The latest contentious Gorge Hotel development is one step closer to reality after it secured an exemption to Launceston's building height restrictions.
The nine-storey, 39-metre-high project has been on the drawing board for seven years and has been dogged by concerns about its height and proximity to Launceston's iconic natural attraction, The Cataract Gorge.
The Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal knocked it back in June 2019, however, City of Launceston Council subsequently endorsed a "specific area plan" so the hotel could be built — even though it was much higher than the surrounding cityscape.
On March 4, the Tasmanian Planning Commission approved that plan in a decision "very much welcomed" by developer JAC Group.
"The tribunal refused it because it said unless there was another tall building within 100 metres, it was too high," JAC managing director Dean Cocker said.
"In Launceston, we have a three to four-storey cityscape and taller building up to about 39 to 40 metres that pop up, well-separated from each other.
"So you don't get that shadowing and blocking out of views that you see with, say, the Hobart CBD."
The planning commission also weighed the building's height with the project's economic and strategic benefits.
Mr Cocker said the hotel would be a similar height to Launceston's Myer building and Peppers Silos Hotel and provide 300 construction jobs, 280 direct and indirect ongoing jobs and $21 million of economic benefit to Launceston.
The hotel is set to be built on a 6,025-square-metre property on the edge of the Launceston CBD, on a site currently occupied by a hotel, bottle shop and car park.
'Monstrous building of glass and mirrors'
Community action group Heritage Not Highrise has been fighting the Gorge Hotel project for years and now fears the "developer has won".
Spokesperson Jim Collier said the project would cause Launceston "to lose its unique status as a low-rise historical city".
"It will become just another city and if you want to know what that means just have a look at Hobart."
"It's a sad day for the Cataract Gorge as it means in time it will have a monstrous building of glass and mirrors right at its entrance."
Mr Collier vowed to keep fighting the project when it returned to Launceston Council to secure development approval.
"At the moment it doesn't look good."
"But with local government elections to be held shortly, this could very well become an election issue and some sitting councillors may well find their positions at risk."
Tourism boss 'confident' of developer's motives
The project has the enthusiastic support of the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania, whose chief executive Luke Martin said the "magnificent" development had "potential to be a really nationally-significant hotel".
"I don't think it's that tall and good design, done well, can enhance the city," he said.
"I'm confident the developers have the city's best interests at heart."
Mr Martin said Launceston needed investment in high-quality infrastructure to encourage more people to stay in the city, not just visit for the day.
He said the Gorge Hotel, alongside other recent developments such as Hotel Verge and Peppers Silo Hotel, were helping to usher in a "renaissance" in Launceston.
"It is well and truly on that path."
Still not a done deal
JAC Group will spend the next few months refining its development application and hopes to submit plans before the end of June.
Mr Cocker said the hotel would take another two years to build and understood the public could still object when the plans are once again open for public feedback through the development approval process.
"It's been seven years so far. We think that all of the issues have been examined," he said.
Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten believed the Tasmanian Planning Commission had vindicated his council's original decision to green light the project back in 2019.
"The evidence also indicated that the development of a significant visitor accommodation use on the site will support the economic and tourism objections of the City of Launceston and the region without compromising the built heritage of the city," he said.
