First tick given for Wonga’s new six-star resort
Shire development
A multimillion-dollar resort at Wonga Beach has been given “preliminary approval” by the State Government, subject to conditions including paying for major traffic works at the Mossman-Daintree Road/Wonga Beach Road turnoff and improvements to the bus loading zone.
As a huge 66-room resort and conference centre with a construction cost of about $182m, the approval process is being done through State Government planning authorities.
Developers 18 Oasis Street have been told by planning body the State Assessment and Referral Agency, as a condition of final approval, to pay for a “full-length channelised right-turn treatment at the Mossman-Daintree Road/Wonga Beach Road intersection” as part of the project, including design and construction.
The approval is also contingent on including a loading zone in the roofed porch area - known as the porte cochere.
“The development must provide a private bus setdown facility in the porte cochere adjacent to the pedestrian entry of the central building,” SARA states in the latest correspondence.
The six-star eco-friendly Wonga Beach Resort complex, which is expected to take 18 months to complete, will require about 370 workers during the construction phase.
During that period, more than $160m is expected to be generated in economic output and more than $30m in wages and salaries.
The guest capacity is expected to be more than 200, and the plans include a restaurant, bar, pool, day spa, gym, and an Indigenous Interpretive Centre at 18 Oasis Drive.
Ongoing operations are projected to generate about $50m per year, including about $12m per year in wages and salaries for about 150 full-time-equivalent jobs.
The building has been designed by Charles Wright Architects on about 2400sq m to provide a “unique and high-end accommodation experience”, the plans state.
The maximum number of people expected on site during peak times is more than 450, which includes guests, conference attendees, restaurant-goers, bar staff, spa workers and housekeepers. The total car movements on a peak day would be about 500.
The resort is planned at the former sites of Oz Oasis Resort, Redbacks and Daintree Palms, with those buildings being demolished a number of years ago.
The plans have generated considerable online debate among Wonga Beach and the wider Douglas Shire area residents since they were first released in December.
