Spit revamp will deliver the goods for our city

IT’S taken decades and plenty of heartache and arguments but The Spit Master Plan will finally bear fruit for the city. Developer Tim Gordon will break ground within weeks on his $300m three-storey residential project on a site next to Mariner’s Cove.

It will be followed by at least two further projects which are in the pipeline, plus several more which the state government is yet to award tenders for.

With more than $1.4bn in spending, there are going to be hundreds of jobs on offer, while new high-end tourism offerings which will put The Spit on the map as a key destination, with a push for the lucrative superyacht sector.

Importantly, these projects will be delivered in-line with community expectations and the hard three-storey height limit included in the Master Plan.

The Spit has for decades been at the centre of a long-running debate about further development.

Nothing new was built after Palazzo Versace was completed in 2000, with various cruise ship terminals, high-rise towers and casinos knocked back.

Thanks to plenty of hard work from several community groups, the state government and the council, a workable compromise was created – the northern end of The Spit would be left free of development but spruced up, with new community amenities and improved infrastructure.

The southern Spit will now fulfil its destiny as a tourist destination with lowlevel, but appropriate development.

Far too often, compromise is seen as a dirty word for people with an all-ornothing mindset but allowing perfection to be the enemy of good is a dead end.

Everyone gets a piece of what they wanted in this scenario and the Coast as a whole benefits.