Van Dieman’s Land Estate partner Rob Sherrard said he wants to rezone the area in order to expand the cafe into a restaurant and provide clarity on the uses of the area. 

The decision was postponed in order to be discussed further in an August 3 workshop, with a decision to be made in the next council meeting. 

Van Dieman’s Land Estate leases the site from Parks & Wildlife, and hopes to rezone the Pilot Station from an environmental management zone to a particular purpose zone. 

The boatshed is a proposed site for the restaurant, and Mr Sherrard said the plan is relocate the boats and display them next to the museum. 

“The cafe that we’ve got there is in a little cottage and it can get nearly half a dozen people there, the kitchen is not big enough and really the place does need a lot of work,” he said.

“There’s a sewerage thing there at the minute (at the boatshed) that we need to fix.” 

He said his intent was to increase visitation to the site.

“It will actually be good for the museum as well,” he said. 

According to the zoning application, the site currently receives about 30000 visitors a year, and the existing cafes provide seating for approximately 25 people, which can result in long waiting times and no tables available. 

Chairman of the Low Head Pilot Station Support Group Peter Cox said he approved of the proposal, but hoped to clarify whether the scheme allowed a space to be created to store boats currently housed at the boatshed.

George Town mayor Bridget Archer said the decision was deferred to clarify the implications of changing the scheme. 

The application indicates that other implications would be the prevention of sports and recreation and extractive industry.

“Under its current zoning you could have a quarry for example, which is obviously not desirable,” she said.  

Mr Sherrard said the application also needs to go Heritage Tasmania, and once rezoned it will need to go through planning permissions for the design of the restaurant.