Proposed Boland Street Hotel will bring 135 new rooms to the market

A development application was lodged with the City of Launceston council for a hotel at 4-6 Boland Street and 13A Tamar Street.

It proposes a six-storey hotel with 135 rooms, a restaurant, courtyard, gym and a 17-lot car park at the site between Launceston Showgirls and the Centrelink building on Boland Street.

It will be 23.7 metres high. The site has a permit for a 17.65m building height, but needs an additional permit for the remaining six metres.

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The proposed site for the hotel is vacant as the two Georgian heritage cottages were demolished in 2018 after falling into a state of disrepair. They were on the Tasmanian Heritage Register, but were removed in 2012 and the land was placed on the local register.

"While the site is now vacant, the memory of these cottages is still embedded in much of the local psyche," the DA said.

"From a heritage perspective, this design makes a clear and conscious effort to relate materials and scale in a configuration that refer back to the more industrial part of the site."

Due to zoning, the hotel requires a minimum of 34 car parks but only 17 have been proposed. The traffic impact assessment argued it was sufficient as nearby on-street parking would be able to accommodate the shortfall, spots must be pre-booked and visitors may arrive via public transport, taxis or bicycle.

To justify the reduce number of car parks it also argued it was one block outside of the city's CBD parking exemption zone and was only a short walk to the central business district and Invermay.

The traffic assessment found it would generate up to 90 extra vehicle movements during the morning peak hour and up to 95 during the afternoon peak hour, which was acceptable.

The site is listed as a potentially contaminated site due to an underground storage tank, which was removed in March 2018, and its proximity to the former Launceston Gasworks.

However, a preliminary site assessment found the land was suitable for a hotel, provided three things were implemented. The measures include a validation and remediation management plan to clear the site of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, lead and asbestos, all underground workers must wear dermal protection and all removed soil must be disposed of correctly.

The site was previously earmarked for a $4 million apartment complex in 2017 and later for a $4.5 million three-storey office space in 2019.

The development application is available for public comment on the council's website until February 1.

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