How to have your say on 12-storey luxury hotel
Plans show the hotel towering more than 40 metres above Airlie Beach
Whitsunday
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RESIDENTS won’t get the chance to have their say on a 12-storey hotel development in the heart of Airlie Beach for several weeks.
Plans show a four to five-star hotel with 180 suites, a spa and fitness centre, yoga deck, pool terrace and amenities that would stand more than 45-metres tall.
The original development application for the resort complex in Airlie Beach was lodged in December 2019.
However, the height of the proposed development exceeds the Whitsunday Regional Council’s planning scheme.
Therefore the council sought clarification from developers on whether a 10, eight or six-storey building could be built instead.
Whitsunday Regional Council development services director Neil McGaffin said the council was still seeking further clarification on several aspects of the development, including parking and the proposed building’s height.
“At the moment, we are continuing the negotiate some improved aspects of the application,” he said.
“It’s not ready to go on public notification yet because we’re not comfortable all the information we require is on file.”
Mr McGaffin said because the building exceeded the height code for the land, the council had asked the applicants to “carefully analyse” their plans and the impact the building would have on the area.
Once the details are finalised, the application will go to the public for comment, which Mr McGaffin said could still be two weeks away.
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“Because it pierces through the identified height for that zone, it basically means if any development does that then it comes impact assessable and it has to come through public consultation,” he said.
“It’s not necessarily fatal to the development that it pierces through the identified height, but it just means that (the developers) have to substantiate the reason they need it.
“We will be putting the proposed building with the increased height and the justification from the proponent out for the community to review.”
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