understand three-storey walk-ups. I understand the odd block of units here and there but this is just overkill.”
The Sherpa Property Group spokesperson said the City Plan required them to provide 53 resident and six visitor carparking spaces, about one-anda-half parks per apartment. Sherpa is providing 74 resident and six visitor spaces: “We will be over-delivering.
“Nexus residents and visitors will not rely on on-street carparking.”