Fight against Middle Ridge project dropped
A GROUP of residents who were fighting to have the approval for Oak Tree Group and Barry Bernoth’s 51-unit retirement facility and 43-unit townhouse development at Middle Ridge declared invalid have dropped their appeal.
A Large Street Trust spokesman said the trust and the developer of the site had engaged in mediation, leading to the discontinuation of the appeal last Friday.
Mr Bernoth said the court procedure was at an end: “We’ve been through the process, through the mediation, there’s been a resolution to it so all parties can move forward.”
The Large Street Trust in November 2020, six months after Toowoomba Regional Council approved the twostage development on land next to Gabbinbar Homestead, filed an appeal in the Planning and Environment Court.
Documents lodged with the Planning and Environment
Court in Maroochydoore show the trust was appealing against the development, seeking a declaration the council’s approval was “invalid, and of no legal effect”.
Both Oak Tree Group and Mr Bernoth’s solicitors filed correspondence with the court suggesting the Large Street Trust’s application was defective.
The Large Street Trust, arguing their case, commissioned an expert report which found if the development were to be built, Large St would be providing vehicular access to eight times the number of dwellings it was designed for.
The matter was set down to be heard in May before it was discontinued by the Large Street Trust last week.