DEVELOPER Brile has been given a $20,000 discount to lodge its latest plans for the C. H. Smith site, with the unanimous backing of City of Launceston aldermen.
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After seeing an application to demolish the dilapidated Cordial Factory refused by the Heritage Council last year, Brile has since lodged a new plan for staged development and to allow for subdivision of the same site.
Aldermen heard this was Brile's effort to compromise, given the community interest in preserving the 1830s building.
The company had asked for full waiver of the fee - given it had already paid $27,000 in previous application fees - but the council deemed a discount of 66 per cent more appropriate.
The decision means Brile will pay about $10,000 to lodge its latest plans.
In December, Brile's financial controller Peter Velt said the company was no longer able to afford the estimated $600,000-plus bill to restore the factory, as well as develop the site, which has been vacant for 20 years.
Alderman Robin McKendrick said the C. H. Smith site had been "an absolute eyesore for this city" and said it was time to encourage development.
"Over the time we've had two or three people interested and it has fallen over for some reason or another," Alderman McKendrick said.
"Here we have someone wanting to get it off the ground, and I think that the people of Launceston and the North and want to see it finished."