Council backs marina development – with 47 clauses

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

Councillors this week backed the proposal, which also includes an additional 28 two-storey apartments, once conditions are met and resubmitted to council for approval.

The development aims to transform 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 frontage.

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”.

READ MORE: MARINA DEVELOPERS GLAD TO GET UNDER WAY 

Cr Glenn Milne, who moved the alternate motion with conditions instead of an original motion recommending refusal, said the amendments “hasn’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.

“It’s not too big, it’s not too small … people will be able to enjoy our beautiful Murray River, look over it, have a drink, have a meal and stay in a new hotel – we need something new, we need new accommodation, we need the convention centre on the river.

“I am very, very pleased to actually see this coming to council and getting to the point where it is being supported and allowing the marina to finally be developed.”

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-a… applications.”

Cr Reynolds said the original application fell short across 16 areas and was a “waste of everybody’s time” in considering it.

“If we can’t trust somebody to invest in a reasonable application, how can we trust them to deliver a major project?” she said.

“How many of us have driven around either this town or some other place and seen some awful eyesore in a prominent place that is hardly being used and thought ‘what idiot approved that?’ and ‘how did that happen?’.

“This is how it happens.

“We have got a room full of people who desperately want something there, you have got councillors who desperately want to have something there.

“(But) I don’t want to be a person driving over that bridge one day looking at a concrete eyesore and kicking myself of being one of the idiots that allowed it to go through.”

Cr Reynolds said a vote for the alternate motion would be an opportunity for the proponents “to prove to us exactly how fair dinkum they are about doing this properly”.

“The ball will be in their court to show that they want to build something that will serve the people who live in this wider community as well as making them some money,” Cr Reynolds said.

Acting Mayor Helen Healy said the “iconic site” had presented a challenge, “not the least for the residents and the developers, but also for us as councillors to ensure due diligence”.

“We all want the same thing – to ensure that the marina development is the best it can be, not only for the developers and residents, but for the entire municipality and visitors to our region,” she said.

“These conditions go a long was to ensuring the development will achieve what everyone wants.”