Currumbin is a unique part of the Gold Coast for its village feel and preserved forested cliffs and ridges. It is home to the world renowned Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and the iconic Elephant Rock, which hosts the annual Anzac Day ceremony on 25 April each year.
Save Currumbin’s main mission is to provide the community with information, insight and a voice on high rise developments that threaten to damage or destroy the vegetated hills and ridges and ruin the village feel of this special suburb. This is particularly important along the Pacific Parade beachfront, which is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of members of the public each year.
Proposed Development at 776 Pacific Parade
To everyone's disbelief, on the 11th of February, the Gold Coast City Council approved what appears to be a 7-storey high rise at 776 Pacific Parade by John Fuglsang Developments Pty Ltd - right opposite our iconic beach.
It got through as code assessable only because it was deemed to be a 3-storey building.
This building will dominate the skyline and obstruct a key part of our green ridgeline which gives our beloved Currumbin its unique sense of place.
IS THIS WHAT WE WANT TO SEE FROM THE BEACH EVERY DAY?
SAY NO TO 7-STOREY DEVELOPMENT
We wish to update you on the progress of the Court Case- Originating Application 631/2026 brought by Save Currumbin Ltd and a local resident as Applicants challenging the development approval granted by Gold Coast City Council for the change application relating to 776 Pacific Parade, Currumbin. On 14 August 2026, our solicitor Michael Connor filed detailed Reply Submissions on behalf of the Applicants prepared by our senior counsel Ben Job KC and junior counsel Susan Hedge. Click this link
for copies. app.box.com/s/da7ggar4gy4ogzhdqgyrt9c083mvjfwh The submissions respond to arguments advanced by both the Gold Coast City Council (First Respondent) and the developer/owner, John Fuglsang Developments Pty Ltd (The Second Respondent).
The Applicants contend that when the planning scheme is properly construed, both DA approvals exceed the 3-storey limit shown on the Building Height Overlay Map for Pacific Parade Currumbin and therefore should have been assessed as "impact" assessable development (which would have given the community a proper opportunity to participate officially in the assessment process and to have appeal rights) rather than merely a "code" assessable development. The Respondents take a contrary view.
A central theme of the Reply Submissions by the Applicants is that the case essentially turns on a short but important question of statutory construction concerning the meaning of "building height" and "storeys" under the Gold Coast City Plan.
You can find copies of the Reply Submissions online at this Link. app.box.com/s/da7ggar4gy4ogzhdqgyrt9c083mvjfwh
The Court has not yet ruled on those issues but we hope that the trial will proceed later this year perhaps as early as October. Please visit SaveCurrumbin.com to keep abreast of the case.
The lead up to the trial has been expensive and the costs of two-day trial will be significant.
Please therefore assist us in what we believe is an important test case about statutory interpretation of height restrictions along the iconic Pacific Parade Currumbin by either
making another donation savecurrumbin.com/donate/ or
a sponsorship app.box.com/s/utcogxek1qb5unmmaj3kvnyo57w71jrg .
Save Currumbin Ltd ABN 24 688 965 700
www.facebook.com/savecurrumbin/
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Gold Coast luxury high-rise approvals thrown into doubt by landmark court ruling by the Queensland Court of Appeal which finds luxury apartments by high end developers do not improve housing affordability simply because they "increase supply" .
The decision could affect other luxury high-rises that are exempted from height limits on the grounds that they improve "housing choice and affordability". ... See MoreSee Less
Luxury tower 'affordability' claim rejected in landmark court ruling
www.abc.net.au
A landmark court ruling casts doubt over Gold Coast high-rise approvals, finding luxury apartments cannot justify exceeding height limits on the basis of "housing choice and affordability".June update on Court Case challenging DA 776 Pacific Parade Currumbin (old Elephant Rock Café site)- Now is the time for you to help save Currumbin.
