Zarraffa’s Coffee franchise in doubt after preliminary conditions imposed by Maranoa Regional Council

Plans to bring a popular coffee chain to Roma could be scrapped after the developer behind the proposal labelled council imposed conditions as ‘unreasonable and onerous’. Find out why council made the decision.

Plans for a Zarraffa’s Coffee drive through could be scrapped, with the developer saying council’s preliminary approval conditions were unworkable.

Queensland-based developer Jack Ray submitted a development application to the Maranoa Regional Council to build a Zarraffa’s coffee franchise on the vacant site at 41 Quintin St, Roma.

The proposed site on the corner of Bowen Street and Quintin Street in Roma.

Mr Ray said the site in question has been vacant since 2009, and the development would be an asset to the community.

“Zarraffa’s has a local franchisee ready to operate the site and employ between 20-30 local staff,” Mr Ray said.

The site sits on the corner of Quintin St (Carnarvon Highway) and Bowen St, near the Roma CBD.

In Mr Ray’s development application, he proposed the entry and exit to the store would be on Quintin St.

The configuration of the developer’s proposal.

In January, Mr Ray received approval from the Department of Transport and Main Roads for the development.

However, when the application went to the Maranoa Regional Council’s planning and building development officer, it was recommended for refusal by council.

The officer’s view was that the development would have “adverse impacts” on the intersection of Bowen and Quintin streets.

“The development application is not consistent with the assessment benchmarks provided by the Planning Act 2016 and cannot be conditioned to achieve compliance,” the officer’s planning and building development report read.

In the March 6 council meeting, there was robust deliberation between councillors, weighing the benefits of the development, with the costs of potential infringement on safety.

“I’m going to support this because I do want to support business development in Roma and so I’m supporting this because this gives the applicant an opportunity to address some of the safety concerns around the traffic management plan around that corner,” councillor Johanne Hancock said.

Ms Hancock’s sentiment was shared across the chamber, with only councillor Geoff McMullen saying he was not in support, and would follow the officer’s recommendation to refuse the application.

“I won’t be approving – I don’t believe it’s a safe enough area,” Mr McMullen said.

Councillor Julie Guthrie supported the preliminary application, but said TMR should not have granted the approval in the first place, going so far as to move that council write a letter to the TMR, expressing council’s disappointment in their decision.

“It absolutely perplexes me to understand how TMR can once again give approval to this and not see the possible, or potential, or what might happen,” Ms Guthrie said.

“(I) suggest we write a letter to TMR … just expressing our disappointment of us being the arbiters of safety, and trying to make sure our people continue to be safe.”

Ms Guthrie’s move to write a letter to the TMR was supported by the other councillors.

Ultimately, seven councillors supported the preliminary application, with only Mr McMullen dissenting.

However, Mr Ray said the conditions of the preliminary application were unworkable.

“Council may as well have issued a refusal, as that is in effect the same outcome these unreasonable and onerous Preliminary Approval conditions impose on the development,” Mr Ray said.

According to him, after spending significant time and money on consultants and experts, there is no option for the development to go ahead within the bounds of council’s conditions.

Maranoa Regional Council was approached for comment, but declined given the current caretaker period.