March 21, 2013
A decision by the South Burnett Regional Council last month to approve a 123 lot residential sub-division in Pine Street, Blackbutt, has been followed by the approval of a second development next door.
At yesterday’s monthly meeting, the SBRC approved an application from Leigh and Cecile Gault, the owners of an adjoining lot at 23 George Street, to subdivide the land into 27 residential lots.
Council was told the Gaults’ original application for the project was lodged with the former Nanango Shire Council in May 2004 and approved by that council in March 2008.
However the council didn’t issue a Decision Notice to the applicants advising them of its approval, and Nanango Shire Council was dissolved soon afterwards in the 2008 council mergers.
This meant the project has effectively “lain on the table” ever since.
On Wednesday, the SBRC decided to approve the project subject to “reasonable and relevant conditions” drawn from the Integrated Planning Act 1997, which was in force at the time the application was originally submitted.
These include giving over three of the lots in the new estate to parkland and extending Grosvenor Lane through the site to the development’s southern boundary.
The owners will also have to install electricity, water supply, sewerage, phone services and a stormwater drainage system; and carry out the building, kerbing, channelling and sealing of all internal roads.
They’ll have to give the Council a $180,000 cash contribution towards the water and sewerage supply to compensate for the extra load the development will place on the town’s existing water and sewerage systems, which will need to be upgraded to maintain current service standards.
Cr Cheryl Dalton suggested Council should also negotiate with the Gaults and the owners of the adjoining Pine Street development about the extension of Margaret Street, which will separate the two projects.
Under the terms of the Integrated Planning Act 1997, the approval needs to be acted on within four years or it will lapse.
- Related article: New Housing Estate Approved
