“Enough is Enough”

Councillors Stand Against Saturation Of Short-Term Accommodation

Whitsunday Regional Councillors have deferred a decision on a short-term accommodation (STA) application in a move to take a stand on further exacerbation of the region’s housing crisis.

The proposal for the Cannonvale property hoped to turn the two-story house with three bedrooms into short-term accommodation managed by local business, Whitsunday Holiday Rentals.

Disregarding town planner’s recommendations, Council defeated the motion to approve the property 2/5, tabling the matter for a later meeting to provide reasons for refusal and using it as an opportunity to discuss their growing concerns with short term accommodation.

Councillor Jan Clifford was first of the Councillors to proclaim that she could not support more holiday homes in the region.

“There are currently 500 short-term accommodations operating within the Airlie Beach-Cannonvale area, and enough is enough,” she said.

“I believe there are 14 to 15 rentals available for the average person. How many of the 500 plus properties are actually lawful?”

Whitsunday Mayor Julie Hall agreed but was concerned that denying short term accommodation, such as the Cannonvale one, could lead to legal troubles for Council.

“It is an issue that we’re losing a lot of accommodation to these short-term accommodations but, if we are to knock this back, it will go into the Environmental and Development Court,” she said.

The situation could be described as ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’: If Councillors permit more STAs, there will be fewer rental homes on the market during a housing crisis. If they don’t, the denied STA owners could have grounds for legal action, costing ratepayers up to $100 thousand.

The change of use was eventually denied on the grounds it would be in a medium density residential area and would not be compatible with the prevailing residential character.

Councillor Clay Baumann said every development must be assessed individually.

“If it does go to court, which is not for certain, it would be heard anew. If we sit here, allowing bad decisions to go forward, we’ll end up in a worse position,” he said.

“I agree that we need more holiday accommodation but what we really need are suburbs and houses for people to live in.”

Council’s Director of Planning and Development, Neil McGaffin said justifying these arguments would be difficult if the matter did become litigious.

“I understand what everyone is getting at and certainly we’re moving towards a situation where we need to carefully look at the saturation of short-term accommodation in the area,” Mr McGaffin said.

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