Marina plan backed, but can’t be ‘half-arsed’

DEVELOPERS of a proposed $14 million hotel/conference centre at the Mildura Marina will need to meet 47 clauses before construction can begin.

Councillors on Thursday night backed the proposal, which also includes 28 two-storey apartments, once conditions are met and resubmitted to council for approval.

The development is aimed at transforming the New South Wales entry to Mildura with a convention centre catering for up to 300 patrons and two external decks of up to 50 people overlooking the Murray River.

Councillors were told at Thursday night’s Planning Delegated Committee meeting that conditions imposed on the application would be an opportunity for the proponents to prove “exactly how fair dinkum they are about doing this properly”.

Cr Glenn Milne, who moved the alternate motion with conditions instead of an original motion recommending refusal, said the amendments hadn’t “been thought about lightly”.

“The plan that we have got now is suitable for today, for the way our town operates … it will fit in nicely with what is down there now,” Cr Milne said.

Cr Jodi Reynolds said the list of conditions attached to the proposal represented “the bare minimum that we would have expected to be presented to us in the first place”.

“When I see an application like this I want to be wowed … I want to be thrilled with the possibilities,” she said.

“Failing being wowed, I wouldn’t mind at least a well thought-out, comprehensive application that gives me confidence that the development will be successful and fulfil the promise … to the community and we don’t have either of those things.

“And I’m pretty sick of seeing these half-arsed applications.”

FULL STORY AND REACTION IN SATURDAY’S SUNRAYSIA DAILY