Palm Cove Nominees Pty appeals Cairns Regional Council DA knock-back
The company behind a controversial six-storey resort complex in Palm Cove has appealed a council decision to knock back the development in the Planning and Environment Court.
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The company behind a controversial six-storey resort complex in Palm Cove has appealed a council decision to knock back the development.
In December last year Palm Cove Nominees Pty Ltd lodged an appeal against a 2024 Cairns Regional Council decision to reject an application to build a 42-apartment resort and 17 two-storey villas.
In a decision notice council stated the development did not “respond to nor maintain or enhance the character, identity or amenity of Palm Cove” and due to the scale of the development “there will be unacceptable visual impacts on landscape and scenic amenity values”.
A village precinct including restaurants and a conference facility was also part of the vision for the land at 33-41 Cedar Rd.
The proposed height of the resort was later lowered to six storeys from an original proposal of eight storeys.
According to court documents, Palm Cove Nominees stated as grounds for the appeal that the proposed development complied with the assessment benchmarks set out by Cairns Regional Council.
Also noted by the developer was the land falling within a Priority Infrastructure Area under the Local Government Infrastructure Plan and it was “reasonable to expect that the land will be developed for urban purposes”.
When rejecting the proposed development, Cairns Regional Council sided with locals behind 3000 submissions against the hugely unpopular project.
“I think we can safely say that the community sentiment is against allowing extra height (for structures) in Palm Cove and other beaches,” Division 3 councillor Cathy Zeiger said at the time.
But Palm Cove Nominees responded in court documents to state the proposed development “is consistent with ‘reasonable community expectations’ in regard to existing land clearing permits and a successful lot reconfiguring application”.
“(And) existing surrounding development being low to medium density, the absence of unacceptable adverse impacts and compliance of the proposed development with assessment benchmarks,” the document states.
“The properly made submissions opposing the development do not represent reasonable community expectations as they fail to have sufficient regard to the matters outlined above.”
Lawyers for Palm Cove Nominees directors, Melbourne-based Jack Rosen and Sydney-based Garry Kam and Fred Bart, recommended that council’s decision be set aside and the development application be approved, subject to “appropriate and lawful” conditions.
Originally published as Palm Cove Nominees Pty appeals Cairns Regional Council DA knock-back
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