12:00a.m. 27th August 2008

Kari Stephens, Garry Dillon, Chris Schomburgk and Peter Folker celebrate the merger.

Two of the Coast’s most high-profile town planning companies joined forces last week to take on the challenge of guiding the Sunshine Coast through a critical point in its development.

The merger of Maroochydore-based Dillon Folker Stephens and Schomburgk Planning at Buddina has seen the group become the largest specialist town planning company on the Coast, with 13 planners and a staggering 250-plus projects on the books. Some of the biggest developers in the area are on board as clients, including Mirvac, Juniper, Reed Property Group and RGD Properties.

The merger has effectively formalised an ongoing friendly liaison that extends back more than 25 years with DFS directors Kari Stephens and Peter Folker having both worked for Chris Schomburgk in the past, while Chris and DFS director Gary Dillon have been colleagues since the 1980s.

Ms Stephens said with the now “leaner, greener” super-council, town planning groups like DFS literally held the key to the region’s future lifestyle, environmental and economic sustainability in their hands.

“We’re rapidly reaching a critical juncture where long-term planning for the future of the Coast will either enhance or change the lifestyle of the area that people have come to know and love,” she said.

“Town planners can play a unique role in that future – by balancing the needs of development and industry with environment and community.”

Ms Stephens said she recognised the perception in sections of the community was that council and the development industry were not on the same page when it came to a vision for the future of the Sunshine Coast.

“I’m confident we’re actually all trying to head in the same direction. I would hate to see (population) growth stop because that would mean people commuting to Brisbane to work, and our kids having to leave the region to find a career,” she said.

“But at the same time, we’re very much limited by what the town plan says we can do.”

Indeed, Ms Stephens said town planners welcomed council’s intention to produce a new Sunshine Coast-wide town plan within its first term to replace the existing separate plans in force for the former Noosa, Maroochy and Caloundra City council areas.

“It’s been a nightmare. Standardisation will produce big advantages.

“At the moment definitions of things like gross floor area, site area, even what a duplex is, are different across the three regions,” she said.

Meanwhile Mr Schomburgk, who has held senior management positions in both local government, state government and private enterprise, said the merger meant he could take more of a supervisory or strategic role.

“I’ll be working as a consultant for DFS on major development projects, while still maintaining my role as an ‘expert witness’ in the Planning and Environment Court,” he said.

Neither company name will change initially as a result of the merger.