Seniors Housing & Healthcare Trends

LOS ANGELES: An innovative multigenerational arts precinct is now being proposed for a regeneration site.

After a seven-year journey, Council has given the green light to the Yeronga Paint Factory proposal at a huge site near a floodprone stretch of the Brisbane River.

Project backers hailed the approval as a chance to revive the suburb, but a local councillor feared the maximum eight levels of units could turn into 20 or more levels in coming years.

It has also attracted a whopping 638 submissions. About 350 were against and 288 were supportive including Sydney residents and prominent developer Don O’Rorke, who is building the nearby Yeerongpilly Green mixed-used estate.

The Hyde Rd property, once home to a Taubmann’s plant that was the biggest paint factory in the southern hemisphere, has been used as a vibrant arts space since Covid lockdown.

Development application documents showed that the staged project, which could take up to a decade to be built, must have a minimum 240m buffer zone separating it from football grounds and the Fairfield wastewater treatment plant.

Future residents would have to be warned about odour and noise.

“The residents, tenants and commercial operators of the development cannot expect to enjoy the same level of odour, noise and light amenity as compared with lower density suburban areas due to the operational and maintenance activities at the Fairfield wastewater treatment plant (and) due to the sport and recreational activities conducted by existing and future sporting clubs at Goodwin Park, Leyshon Park and Fehlberg Park,’’ the development approval stated.

Urban Utilities said it needed time to study the approval conditions.

But it previously lodged a formal objection, including concerns about having to build expensive odour mitigation controls if neighbours complained.

Olympic Football Club officials were furious, saying they already had to deal with noise complaints after a retirement facility was built in the area a decade ago.

Chris Kazonis, chair of the Australian Hellenic Sports Cultural Association, which runs activities in the Goodwin Park area, said the paint factory units would be much closer.

“Our lights are on until 10pm at night, at least,’’ he said.

“We can get 1000 people on a Saturday or a Sunday, there is a lot of noise, and we can smell the sewerage plant.

“We’ve spent millions on the property for the youth, our community and residents — council, government and our own money.

“We’re not against development at the site but there needs to be a balance. We never thought it would go to eight stories.’’

The club was one of the three biggest in Brisbane and a major force in the NPL, the highest league in Queensland, while the women’s team was in line to go up to the top tier next year.

The 34,000 sqm site at 115 Hyde Rd has been in limbo since Taubmans closed a decade ago.

Stage one of the redevelopment included food and drink outlets, art studios, gallery spaces, a theatre and escape room.

The approval for zones of four and eight levels of units included what was billed as Australia’s first fully integrated arts village.

It was unclear if that would be a permanent feature, with one objector claiming the original plans involved demolition of the exhibition and performance space.

But a spokeswoman for the developer said demolition was not part of the recent approval.

Longer-term plans could feature market spaces, health services, a garden centre, hardware outlet, microbrewery, multiple entertainment venues and five mid-rise residential towers.

Development would not occur in low-lying areas which flooded.

Building heights would range from four stories near Hyde Rd to eight stories in the centre of the precinct, but the developer could apply for higher limits in future.

Council’s City Planning chair, Adam Allan, said the private sector was essential to providing most of the extra housing Brisbane needed.

The Lord Mayor’s Better Suburbs Initiative chair, Ross Elliot, said urban renewal was vital to accommodate the people pouring into Brisbane.

“Suburban renewal means making the most of what we already have, by repurposing older suburban land uses into contemporary places which meet today’s community needs,’’ he said.

“The Paint Factory project does just this.

“In the same way that former industrial areas like James St in New Farm have, over time, converted into vibrant mixed-use precincts, the same can happen in other precincts across the city.’’

A spokeswoman for the developer said air quality impact assessments showed air quality was “well within acceptable parameters’’.

“A significant parcel of land adjoining the soccer fields will be used only for open space and landscaping to mitigate any perceived impact,’’ she said.

“Although the site is largely unaffected by flooding, public roads will provide flood free access and egress for adjoining properties within the precinct.’’

Independent councillor, Nicole Johnston, said there were no current local planning schemes to guide future development at the site.

“The recent approval is a sneaky blank cheque for high rise development in Yeronga West,’’ she claimed.

“Like we have seen in Toowong, West End and Yeerongpilly, developers regularly seek heights two or three times what is actually approved, with support from the Schrinner administration and their secret(ive) planning advisory board, leaving local neighbourhoods at risk from inappropriate and unexpected overdevelopment.’’