After obtaining advice from the leading solicitors and barristers in Town Planning in Queensland we, together with a neighbour to the West of the site (Applicants) , commenced the Court Case No 361 of 2026 as Applicants to set aside the original MCU/2022/588 for 6 storeys was granted in 2024 (Development Application) and the OTH/2025/79 for 7 storeys over a wider block was granted in 2026 (Change Application). Click here app.box.com/s/e8kx79q6ke1vi1x0x6aa525gmc8p5c3a for a copy of the Application to the Planning & Environment Court at Brisbane.
The case is simple- all levels in the building plans are a “storey” as defined in the Town Planning Regulations, and so the building exceeds the 3-storey building height maximum for code assessment in the Neighborhood Centre Zone along Pacific Parade. Our lawyers are basically arguing that Council got the law wrong by counting storeys only in a “vertical plane”, a notion council had internally in a practice advisory note- but is not the law. So, this is a test case for future DA’s in Currumbin and other sensitive areas where developers ‘push the envelope’.
The solicitor for the Applicant, Michael Connor, prepared and filed several affidavits including by director Paul Stone exhibiting expert reports of town planner Jake Storey and Public Amenity Expert Dr Nick McGowan as well as an affidavit by expert architect Mr. Lesley Curtis that supports the proposition about storeys in the building. We attach a link to the Affidavit of Mr. Curtis
app.box.com/s/lysrlyvmjmlflq9du6kpnqgc4x41vh0d
We attach a link to the Affidavit of Mr. Stone
app.box.com/s/fnr2kw7cyj1n2l32j0ztyjhz0agiuapk
Our barristers Ben Job KC and Susan Hedge prepared submissions to the Court. We attach a link to those submissions
app.box.com/s/lf3kn68qx9jimuisw1gp31n6rifh0kbv
The words “vertical plane” do not exist in the definition of storey height.
The Applicants rely on the second limb of the building height definition, that the "number of storeys in the building above ground level" is more than three. The Applicant submits that:
(a) A "space" between two floor levels or a floor level and a roof will capture the whole of a space on a horizontal plane, and does not refer to only part of a space considered in a vertical plane;
(b) In determining building height, the number of storeys in the whole building is considered, rather than the number of storeys in one vertical plane.”
The Applicants submit that the building
app.box.com/s/wqfvoir1eiclpxku70qg1axvv7n4r021
in the Development Approvals are over 3-storeys and thus required impact (not code) assessment.
The Court required Council to file all the documents relevant to the Approval process including OTH/2025/12 that Council initially rejected on 13 Oct 2025 as ‘ not properly made’ (click her for full Document Bundle www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/inlpoznezp6gydg7lsjvw/AA8ZYZMsSmB_Qpal8wz9L3g?rlkey=e9lcxdrdinfy4aty6toi2z... )
The material disclosed by GCCC comprises of 8 volumes and over 4300 pages, 1600 pages of which were not previously available to the public. The Index is not very accurate, and many key documents are not actually named in the index and only ascertainable by scrolling through the email ‘chains’.
The Court made orders on 9 June as to the further timetable of the case which includes the Council and developer having to file more material by the end of the June and for the Applicants to Reply by mid-July with a date for hearing to be set thereafter.
We believe that we have good prospects of winning this test case to limit height along Pacific Parade to 3-storeys and we are in the heat of the legal battle against a well-resourced council and developer.
We appreciate all your support over the years but now we need your help for one final push to the finish line.
If you want to help preserve Currumbin as we know it, now is the time- please click the links to donate (families)
www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/QHKLGLTY4TMXG
or
take up sponsorships (businesses)
app.box.com/s/d6ll88g648ottn3636cy61ndrl7ijeaq
before the end of June.
This is a test case to stop high-rise like this from going up all along Pacific Parade- which will happen if the arguably 'flawed' approvals are allowed to stand as a precedent.
Paul Stone and Patrick Dixon
Directors Save Currumbin Ltd ABN 24 688 965 700
www.savecurrumbin.com ... See MoreSee Less
Learn More
Draw a line in the sand!
Don’t let the iconic Elephant Rock Café site become a 7-storey eyesore:
Click here for a CAD and photomontages of the planned development to get a good idea of what it will look like if built.
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776 Pacific Parade Currumbin DA CAD and photomontages.pdf | Powered by Box
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