By DANE LILLINGSTONE
A NEW motel development next to Warwick’s Palace Hotel and the bottle shop has received approval, subject to conditions, from the Southern Downs Regional Council.
More time was needed to investigate the proposed development, and at a special council meeting on Monday, the council took minutes to make their decision.
CDS Investments No 1 Pty Ltd will helm the two-storey 33-room motel that will sit alongside the bottle shop next to Palace Hotel.
The approved address is 76-80 Percy Street, Warwick, and will cover 1596 square metres of floor area.
The motel will have frontage on both Acacia Avenue and Percy Street and will consist of two separate blocks.
Construction of the development is predicted to inject between $6 and $7 million into the local economy and create 50 jobs for trades people and labourers.
The development is predicted to create at least seven jobs upon completion. The next stage will be clearing the current properties with the existing three residential buildings to be demolished.
The Warwick Baptist Church, which has also recently had a development approved in the area, declared they had no significant objection to the development.
Council initially delayed a decision for further investigation. It wanted to ensure that the roof design would not conflict with the architecture of Palmerin Street buildings or cause any issues with a driveway through council-owned property.
Planning and Development manager Cecil Barnard said “we don’t see any conflict with that.”
“Palmerin is the main area of heritage,” he said.
The project could have been delayed further when Councillor Jamie Mackenzie moved for the building to modify its design for a “sympathetic roofline,” in line with other Palmerin Street buildings.
The motion went unsupported, and the current design will now move forward.
