An application by GH Australia to develop a $50million, 106-room hotel on land within Noosa Springs has again been halted during Noosa Council’s decision process.
At its general committee meeting on Monday councillors announced that the applicant had made a change to the application which prevented them from dealing with the matter.
The application, an initiative of GH Australia, the Australian arm of Hong Kong property and development firm, Golden Horse Group and owner of Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort, had proposed the construction of a five-star hotel spanning five two and three storied buildings and featuring a two-level lagoon style swimming pool.
A report for the initial application was presented to Council at the planning and environment committee on 11 July which raised a range of issues including the sites split zoning, the potential odour impacts of the nearby sewage treatment plant, bushfire risk, ecology, carparking and built form.
At the time council staff recommended the application be approved, but councillors voted in favour of refusing the application at Council’s general committee meeting on 17 July. On 19 July the applicant stopped the decision-making period until 29 September 2023.
As this was done prior to the ordinary meeting of 20 July Council was not able to finalise a decision on the application.
The decision-making period recommenced on 29 September.
In their report this month Council staff said the applicant had not amended the layout of the proposed development but had provided several written submissions which included an analysis of the submissions made during the notification period, a letter from a solicitor reviewing the proposed grounds of refusal, and a further letter from the applicant’s planning consultant seeking to justify grounds to support the development.
The matter was referred from Council’s planning and environment committee meeting last week to its general meeting this week.
Council staff again recommended the approval of the application, further recommending the deletion of condition 13, which required guests to be advised of the potential for odour from the sewage treatment plant.
Staff said the grounds of refusal proposed at the general committee on July 17 had been reviewed by a planning solicitor and updated grounds of refusal were included in their report this month.
