Airlie Beach luxury resort: One Whitsunday Development before council
A luxury resort slated for a vacant Whitsunday foreshore block was back before the council. Despite the deadline for a decision fast approaching, the council has further delayed a decision.
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A divisive $80m luxury resort that will change the Airlie Beach foreshore has united the Whitsunday council in pushing back a decision on the controversial plan.
One Whitsunday says it can build the resort, tipped to generate 125 jobs and $12m annual economic benefit to the region, within two years of approval.
But it has come up against more than 1100 people who have objected to the 39m development slated for a vacant block at 125 Shingley Dr.
A needs justification submitted to Whitsunday Regional Council as part of the development approvals process states the resort will generate 166 jobs and $56m of economic benefit during construction.
The earmarked site slopes up to a central level area before a near-vertical cliff face at the rear of the site.
The original application proposed 16 levels at 53.1m but the new proposal, following public consultation.
One Whitsunday’s plans before the council, recommended for approval, now reach 39m.
A decision must be made by May 20, 2022.
Councillors at the last council meeting in April voted to table the decision, requesting more information on traffic management and discussion on the resort’s height.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads advised the intersection of Shingley Dr and Shute Harbour Rd was sufficient to accommodate the traffic the 160-room mega resort would produce.
But in Wednesday’s meeting, Councillor Jan Clifford asked if the council was doing its own study, saying she had “very little faith” in TMR’s estimates.
A council staffer told the meeting traffic counters had been put on Shingley Dr to capture updated traffic data.
She said the data would be presented to the councillors at the next meeting.
Councillors were also seeking information about road width and carparking.
A motion was carried five to zero to table the vote pending further updates.
Why mega $80m five-star resort decision has been delayed
April 27: Whitsunday councillor Jan Clifford argued for additional time to obtain further advice on the issue.
Cr Clifford and others also pointed to the chaos that unfolded the previous week, where a truck on Shute Harbour Rd crashed into a power pole and blocked Airlie Beach’s only entry and exit for eight hours stranding schoolchildren.
Councillors agreed to Cr Clifford’s proposal and the decision for the resort was tabled pending advice.
In particular, advice was to be sought regarding the impact of the development at the intersection, the suitability of Shingley Dr to handle the increased traffic and the appropriateness of the resort’s height.
Objections to the building’s proposed height had previously been raised as it violated the height restrictions for the area, but council officers flagged the proposal for approval before the meeting.
It comprises 160 rooms, a 480sq m function centre, multiple pool areas, and spa facilities.
A function centre, bar, restaurant and outdoor pools will be on level 3 which is the road entry level.
There is also a gym, wave pool and water park planned alongside day spas.
There will be 21 luxury villas behind the accommodation tower not be visible from Shingley Drive.
Whitsunday Regional Council, which is expected to vote on the proposal today, will require the payment of $4,001,631.95 in infrastructure charges if it is approved.
A minimum of 222 carparking spaces are to be provided and maintained. Environmental and noise conditions also must be followed.
There were 1147 submissions made during the public consultation period including backlash from community groups such as Save Our Foreshore and Fight for Airlie concerned about the height of the development.
But One Whitsunday has argued an exception to the height rule because of the scale of economic and community benefits the development would bring to the region in meeting demand for premium short-term accommodation on the mainland.
The Needs Analysis, from Norling Consulting, submitted to the council notes that no resorts have been built in the Airlie Beach area since 2012, and none of the existing options qualifies as a premium hotel or resort.
It lists 10 premium hotels on the Whitsunday islands offshore, for example at Hamilton and Hayman islands.
“While the Whitsunday Islands have been successful in providing a range of resort accommodation forms, the mainland, centred around Airlie Beach, is dominated by serviced apartments and backpacker accommodation,” the report states.
“This is considered to have restricted the mainland’s ability to attract trade from the full complement of potential visitors, particularly from travellers seeking high standard hotels, including the incentives and function markets.”
Whitsunday council planner James McEvoy-Bowe has recommended the 39m resort be approved with conditions at today’s council meeting.
“The region has a strong economic base, bolstered by agriculture, tourism and resource activities,” he said in council documents.
“The proposal aims to service the region’s strong tourism industry by attracting and accommodating the current and future needs of the industry sector.
“The proposal will also offer a diverse range of employment opportunities, enabling employment-related development to occur.
“The planning scheme sets the policy direction to ensure that to 2036 and beyond the Whitsundays is a prosperous, liveable and sustainable region.
