12:00a.m. 21st August 2008

| By Alan Lander

Neighbours of a Mooloolaba property have reacted angrily to a developer’s claim he wanted to build two $1 million luxury properties on the small site.

Developer Matt Stanley yesterday said he believed the Sunshine Coast Council was wrong in limiting him to only building duplexes on his Brentwood Avenue site.

Mr Stanley claimed building luxury homes was more in keeping with the surroundings, and there would be no difference in population impact on the street.

But neighbours contacted the Daily yesterday to claim Mr Stanley never intended to build any type of home – he was simply “in for a quick sale and move out”.

One neighbour, Rayna Picking, said a local real estate agency had been marketing the property as land-only.

“A friend received an email about it,” she said.

“It said the property would be sold with a development application.

“I rang up just to confirm that. The agency said: ‘If you wanted him to build something, he would’.”

The neighbour also rejected Mr Stanley’s claim he doorknocked the street.

“(The agency) doorknocked, and said the homes would be worth $1 million each,” she said.

“That’s unrealistic.”

Another neighbour, who asked not to be named as he worked in the property industry, said he was among those who objected to the development application.

“The guy marketed the lot with approval in place,” he said.

“They were never going to build on it.”

The neighbour said the block was tiny.

“It’s an eyesore,” he said.

“The reason we bought there is the big blocks of land and the environment created over the last 15 to 20 years.

“This was marketed by the agent as land – two little houses.

“If he was going to build, okay, but when everyone saw the plans they knew he had no intention.”

But Mr Stanley said the email sent out was “just to feel out the market”.

“It was to collect names of interested parties on the agency’s database.”

Mr Stanley conceded the email described the property as having development approval when it did not.

He said he sent out a letter to immediate residents, explaining “exactly what I was doing from the beginning”.

“I went to every house, two up, two down, two across,” he said.

“I dropped the letter in the boxes.”

Mr Stanley said ultimately the objections didn’t have an effect on the result.

“If (they) did, why approve one up the road?”

He said that prior approval had set a precedent.

“But the current council takes a more prescriptive view, (whereas) the (former Maroochy mayor Joe) Natoli council took a more common-sense approach.”