Byron Shire Council has considered a DA for a hotel and retail development the same day the application went before a Land and Environment Court hearing

Councillors have granted staff the authority to enter into an agreement with the developer of a proposed $2.98 million build, but they will have to agree to a range of conditions if the project is to go ahead.

Amended plans for a proposed hotel on Marvell Street in Byron Bay will go before the council at its May planning meeting.

The fate of a proposed new Byron Bay hotel has been subject to a council vote at the same time as it faced a Land and Environment Court hearing.

Byron Shire Council resolved at their planning meeting on Thursday, May 13 to allow general manager Mark Arnold to enter into consent orders approving the development application, on the condition the developer agrees to a range of conditions.

The council also resolved that those conditions “be amended to reflect any changes to conditions of consent in terms of final plans to be approved”.

This decision followed a confidential discussion on the proposal.

Complicating matters, the development application was also listed for a hearing before the Land and Environment Court on Thursday and Friday, in deemed refusal proceedings brought against the council by the developer.

A site visit was held at 7 Marvell Street ahead of the beginning of the hearing.

That appeal process was launched in February 2020.

The DA was lodged with the council by Pace Development Group Pty Ltd in November 2019 and sought consent for the demolition of an existing building, which was currently home to Eleni art gallery, and the construction of a 29-room hotel, four ground floor retail shops, a basement car park including a health spa and rooftop “yoga platform”.

The works proposed for the Marvell Street property would cost an estimated $2.98 million.

The council’s legal counsel, Ralph James, has previously explained staff being granted delegation to enter into a consent order with the developer wouldn’t automatically mean the hotel has been approved.

For the development to go ahead through that process, the applicant would have to consent to conditions set out by the council.

Whether this has occurred is not yet known; the council has been approached for comment.