“The proposal is considered to have the potential to add to the economic resilience, wealth creating and employment generating capacities of the region.
“The proposal provides for a new tourism accommodation offering within Airlie Beach and Cannonvale, with an associated major regional function facility.”
A Visual Impact Assessment found that while the proposed development would be transitionally visible, in no instance would “any views entirely blocked within the context of a panoramic viewshed”.
“The overall building height will be marginally and noticeably higher than any other development in the immediate context, conversely the proposed building does not breach or approach the unbroken dominant ridge line in any instance from sub-regional viewpoints,” the report read.
“The height of the development is a clear noncompliance with the Planning Scheme … which clearly identifies that the maximum building height for the zone of 12m.
“Building height is nominated as an overall outcome for the zone of which the intent is to ensure development has a low to medium rise built form that is compatible with the intended scale and character of the streetscape and surrounding area.
“The proposed building height is not compatible with the intended scale and character of the streetscape and surrounding area with a preference to low to midrise built forms.
“However, the physical characteristics of the site does lend itself well to additional building height than that prescribed by the zone as the site is cut into a hillside.
“The applicant has … redesigned the structure removing four levels with the aim of balancing the visual impact and the financial viability of the project.
“The redesigned development, although having significant mass and scale, has very limited visual impacts on the wider community.”
The Norling Consulting analysis said the proponent had been courting four international hotel chains to run the resort – Hilton Hotels, Minor Hotels, Accor and Marriott International.
The report Airlie Beach “did not benefit from the hotel development boom of the 1980s”.
“Without an international airport, the Whitsunday Region is limited to access via domestic flights or road transport,” it read.
“Most of the accommodation options available at Airlie Beach are limited to self-contained apartments with only the Airlie Beach Hotel and Coral Sea Resort providing standard hotel rooms.
“None of these mainland accommodation establishments qualify as a premium hotel or resort. “These higher standard facilities were primarily developed during the 2000s.
“There is currently only one accommodation facility with more than 100 rooms/apartments.
“Hamilton Island, supported by its own airport, dominates this island market in terms of the quantum and range of facilities offered.
“While development of many of the island resorts commenced prior to 1960, all accommodation stock on Hamilton Island was developed from 1980 onwards.
“Many of these older resorts were ruined by Cyclone Debbie in 2017, the majority of which have been unable to reopen.
“The island resorts are positioned differently to accommodation on the mainland, traditionally attracting a higher yield market, and supported by visitors who are more likely to arrive by air.
“Based on a comparison with other tourist destinations, there is clearly a ‘market gap’ of a land-based premium hotel in the Whitsundays.
“It is considered appropriate to assume that 100 per cent of the tourists attracted to One Whitsundays Resort and Spa would not have otherwise been accommodated in the Whitsunday region and that 40 per cent of these tourists would have stayed at another location in Queensland.
“That is, it is assumed that all of the tourists staying at One Whitsundays Resort and Spa are assumed to be additional tourists to the region, but only 60 per cent of those visitors are assumed to be additional visitors to Queensland.”
The needs analysis also argues a premium resort delivers higher employment numbers, with five-star hotels typically employing between 1.2 and 1.4 persons per room compared with about 0.5 to 0.6 persons per room for lower standard hotels and only 0.25 persons per room for serviced apartments.
It also noted premium hotels deliver higher accommodation revenues per occupied room, with five-star hotels typically achieving a premium of between 40 per cent and 50 per cent more revenue per occupied room compared with lower standard hotels and serviced apartments.
The report suggested five-star hotels typically achieved a total revenue per room of more than double lower standard hotels and all serviced apartments because of “their ability to retain higher levels of expenditure from house guests”.
“A premium hotel has the potential to diversify the tourist economy of mainland Whitsundays, due to its ability to attract a visitor sector that is not being serviced currently,” the report read.
“A premium hotel has the potential to lift the profile of the region, with tourists typically associating tourism regions with the range of hotel chain operators that are present.
“Depending upon the eventual brand of operator to the proposed resort, a premium hotel has the potential to expose the region to a new source of potential tourists.
“The proposed function and exhibition facility would provide mainland Whitsundays with the potential to draw upon a new source of higher yielding domestic and international markets.
“Premium hotels and resorts have successfully strengthened the tourism markets at other Queensland destinations such as Cairns, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.”
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Originally published as Airlie Beach luxury resort: One Whitsunday Development before council
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