NQ Petro proposes new servo at old Woree drive-in site
Plans for a 24-hour servo and convenience store at the site of the old Sunset Drive In have been lodged with council and the public have been invited to have their say.
Cairns
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Plans for a 24-hour servo and convenience store at the site of the old Sunset Drive In have been lodged with council and the public have been invited to have their say.
In 2018 approval was granted by Cairns Regional Council to reconfigure the sprawling drive-in theatre site into three separate subdivisions to create lot 13 on Des Chalmers Drive where the proposed service station could be built.
In June this year NQ Petro applied for an impact assessable material change of use request relating to the to the service station and code assessable use change permit for a mixed use food and drink outlet.
The project will include construction of two stand-alone buildings on the northern and southern end of the site with direct vehicle access from the roundabout off Des Chalmers Drive.
According to plans submitted to council the building at the southern end of the site will be made up of three shops, one will be a food and drink outlet and two have been designated as mixed use tenancies.
“A set of three bowsers with various pumping arrangements will be afforded protection from both sun and rain by a canopy,” the development application states.
“The proposed service station land use is considered a community use for its ability to provide essential services to the community, such as refuelling and ancillary services required for private transport.
“As a result, it is proposed to establish a use that won’t conflict with the existing or future commercial uses both on-site and on adjoining sites.”
The proposed pylon signage will have a maximum height of 10.5m and the servo will operate 24-hours, seven days a week.
It’s understood NQ Petro will lease the land owned by Sunset Driveinn Pty Ltd if the application is successful.
Division 3 councillor Cathy Zeiger acknowledged a widely held view that the area didn’t need a new servo and said a 490 unit over 50s social housing development planned for the old drive-in site could create increased demand for fuel services.
“That’s up to the people that want to develop it, I hope they have done their market research and they could be relying on the people that are going to live in the new housing development,” she said.
“We will just have to leave it up to them and we have to trust that they have done their research.”
To make a submission on the proposed development visit the council website and navigate to the public notifications and submissions tab before August 26.
NQ Petro director Craig Cygler was contacted for comment.
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Originally published as NQ Petro proposes new servo at old Woree drive-in site
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