Maleny funeral parlour goes to court

Funeral parlour battle continues

The battle to establish a funeral parlour and function centre on rural lands in Maleny continues, with the proponents of the failed application – Michael and Caroline Arnett – lodging an appeal in the Planning and Environment Court.

The facility at 57 Mountain View Road created considerable interest at the time, with Sunshine Coast Council receiving 147 properly made submissions opposing the application.

A motion to refuse the development was taken to a full council meeting in July, as the council's planning assessment department had recommended that approval be granted with a number of conditions.

The motion to refuse, led by Division 1 councillor Rick Baberowski, resulted in six votes to four to refuse the proposal on the grounds that it was inconsistent with the planning scheme and would cause “unreasonable impacts” to the rural character and amenity of the area.

As reported in GC&M News (July 31), Michael and Caroline Arnett were devastated with the decision.

They felt their application failed to accurately share their vision for a dedicated “life celebration venue” to provide a tranquil, beautiful place for bereaved families and friends to come to reflect on and farewell their loved ones.

There is no local precedent for their concept and, as it did not fall into a clear planning category, their town planner had advised that while it would be primarily classed as a function centre, they were required to lodge an application as a funeral parlour as their intention was to predominantly conduct funeral ceremonies.

“Some residents have been understandably concerned about the increase in traffic to Mountain View Road, which our town planner advised is a feeder road classed to handle considerably more traffic than a typical suburban road,” Caroline told GC&M News at the time.

“This information was subsequently supported by the traffic management reports that council required. Similarly, their reports confirmed there would be no negative noise impacts as a result of the proposed activities.”

The couple have lodged an appeal, which is opposed by Sunshine Coast Council and 23 co-respondents who have informed the court that they will also be opposing the appeal application.

In their notice of appeal, Michael and Caroline (through their legal firm of P&E Law) refute the reasons for refusal given by the council and have asked the court to allow the appeal, dismiss council’s refusal and approve the development application subject to reasonable conditions.

A date for the hearing is yet to be set.