Raft of beach bar plans

THE Kurrawa beach club bar will operate for at least six months each year and trigger a new hotel and function licence for foreshore areas, under plans being considered by the council.

The Bulletin has also learned a raft of changes and conditions are needed to appease neighbouring residents opposed to the new Broadbeach tourism attraction.

Councillors will vote at a transport committee meeting on Tuesday on an officer recommendation to extend the beach club trial for three years.

Mayor Tom Tate has already voiced strong support.

In February, only councillor Daphne Mcdonald opposed a request to extend the trial. The city’s strongest environmental advocate Peter Young was away on leave.

Council officers found that rain or overcast weather marred 47 of a possible 76 days of trade. Covid impacted on patronage as well.

Officers wrote it was in the public interest to continue the beach club trial on the Kurrawa Terrace and continue to collect beach club operator and community feedback.

“On that basis, it is recommended the city continues the beach club as a trial, in principle a six-month operation per calendar year over three years to gain further information on the benefits and impacts of the beach club opportunity,” an officer wrote.

Officers will recommend council apply for a development approval for a material change of use for “a hotel and potentially include a function facility and tourist attraction” to provide the city with powers to activate different operations on the beach.

This will enable third-party submissions, including feedback from residents, along with appeal rights. A survey so far showed 69 per cent of visitors had a positive experience at the bar.

But council officers, aware of the “mixed” response from residents, have made the following recommendations:

• Dedicated infrastructure to support bin cleaning, storage, waste handling and removal, rather than continuous use of carpark bays for waste collection.

• Improvements to temporary fencing quality, particularly at back of house.

• Incorporating a lifeguard presence into the beach club safety management plan for patron safety during peak and significant dates, along with events held at the beach club.

• For a longer beach club there needs to be a higher standard of back-of-house temporary infrastructure for food preparation and storage, and for general storage.

• The visual amenity of the beach club – the back-of-house containers – also needs to be considered as a number of residential and accommodation towers look over the facility.

• Managing the impacts on events like beach volleyball and surf lifesaving competition.

Wildlife Association of Queensland Gold Coast president Sally Spain said beaches were an “open space Australian asset” which belonged to the whole community.

“Those who signed our Wildlife Queensland Gold Coast petition against this were quite vocal about a perceived ‘give away’ of our beach for a liquor outlet and our survey also reflected this comprehensively.

“Council should pursue its core business,” she said.