A long-time Freycinet tourism operator is challenging the $10 million development plans of a rival operator on the pristine peninsula north of Coles Bay.
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Saltwater Lagoon Pty Ltd, the operator of the Freycinet Experience Walks and Friendly Beaches Lodge, is appealing to the Resource Management Planning Appeal Tribunal about a development application passed by the Glamorgan Spring Bay Council last year.
The developer, Coles Bay Holdings Pty Ltd and its 33-year-old Chinese-born director Tom Yang, bought 354 hectares of land near Mount Paul in May last year for $2.745 million.
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Plans to build 28 visitor accommodation villas in small clusters, four new staff accommodation cabins, and 48 extra car parks were passed 7-0 in September last year by the council.
The council received 17 representations about the development but they were not attached to the September council agenda due to council policy, the council meeting was told.
Saltwater Lagoon, whose directors are industry veterans Joan and Michael Masterman, claim the new villas would have a visual impact on the skylines and prominent ridgelines visible from Friendly Beaches.
The company claims the development should be refused because it does not comply with the Glamorgan Spring Bay Planning Scheme because of biodiversity impacts and it fails to demonstrate:
The company says new plantings, including trees, shrubs and groundcover required under the permit would increase fuel loads for bushfires.
"These plants will thus need to be removed in accordance with bushfire hazard management measures," the notice of appeal says.
"The proposal fails to ensure that significant impacts on the rural landscape are minimised," it says.
The development is bound to the east by the Freycinet National Park, part of the southern boundary by the Coles Bay Conservation Area and all other boundaries by private titles.
Shares in Coles Bay Holdings subsidiary companies are held by Chinese born directors Yue Dong, 36, and Hui Wang, 37, of Melbourne.
The development is east of the controversial Cambria Green development proposed by a separate Chinese company last year.
The appeal is expected to conclude on Friday.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for The Examiner. My journalism career has clicked over 34 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for The Examiner. My journalism career has clicked over 34 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
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