Maranoa Regional Council and developer, Jack Ray, in stalemate over Zarraffa’s coffee franchise

A Queensland developer and a South West local council are in a stalemate over a proposed coffee franchise on a busy intersection in a regional town.

The Maranoa Regional Council and a prospective developer are in a stalemate over the approval conditions imposed on a Zarraffa's Coffee franchise development in Roma.

After months of fruitless dealings with the Maranoa Regional Council, a developer has been left with a sour taste, saying his experience was “the most difficult and frustrating” of his career.

Earlier this year, Gold Coast based developer Jack Ray submitted a development application with the Maranoa Regional Council to build a Zarraffa’s coffee outlet on a vacant lot on one of Roma’s busiest intersections, which has since been conditionally approved by council.

However, Mr Ray said the conditions imposed by council made the development unworkable.

The development was pencilled for the vacant lot on 41 Quintin St, Roma, which lies on the intersection of Bowen St (Warrego Highway) and Quintin St (Carnarvon Highway).

The proposed Zarraffa's franchise is on one of Roma's busiest intersections on the corner of Quintin and Bowen Streets.

The intersection is already home to a KFC franchise with a drive through and the Roma State College junior campus, and sees hundreds of vehicles, including heavy vehicles, pass through daily.

In the July 24 ordinary meeting of Maranoa Regional Council, deputy mayor Cameron O’Neil described the intersection as “an incredibly busy intersection … and a major thoroughfare for truck movements right across central Queensland”.

Preliminary approval for the development was granted by the Maranoa Regional Council on March 6, with the stipulation that the entry to the outlet would only be accessible from Bowen St.

In his opinion, Mr Ray said this was unnecessary and would make the business unviable.

Mr Ray said he travelled to Roma to make a deputation to the council on July 16, in an attempt to quell their qualms.

However, Maranoa Regional Council remained unconvinced, and in their July 24 ordinary meeting voted 7 to 1 in favour of upholding their original approval conditions.

The Maranoa Regional Council had robust deliberation during their July 24 ordinary meeting about whether to forgo their preliminary conditions. Photo: Kristina Ayers.

The only councillor who dissented was Brendan Seawright, who said while he acknowledged the intersection has traffic issues, in his view the developer had done significant work to “combat” those problems.

The other councillors all stressed they did not want to be gatekeepers of economic development, but agreed the intersection was too dangerous.

Councillor Johanne Hancock, who was one of the councillors to support the original preliminary approval, said it was a “difficult decision”.

“I so want to support economic development,” she said.

“I so wanted to utilise that block, and the jobs that it would bring to our town, but for this decision today, I have to put public safety ahead of that.”

Councillor Meryl Brumpton, who was the item’s mover, summarised council’s concerns.

“We are not stopping this development occurring, we are just asking the developers to consider what we have suggested to reduce the queuing issues,” Ms Brumpton said.

“I acknowledge that Transport and Main Roads didn’t see an issue with that - I personally question how they could not have seen an issue with that - but that’s my personal opinion.”

Ms Brumpton said the Maranoa Regional Council had consulted their own traffic engineer, who she said raised concerns which were not addressed by the developer’s deputation.

However, Mr Ray questioned whether the ability to impose conditions on approval based on traffic concerns was within the Maranoa Regional Council’s purview.

“Essentially, council has sought to override a state government approval issued by TMR for this development which in my opinion is an extraordinary overstep of their jurisdiction and highly inappropriate,” Mr Ray said.

A Maranoa Regional Council spokesman said the move is well within council’s jurisdiction and responsibility.

“It is incorrect to say that council overrode Transport & Main Road’s findings,” the spokesman said.

“The state government considered the application according to its own assessment benchmarks which, given its different role, are different to those in council’s planning scheme.

“The property in question sits on one of the busiest corners in Roma, with significant movement of heavy vehicles, and council has to consider the safety of its community.”

Mr Ray said his dealings with the council were fraught with prejudice and had been unfair.

“(I believe that) council officers made up their minds early in the process to recommend refusal of the development and weren’t interested in having any constructive discussions about their technical reasons or interested in any of our expert’s attempts to alleviate their concerns,” Mr Ray said.

“Maranoa Regional Council’s planning department is very difficult to deal with and are not interested in promoting economic growth through new developments in town.”

In response the Maranoa Regional Council spokesman said council took the developer’s allegations very seriously, “particularly when they are personally directed at council officers acting with professionalism and integrity”.

“Anyone who listens to the publicly available record of council’s discussion on this application will clearly hear how supportive councillors were of this proposal,” the spokesman said.

“Given that it approved the application, it is clear that council would like to see this development proceed, but in a way that balances the community’s needs and not just the developer’s.”

For now, the parties are at a stalemate. It is not yet clear whether the developer will pursue the matter in the planning and environment court.