Clarence City Council, at its meeting last night, did not consent to the extension of time request made by Chambroad in relation to the Kangaroo Bay hotel and hospitality school development, with Council also resolving not to accept a Modified Development proposal put forward by Chambroad.
Councillors were not satisfied they had been given enough time to properly consider the Modified Development proposal, had insufficient detail as a consequence of time constraints, and were concerned that no public consultation had been undertaken on the new proposal.
Clarence City Council Mayor Brendan Blomeley said that while the development of Kangaroo Bay was a project of significant strategic importance for the City, this change of design, and following advice from Chambroad that they are still unable to locate an education provider for the hospitality school, needed to be properly consulted with the community before the design can be refined and presented to council.
“This is the jewel in our crown, any change of design needs to go through a proper consultation process, with feedback considered and the design refined. Only then can council be satisfied that the project reflects who we are as a city, and what we aspire to be,” Mayor Blomeley said.
“I am proud of my fellow Councillors around the table who stood up and made the hard decision to not consent to the extension request and not accept the Modified Development proposal as it currently stands.
“Our community deserves to see action on this site after waiting so long to see something happen, we considered the reasons provided for the extension request as inadequate and unacceptable from a Council and community perspective.
“This was a considered and informed decision and I hope we see some more detail in the coming months on Chambroad’s modified development proposal that includes community feedback that might put us in a position to move forward with development on the site.”
Council will now be in a position to consider the way forward for the site including the potential to trigger the buyback clause in the current Sale and Development Agreement that would see council buyback the land for the original sale price of $2.44m plus GST and stamp duty. This option must be exercised before 12 April 2023.
“We need to strongly consider our options in the coming months, including hearing more from Chambroad and the community on this Modified Development proposal, to ensure we deliver what we set out to achieve in the strategy, something we have been pursuing for this area since 2008,” Mayor Blomeley said.
The live streamed council meeting can be viewed here.