Huge property-related fee banked by the council, but what is the development?
Shire industry
Most people love a good mystery, so let’s play: Guess the mysterious development.
In the latest Douglas Shire budget update, released this week, “building and property-related fees are $113k above budget expectations” across the past few months.
The report states that one of the main reasons for this is the “council has received a significant development application”.
So what kind of development would attract between about $50,000-$100,000 in application fees alone?
The three possibilities that spring to mind include the planned new housing development on Port Douglas Road next door to the Oaks resort; the new industrial estate at Craiglie, and; the eco-resort proposal at Wonga Beach.
RELATED STORIES
Housing estate plan for former luxury resort site
Second stage of industrial estate back on the drawing board
Wonga resort plan ready to set new green standards
Or could the council beancounters be talking about something else altogether that is not listed in the past few months on their development register?
In the case of the 17-lot Craiglie industrial estate, a letter from engineers OSE Group states the “application fee (based on 17 lots) has been calculated to be $14,508”.
This means, if this did end up being the eventual application fee paid, there would have to be four-to-eight times as many vacant industrial lots at the site to add up to a fee of $50,000-$100,000 - or between 60 and 120 lots instead of 17.
In the case of the 40-lot housing development at 71-85 Port Douglas Road, Port Douglas, submitted to the council in December, an Aspire Town Planners’ letter states the “lot fee” should be about $24,000, and proposes for the “variation application component” to be about $6,700, adding up to about $31,000 in initial fees.
A letter from the council dated January 12 asking for the application fees to be paid is the last correspondence on the application, so it is unclear what fees have yet been paid on that development plan.
In the case of the Wonga development plan for 66 tourist villas, plus a restaurant, cafe, bar, conference centre and more, a letter from Kelly Reaston Development and Property Services states that “the application fee is $55,747 and will be paid on lodgement by the applicant”.
An email from KRDPS to the council dated January 28 states “see below confirmation of payment of the application fee”, but the email is heavily redacted and there are no dollar figures available for the public to see.
So, it seems either the new Wonga Beach resort, or an as-yet-unknown new build, are the mystery development that costs between about $50,000-$100,000 to apply for.
Douglas Shire residents, watch this space for further “developments” on the issue.