General News
23 August, 2023
Councillors reject Top Camp church
In a meeting last Wednesday, Toowoomba Region Councillors voted to reject a development application that proposed to construct a place of worship at Top Camp.
The application was submitted in July by land owners Gavin Kingon, Mark Alfred Evenden and Geoffrey Davis Thrush, trustees to the West Toowoomba Gospel Trust.
The West Toowoomba Gospel Trust is associated with the Plymouth Brethren congregation.
Another Plymouth Brethren place of worship operates only 700 metres away on corner of the New England Highway and Top Camp Court.
The church was proposed to be built at 3 Schmidt Court, Top Camp, a 5,298m2 rural residential zoned site on the corner of Beauly Drive and adjacent to the New England Highway.
The planning report submitted as part of the application said the building would be single storey with a height of 4.65 metres and gross floor area of 148m2.
The back and forth discussions between Council and the applicant over the past year included plans to increase on-site parking, reducing the need for on-street parking.
Councillors discussed the decision for over two hours before coming to a final decision.
The motion to reject the development was supported by Crs Cahill, McDonald, O’Shea, Sommerfield, C. Taylor and Vonhoff and not supported by Crs McMahon, O’Hara Sullivan and Shine, while Cr M. Taylor was absent.
Council officers had put forward their recommendation to approve the application, subject to conditions, however only Crs McMahon, O’Hara Sullivan and Shine approved.
A total of 30 submissions, including two petitions, were put forward that rejected the proposal and nine submissions supported it.
Geoff Reid, principal submitter of one of the petitions, was present at the meeting.
Between the two petitions, there were over 100 signatures.
Councillors rejected the application on the basis that it was inappropriate land use for the rural residential zone, which is designed for houses on large lots.
The zone code looks for developments that provide a high level of residential amenity and are compatible with the limited infrastructure and services of the area.
Cr Vonhoff declared that she may have a conflict of interest as one of the submitters is the teacher of her child, however the other Councillors agreed she should still be able to vote on the matter.
