Eumundi Voice Issue 120, 26 June 2025

Community

New over 50s development

The Yandina Bowls Club – located across from the proposed Halcyon Yandina – is set to receive a significant upgrade supported by Stockland over the next 4yrs. The investment will help enhance the facility and foster new social connections, with the club expected to become a shared community space for both Halcyon homeowners and existing members.

Bowls Club Secretary Alex Blake, who has been leading the collaboration with Stockland, welcomed the support, saying it would help secure the long-term future of the club while strengthening community ties beyond the Halcyon boundary.

“This sponsorship from Stockland is a real win-win for us, for them, and for the wider community. Thanks to their support, we’ll be able to upgrade our club facilities, from lighting to fans to long-overdue new carpet and furniture and make it an even more welcoming place for locals to come together,” said Alex.

The proposed Halcyon development is within walking distance of Yandina. It is expected to feature a range of resort-style facilities, including a 25m lap pool, sauna, steam room, and clubhouse featuring a gold-class style cinema, games room and private dining spaces. A creative hub will provide a library, workshop and arts studio. All homes will achieve a minimum 7-star Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) rating and offer a low-maintenance, lock-up-and-go lifestyle. Visit: stockland.com. au/halcyon-communities/qld/halcyon-yandina.

Affordable housing

From 1 July landowners in the Noosa Council electorate who build secondary dwellings or granny flats will no longer incur infrastructure charges, to encourage the local supply of smaller and more affordable housing options. These incentives will hopefully encourage more people to build and rent them out.

Mayor Frank Wilkie stated that removing these charges, which are typically several thousand dollars per application, would help provide more homes. The council will also waive development application fees for not-for-profit community housing providers and private developers who include long-term affordable rental premises in their projects. These incentives aim to address the growing housing crisis and are part of the Noosa Housing Strategy adopted in November 2022.

The council is working with community housing provider Coast2Bay to provide affordable housing on a council site in Cooroy and is investigating other council-owned sites in Tewantin and Noosa Heads. Additionally, the council has started a new monitoring program to track emerging housing challenges and set targets for housing stock, building approvals, median rents, rental vacancies, social housing, land use planning, housing stress, unmet housing need, and rental affordability for lowto-moderate income households.

Mayor Frank Wilkie said, “Boosting supply of smaller, more affordable properties for key workers, older people and small households is a key intent of our proposed planning scheme amendments, which are currently before the Minister awaiting approval.”