WHEN you have an all-out prize fight, you wait until the fight is over, and one guy is left standing. That’s how you know who won.
In one corner we have Sunny Land. Developers of the Hervey Bay Esplanade Resort featuring a 223-room hotel, 424 apartment development. They are joined by an immense group of industry bodies and everyday people, baying for the project to be greenlighted as a beacon of progress in our city.
In the other corner, we have the naysayers, an equally committed group of ‘no voters’, organising petitions, submissions to Council and protests in the park, determined to ensure they preserve the current status quo and Hervey Bay remains the quiet little village they so deeply enjoy.
It would be remiss of me not to also acknowledge the grey group. These are the ones in the middle who have not formed a defined position either way. They could also be referred to as the silent majority in this whole argument, who are not rusted on to the idea of it happening or not happening.
Of all the people I have spoken to, I would suggest this is the majority. They want progress, they want to see our city thrive into the future. For them, it is not as clear cut as a hard yes or a hard no, but they lay below the surface of public engagement.
In the middle of this epic tussle, we have the Fraser Coast Regional Councillors who will vote on the project early next year.
If we are going to talk seriously for a moment, I doubt they are thinking about much else right now.
The weight of this decision is immense and they will certainly be searching their conscience to guide their thoughts.
The developers have poured close to $10M into the purchase of the land on the Esplanade and the project will cost upwards of $445M to build. They are all chips in, in a way rarely seen at a development application level.
More than $400,000 was spent on the five-hundred-page development application, following extensive pre-lodgement engagement between the developer’s representatives and Council.
No stone has been left unturned in the scope and breadth of the research and representations.
The Fraser Coast Property Industry Association and The Hervey Bay Chamber of Commerce have provided lengthy submissions of recommendations for the project. The economic benefit to the region is unprecedented.
This won’t be music to the ears of the ‘no voters’, but I would be absolutely astounded if the recommendation from the Fraser Coast Regional Council Planning Department to the Councillors meeting, is anything other than a yes to proceed.
Soon the rubber will hit the road for the ten councillors and the Mayor, and all the current backroom chats for support, those seeking to avoid attending the vote or trying to get their colleagues excluded from the vote, will all go out the window.
If I was the developer, I would be asking for the vote to be moved from January to February, to placate the inability of Cr David Lee to attend the largest decision in a generation, due to being away on holiday.
He has to be there, state political ambitions or potential rub aside, he’s on the Council payroll. Front up.
If the Councillors do not vote in favour of the Hervey Bay Esplanade Resort, or in some way seek to impose conditions for approval that are onerous or uncommercial, the developers will undoubtably appeal the decision to the Planning and Environment Court.
They are not going to pack up their kit bag and waltz off.
They are too committed, there is too much at stake and they have poured too much money into a project they are clearly passionate about.
The Planning and Environment Court would mean a full reassessment of the project, relegating the views of the Mayor and Councillors to immateriality.
That process will take up to two years of mediation, countless expert witnesses and likely cost both parties in excess of $500,000 in legal fees. I’m sure the developer doesn’t want that and I’m sure the ratepayers don’t either.
I have made no secret of my proactive approach to developments that attract significant investment and drive jobs for our region. That said, I have nothing but respect for the ‘no voters’ and their right to express their views and prosecute their case.
They have done well to gather eight hundred odd signatures on a petition, which Mayor George was happy to hand up at a recent Council meeting, despite it having no bearing on the vote. That was a puzzling move.
The Mayor voted no to the new Bunnings, no to the new Council Administration Building and no to the Hervey Bay RSL Club development application to create 57 affordable housing packages in 2020.
In particular, he deemed the Hervey Bay RSL Club development application as ‘inappropriate to pass on to future generations’. The irony of the now largely unaffordable and unattainable housing market for our younger generation looms heavy around those comments.
The ‘no voters’ have held two recent meetings in the park, attracting around a cumulative 150 people in total, while sitting councillors looked on. It has not been a convincing display of people’s power.
At the latest meeting on Sunday, December 3rd, State Member Adrian Tantari stated “I can tell you - the Mayor does not support it. He will still have time to change his mind, but I don’t believe that is going to happen.”
I have met with so many people who are intimately involved with this development project. I wanted to ask all of the questions myself and seek clarity on the most common pieces of social media feedback. There was a time when I was firmly in the grey zone.
Armageddon storm surge, jobs, shade, construction time, I’ve wanted to know it all.
If the Hervey Bay Esplanade Resort is approved, they will have a maximum of six years to complete the project with a raft of permits to be approved along the way.
If I could have given the developer any advice, it would have been to hold an information night, for those who had concerns—the breadth of the case for approval is transformative.
Back in the late 1980s / early 1990s, the visionary Council of the time took an extraordinary step against popular community opinion. It was the single biggest land planning use decision the region had seen.
That Council chose to revoke an approved shopping centre application on the current University site, in favour of the now well-established Stockland shopping centre.
The cane fields that surrounded it at the time, are now what we know as the thriving Boat Harbour Drive precinct.
That was courageous decision-making, with a view to creating a greater future.
The thing about development funding is its ability to be entirely transferable. That Council knew that. They didn’t let it slip through their fingers.
There will be a winner and a loser emerge from the debate over the Hervey Bay Esplanade Resort.
I hope the current cohort of Councillors find themselves on the right side of it, as this will be a decision that is dissected from every angle.
