

Mr Hammel said a report into the expansion of the enterprise area was due before the council this year, but upgrades to the M1 highway's exit 38 and a clear time frame for the construction of the Coomera Connector were needed. The Rocky Point Sugar Mill has been contacted for comment. "The key point for us would be that the mill, even if some land is lost to industrial land, that the mill maintains a critical mass." "It comes back to what sort of volume of cane we might lose," he said. Mr Zipf said the main consideration should be that enough cane fields were under production for the local sugar mill to remain operational, with the Coomera Connector also expected to be built on farmland. Rocky Point Cane Growers chair Greg Zipf said some farmers might be open to selling their land depending on market prices.īut he said there was "plenty of interest in growing cane at the current prices".Ī map outlines the Yatala Enterprise Area, cane fields and route of Coomera Connector. "But remember, there's a lot of cane in the area, and industrial does not use up as much land as cane." 'Plenty of interest' in cane "I just can't see it not continuing to grow, and I think there is, in the long term, going to be a displacement of some of the cane fields. "The corridor between the Gold Coast and Brisbane has been growing strongly for 30 years," he said. ( ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale)Ĭr Hammel said his "firm opinion" is that part of the cane fields would become industrial but that other areas further north could be re-zoned as well.ĭeveloper Ben McCarthy said the new estate could house about 40 businesses employing 3,000 people, with the potential of expansion.

Mr Hammel says a report into the expansion of the enterprise area is due before council before the end of the year. "There are a few little pieces in between, but there are no big sites left where private investment like this can come in." "We have to expand the enterprise area to make sure that the flow of pipeline of investment and jobs doesn't stop," he said. Mr Hammel said EkkoPoint's estate was at the "absolute edge" of the 3,300 hectare Yatala Enterprise Area. We're caught in a gap." Strong industrial growth "The issue is we haven't done the planning for the future. "This is the last greenfield site in the Yatala Enterprise Area, which was originally marked 50 years ago, so a plan from 50 years ago has nearly come to its end. "We have at the moment, I think, less than two years' worth of land left in Yatala," City of Gold Coast councillor Mark Hammel said. The 87-hectare estate, being developed by EkkoPoint Properties, is within 3 kilometres of the M1 highway and adjacent to sprawling cane fields and the proposed route for the Coomera Connector. This comes as work begins on a new $500 million logistics estate in the Yatala Enterprise Area.
