Organisers ‘working closely with council’
By Sonia Isaacs
ORGANISERS at Maleny Lane insist there are no plans to permanently shut down the popular live music venue, despite a temporary pause while they navigate compliance issues.
A single noise complaint to Sunshine Coast Council has triggered a review of the venue’s amplified music conditions, but organisers say they are working closely with the council to progress a development application.
FrontUp Chalkboard music organiser Steve McLeish said he was optimistic that “organisers could continue to run the music” once approvals were in place.
“We are working with council to solve the issues,” Mr McLeish said.
“We believe council want this to happen, however they require us to be compliant, so we’ve decided to pull back on putting on the music temporarily until the development application is approved.”
Mr McLeish said the team had engaged a town planner and was securing an acoustic engineer while finalising a traffic management plan.
Organisers are seeking approval for live music two nights a week until 10pm, though performances would likely wrap up by 8.30pm or 9pm.
Maleny Lane business owner Sue Palmer said the team was committed to securing a material change of use for the venue and understood the need to follow the process.
“Maleny Lane is not closing – we have just instigated a temporary hold on amplified live music until we can get approval,” she reiterated.
“Council are actively helping us, but the process has taken longer than we hoped as we’ve needed to access specialists.”
She said while costs had delayed progress, organisers remained committed to securing approvals.
Division 5 councillor Winston Johnston said he was supportive of live music continuing at Maleny Lane, however the correct approvals were required.
“Maleny Lane provides a great platform for the arts, however it’s important compliance is finalised,” Cr Johnston said.
