Eungella township’s local area planning

A local area planning project was undertaken to better understand the suitability of Finch Hatton and Eungella as potential trail towns.

The local area planning project identified and analysed the following:

• existing character and buildings, including locations of historic and cultural significance
• demographic and community profiles
• current role and function as principal (Finch Hatton) and tourist-orientated (Eungella) townships in the Pioneer Valley
• current planning provisions and identification of any gaps in the planning scheme with trail town uses in mind
• developmental and environmental constraints and infrastructure availability and requirements
• quality of current accessibility and connectivity infrastructure linking central activity areas, key sites/features and services within the townships.

By understanding the existing land uses, densities and built form of Finch Hatton and Eungella townships, changes can be recommended to assist the transition of both localities into successful trail towns. Development is encouraged to complement and support mountain bike activities and tourism, whilst ensuring any changes are appropriate to the character and identity of the township.

Eungella is the secondary trail town located 700m above sea level on the Clarke Range. Eungella is the ideal starting point for the signature gravity trail to Finch Hatton. The surrounding areas of high amenity and recreation value such as the Diggings, Eungella Dam, Crediton and Broken River are considered to enhance the tourism opportunities for visitors when based in the township. There are four objectives relating to the enhancement and development of the Eungella township.

Major Amendment 3 to the Mackay Region Planning Scheme

The purpose of the proposed amendment to the planning scheme is to:

• Facilitate commercial and other specific non-residential uses within designated precincts and through appropriate provisions under the Township zone in the Finch Hatton and Eungella townships
• Encourage a wider range of uses or adaptive re-use by changing the zone of a small number of lots to Township in the Finch Hatton and Eungella townships
• Reduce the levels of assessment for certain uses to facilitate appropriate development outcomes for the Finch Hatton and Eungella townships in support of the Pioneer Valley Mountain Bike project.

The proposed amendment introduces three precincts under the Township zone – two in Finch Hatton and one in Eungella. TS1 - Finch Hatton town centre precinct. TS2 - Finch Hatton trailhead precinct. TS3 - Eungella town centre precinct.

The amendment is currently with the state government for its ‘state interest review’.

All technical documents relating to the amendment once it progresses to ‘public consultation’ phase will be made available to the public. Notifications of their availability and the time in which to make a submission for or against the proposed changes will be given via the project update emails as well as letters to affected landowners.

Once the major amendment has been on public consultation, the proposed changes can be considered in planning advice. Until such time the amendment is ‘draft’ documentation and version 4.0 of the Mackay region Planning Scheme governs development in the townships.

For further information and timelines please see pages 7 to 11 of the Planning Intent information pamphlet.

Public realm, placemaking and connectivity improvements

Movement patterns, legibility of the streetscapes and connectivity between high activity nodes and proposed precincts have been reviewed to inform public realm, wayfinding, and connectivity recommendations for both townships.

For further information about the project please see pages 12 to 16 of the Planning Intent information pamphlet.

Planning enquiries

Council has numerous user guides explaining the function of the planning scheme. Please click this link to view the guides.

For planning advice, please contact our Development Planning and Engineering department on 1300 MACKAY (622 529), email planningenquiries@mackay.qld.gov.au or fill out the online form here.

For more information about the pre-lodgement advice process see council’s user guide #4 ‘pre-lodgement process’.

Who should I contact if I have a question?

Please contact council’s Strategic Planning team on 1300 MACKAY (622 529) or email strategic.planning@mackay.qld.gov.au

To stay up to date on this project subscribe to the project update emails on the right-hand side of this page.