IDALIA PROJECT HITS ROADBLOCK
A MAJOR Idalia development has stalled after every Townsville councillor declared a conflict of interest yesterday at the first meeting of the year.
The material change of use application for a staged development of Fairfield Homemaker Centre will now be in the hands of the Townsville City Council CEO Mike Chiodo.
The development, which includes a rock climbing facility, commercial buildings and a bowling alley, had previously been approved but the addition of a theatre to the complex meant the application had to go back before council.
Election donations by developers ruled out all councillors from voting.
A MAJOR Idalia development has stalled after every Townsville councillor declared a conflict of interest yesterday at the first meeting of the year.
The material change of use application for a staged development of Fairfield Homemaker Centre will now be in the hands of the Townsville City Council CEO Mike Chiodo.
The development, which includes a rock climbing facility, commercial buildings, a bowling alley and a theatre, had previously been approved but with the new addition of a theatre to the complex plans, the application had come back before council.
At the 2016 elections developer Interlaken donated $990 and the Lancini Property Group, which wrote a submission against the development, donated $1500 to the Team Jenny Hill campaign, meaning Mayor Jenny Hill, Deputy Mayor Mark Molachino, councillors Margie Ryder, Ann-maree Greaney, Russ Cook, Kurt Rehbein, Maurie Soars and Les Walker were unable to vote due to a conflict of interest.
But when independent councillor Sue Blom also declared a conflict of interest due to a donation from Landel (Lancini) and Interlaken in the 2012 and 2016 elections, and the two new councillors Liam Mooney and Suzy Batkovic declared a perceived conflict by association to Team Jenny Hill, there was no choice but to defer the decision to Mr Chiodo.
Just before Christmas, developer GEON had received approval for the climbing centre, which will be Queensland’s first Olympic-standard sports climbing centre.
National climbing, yoga and fitness group Urban Climb will be the anchor tenant and operate the climbing centre.
Council officers recommended to approve the change of use, despite two submissions from major developer (Landel) Lancini and RPS, a design and project management firm, suggesting the development does not meet the Idalia District Centre Precinct Benchmarks.
The Lancini submission said the Fairfield Homemaker Centre and other major precincts like Domain Central were designed to service two different purposes, but the proposed development looks to “recast the existing development” and duplicate services provided in other parts of Townsville.