Council approval for multi-faith retreat

Special council meeting gives tick to resort

WORLD peace and other humanitarian pursuits are set to be discussed in Highfields, after Toowoomba Regional Council approved a two-storey, 126-room resort proposed by Taiwan-based Sunlyson International Group Pty Ltd at a special council meeting yesterday.

The Amitabha Resort includes a 350 seat auditorium, commercial kitchen, cafe and restaurant, staff facilities, meeting rooms, recreation areas and 200 car parking spaces, set on a 16ha site on 12 and 18 Penny Rd.

The developer said the nature of the proposed resort facility “will have a humanitarian, multi-faith basis and will seek to provide international conferences for periods of 8-10 days/month”.

“The proposed conferences will have a focus on matters such as world peace and other humanitarian and spiritual matters.”

Visitors will be encouraged to “take advantage of the holistic well-being facilities and courses being offered. These include meditation, day spa, yoga, (and) low impact martial arts”.

The resort will be Sunlyson’s third such project, following on from a build in Taiwan and another under construction in Sri Lanka.

Councillor Mike Williams and Cr Bill Cahill both raised concerns about traffic entering the site from the north, but Precint Urban Planning’s Paul Kelly, acting for the proponent, said a traffic impact report showed roughly 90% of visitors would be coming from the south.

Public notification of the development led to one objection from a neighbouring landowner concerned about the scale of the development, and one letter in support of the proposal from the venerable Wu Zhuang of Pure Land Learning College.

The development was approved by a majority vote at yesterday’s meeting.

Photo: Contributed APPROVED: An artist’s impression of Sunlyson International Group Pty Ltd's proposal to build a spiritual retreat and resort in Highfields, which was approved by the council yesterday.