Brisbane City Council vowed to fight the appealed development application to build 4 high-rise blocks of retirement units at Lota House.

​Now a compromise deal is about to be approved.

Our suburb will become a construction site.

More than 50 mature trees will be destroyed to make way for the development. Elderly residents at Lota House will suffer years of noise, dust and confusion.

Last Chance Rally
​Tell the council and developers that this is wrong. Join us 10am Sunday December 8, Lota House 162 Oceana Terrace. This is the last chance for us as a community, to make our feelings known.

Legal compromise
The application has been before the Planning and Environment Court since April when Village Retirement Group appealed against the council’s decision to refuse the development.  (Village Retirement Group are Anglicare’s partners in this commercial joint venture).

On Friday, November 22 Brisbane City Council’s lawyer advised that the development application would be approved.

​Judge William Everson has determined the changes Village Retirement Group proposed do not constitute any significant alterations to the original proposal
The changes include:

• Buildings 1 and 2 (which front Oceana Terrace) reduced from 5 to 4 storeys and that  storey replaced by rooftop plant and equipment
• Southern rooflines of the fourth floors in Buildings 1 and 2 set back 2 metres from the lower floors
• Four residential car parks reallocated to public car parking
• New colours for screenings on the southern facade of all buildings

 
The changes do not alter the scale, bulk and appearance of the buildings. Significantly, Buildings 3 and 4 (which front Grace Street) remain at 6 storeys, more than twice the height of Lota House.

See the full documents at the court website.

Scroll down to the documents heading and you can view and download all court documents. The last four are Village Retirement Group’s changes and the judge’s orders in relation to those changes.
Judge Everson ordered that the appeal should proceed on the basis of the changes. The council is to draft a list of conditions and the court will make its final orders on December 13.

What’s next 
55 mature trees will be destroyed to make way for the 4 towers (100 units). These trees are on average about 20 metres tall.

​Anglicare and Village Retirement Group are planning a “staged build”.  After one stage is “sold off” they will start on the next stage. Construction works will continue for many years.
 
The elderly residents of Lota House and the local community will be subjected to years of construction work - trucks, low loaders and utes on our streets from 6 each morning. The chain saws and graders will be first in to clear the site and cut down the trees. After that expect diggers, tip trucks, concrete pumps, scaffolding and gangs of workers with power tools and nail guns.
 
And this latest approval is just the beginning. Anglicare and Village Retirement Group plan to build a further 4 towers on the Lota House site – that’s a total of eight high-rise unit blocks.
To build this later stage, Anglicare and Village Retirement Group will have to demolish all of the affordable independent cottages located on the headland.  These will be replaced by units with 3 and 4 bedrooms, and great water views.  This is NOT aged care. The scale of this development is completely inappropriate for a low density, low rise suburb like Lota.
 
Objections overruled
 
There were more than 150 submissions to council opposing the original development application  – even though it was code assessable which means a decision could have been made within council.  The developers were not required to seek public comment. And they did not. Nor did Anglicare consult with the local community until it was forced to do so.
 
Our local, state and federal members joined in a rare alliance to oppose the development.
 
When the developer appealed against council’s decision to refuse the application, there were 400 signatures on a petition urging the council to fight against the appeal.
 
State Government failed to oppose it
Lota House is rare as the oldest surviving residence in the Manly-Lota area and one of the few 1860s residences of its type to survive in Queensland. It’s listed on the State Government’s Queensland Heritage Register.
The statement of significance in the Register cites:

• the architectural and aesthetic importance of the building’s rare and highly attractive Georgian-influenced design and siting
• the adjoining woodland’s prominence as a local landmark
• the place’s close and longstanding association with the local Manly-Lota community

Despite this, the State Government raised no objection to Anglicare and Village Retirement Group’s plans to remove 55 trees and obscure Lota House from public view.
​

Tomorrow’s (Friday Nov 22) court hearing in the Planning and Environment Court starts at 10am  before Judge William Everson in courtroom 33, floor 8.
This is the final day of the scheduled week-long hearing  ( Monday November 18 to Friday November 22) but only the second day that the court has sat.  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday court hearings were not held.
Village Retirement Group has proposed a number of changes to its original development application for Lota House.
See the latest court documents with details of the changes.
BAG members will be in court tomorrow.  We’ll  keep you up to date with events.