Council approves new outdoor dining lease on CBD laneway

TOOWOOMBA’S Kwong Sang Walk laneway will be used for outdoor dining as part of the upcoming Oaks Hotel.

The demolition of one side of the wall of Kwong Sang Walk on the site of the former Gladstone Hotel, Monday, January 21, 2019.

TOOWOOMBA'S Kwong Sang Walk laneway will be used for outdoor dining as part of the upcoming Oaks Hotel, after the council approved the creation of a leasehold area within between itself and the developer.

The approval of the application by KPAT Property Pty Ltd will section off a "volumetric leasehold area" of the CBD laneway, using 126 sqm for dining and pedestrian access.

The approval is the conclusion of a lengthy process between developer Kenneth Wagner and the council over the use and incorporation of Kwong Sang Walk into the 102-room Oaks Hotel, which is slated to open next month.

TRC planning officer Geoff Broadbent wrote in his assessment report the creation of the lease area would have not have any further impacts than those created by the approval of the hotel's development application in 2018.

"The proposed development constitutes reconfiguring a lot in accordance with the Planning Act 2016 given that the area of the lease will be subject to a lease agreement that exceeds ten years," he wrote.

"The proposed reconfiguration is for the purpose of formalising the tenure and accessibility for the approved outdoor dining activities/areas, and will not enable to establishment of any further outdoor dining activities/areas from those approved as part of the DA."

Kwong Sang Walk was named after famous Chinese immigrant Hock Sing, who established a shop on the site from 1883 that was later renamed in 1901.

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