REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD

COAST BULLETIN Saturday, April 5, 1986

PROPOSED changes to the Albert Shire strategic plan could open the floodgate to a housing boom on Hope Island.

Albert Council was under pressure to approve rezoning applications for housing estate developments on the island — the site of the $250-million Sanctuary Cove project, said shire chairman Bill Laver.

Cr Laver said the council had refused dozens of rezoning applications for land on the island because the then-current strategic plan put heavy emphasis on rural zoning. But the council’s philosophy had changed, he said.

A council initiative to have the strategic plan amended was to remove much of the conflict between rezoning applications and the plan.

Sanctuary Cove developer Mike Gore predicted residential developments would cover most of the 940ha island by the early 1990s.

“The strategic plan amendment would open up the whole of the island,” he said.

“I would say it will be an extremely professional development over all.”

Sanctuary Cove covered a quarter of the island, which already had three village areas — Santa Barbara, Tooraneedin Estate and Boykambil.

Mr Gore confirmed there were potential sites for at least three more multi-million dollar developments on the Island including 117ha formerly owned by the Bond Corp.

Mr Gore believed another large parcel of land on Hope Island-Oxenford Road had potential for development.

Albert Shire plans also allowed for development on the island’s north, a plan which had gone before State Government.