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A bayside council has told the Queensland government any development on a group of rural blocks that have been pegged for a potential resort and an industrial zone should be linked to the completion of a highway project connecting the Gold Coast to southern Brisbane.
Redland City Council last month voted to ask the state to investigate adding eight blocks in Mount Cotton, centred around a chicken farm, to the state’s urban footprint, clearing the way for potential development.
Landholders in the area include the owner of the local paper, Warren Pryde, Karreman Quarries owner Dirk Karreman and Darwalla, a poultry company that partially owns the Golden Cockerel farm.
A consortium of landholders is represented by developer Stephen Williams – best known for the developments West Village, in Brisbane, and Ipswich’s Riverview – with potential plans including an industrial park, a neighbourhood centre, and a five-star hotel at a local winery.
When asking for the state to investigate adding the land to the footprint, the council specified any development should not be for suburban housing, but supported development that would lead to more employment in the council and diversify the rates base.
However, since the vote, the council has also asked the state through Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie that any development also be linked to the completion of the Coomera Connector.
The Coomera Connector is an alternative route to the clogged M1 Motorway between the northern Gold Coast and Loganholme, just south of Brisbane, which has been in the works since 2016. Its final stage will swoop through the Redland City Council area, near the proposed development.
Last week the state’s transport and roads boss Sally Stannard would not commit to stage two of the connector – on the southern end of the highway – being finished before the 2032 Olympics.
The first section of stage one, from Coomera to Helensvale, was completed in December last year, with the next two sections, connecting what will be known as the M9 to Nerang, are under construction through a 50:50 split on $3.5 billion in funding.
The future stages, or the next 13 kilometres, have received $22 million for planning through the end of the 2026-27 financial year, also on an even split between the governments.
A council spokesperson pointed this masthead in the direction of the minutes from the vote asking the state to investigate the land, but did not answer questions directly.
“Council notes that the Queensland government is the decision-making authority on which land is included in the urban footprint,” they said.
On Monday, the deputy premier said Southern Thornlands was on track, thanks to funding for infrastructure through the state’s Residential Activation Fund deal with the federal government.
“Money is coming to Southern Thornlands to unlock 8000 new homes,” he said.
The state government is currently reviewing the South-East Queensland Regional Plan. Submissions closed earlier this month, and a draft plan to be finished before the end of the year.
Bleijie’s office did not respond to question about Mount Cotton before deadline.
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