July 5, 2017
A proposal to build a gated 51-unit retirement complex at Windsor Circle in Kingaroy will be good for the region and help promote growth, a public meeting at Kingaroy Town Hall was told on Wednesday night.
It would give locals access to a new type of accommodation not available in the South Burnett at present, encouraging them to stay in the area rather than migrate to Toowoomba, the coast or Brisbane.
That, in turn, would stop the steady erosion of older members from local sporting clubs and community groups, and keep their purchasing power in the local economy.
In addition, retaining retirees in the region would encourage younger residents who might have moved away for education or career reasons to return later in their lives to rejoin them.
The public meeting was called by the project’s developer Rob Burgess to address some concerns about the development raised by residents living nearby.
The meeting was attended by Mr Burgess, architect Brett Blacklow, and Troy Schultz from @Realty who will be marketing the complex once it’s built.
It was also attended by South Burnett Mayor Keith Campbell, Planning portfolio chair Cr Terry Fleischfresser and SBRC Planning Manager Chris Du Plessis, along with 14 residents from Regent Street and Logan Road.
Regent Street will front the new development, and Logan Road will be a major access route to it.
Mr Burgess explained to the group the complex was an entirely new style of building for the South Burnett.
Units in the 51-unit complex Kingsgrove Living complex would be assembled on site from prefabricated components and connected to services, at which point they would be indistinguishable from normal homes.
The closest parallel was probably Kingaroy’s Room Motel, which set a new standard in motel construction when it opened in 2012 using prefabricated motel units.
The complex would be covered by covenants to ensure that people who bought into it were aged 55 or higher, and it would offer residents five different types of modern studio, one and two bedroom units ranging in price from $100,000 to $250,000.
Residents would own their units, but not the land they sat on.
Instead, the complex would be managed by a not-for-profit group who would attend to groundskeeping and maintenance duties and oversee its day-to-day operation.
In addition to the purchase price of their unit, residents would pay a rent of $160 per week – less $60 per week rent assistance from the Government – to cover their share of rates and body corporate costs.
Unlike other retirement complexes, though, residents would be able to sell their unit at any time without exit fees.
The site would have first option to purchase the unit at fair market value, but otherwise owners could sell it to anyone who met the complex’s covenants.
Mr Burgess said the South Burnett Regional Council was currently examining his plans for Kingsgrove Living, and he hoped to receive approval towards the beginning of next year.
If that happened, construction would begin towards the end of 2018 and the first stage would be finished in late 2019, followed by a second stage in 2020 and the final stage in 2021.
Regent and Logan Street residents then asked a number of questions, such as whether Mr Burgess could get approval and then on-sell the land to another developer who might build something different on the site.
Mr Burgess said any approval he gained for the project would require any future owner to either meet the conditions of that approval or start the approval process over from scratch, which would be a costly and slow process.
In response to concerns that an extra 51 units would generate a lot of traffic in the area, Mr Burgess explained that while some Kingsgrove Living residents would have cars, most would not.
They would commute to and from the CBD using the complex’s community bus transport service or their own motorised chairs, so any increase in traffic on neighbouring roads should be fairly small.
On the question of infrastructure, Mr Burgess said he had already installed a pumping station and other fundamental infrastructure to cater for the new development.
Some Regent Street residents said they were saddened their existing views might be blocked by the two-storey complex. Mr Burgess said this may or may not be the case, depending on how the complex progressed, but all residents who backed onto it would receive a new fence as part of the development.
The most strenuous objections came from Logan Road residents, who said they were frustrated by the Council’s lack of action to upgrade their road – something they had been promised for many years.
Mayor Keith Campbell said he sympathised with their frustrations but they were “one road among thousands” the Council had to upgrade, and one voice amongst thousands too.
“We want to upgrade Logan Road, but we only have a finite amount of money,” he said.
Cr Terry Fleischfresser said Logan Road was already in the Council’s capital works program, but last year a decision had been taken to defer some projects in order to throw as much money as possible at fixing rural roads.
“I understand you’re frustrated and feel let down, but once we can get on top of our rural roads we can turn to look at yours,” Cr Fleischfresser said.
Not all Logan Road residents were against the proposal, though.
Some said they thought Mr Burgess’ project would be good for the town, and it would be short-sighted to object to the development solely on their own concerns without giving any thought to the future growth of Kingaroy.
“Let’s face it – Logan Road is the elephant in the room,” one supporter said.
“But I think this (development) is a good idea and I’m in favour of it.”
The meeting, which had begun at 7:00pm, broke up amicably around 8:30pm with several people lingering for one-on-one talks with Mr Burgess, Mr Blacklow, Mr Schultz or Mayor Keith Campbell until 9:00pm.
[Conceptual models: Greenridge Pty Ltd]
