Giant resort gets penultimate green light
After a seven-year wait, the Queensland government’s co-ordinator general has approved the $1.4 billion resort development at Ella Bay, near Innisfail.
However it still needs to convince federal environment minister Tony Burke who has 30 days to approve or oppose the project.
Ella Bay Developments P/L is responsible for the Ella Bay Integrated Resort Proposal. Satori Resorts Ella Bay P/L is the proponent for the EPBC environmental approval. Ella Bay Developments is headed by mining mogul-turned-tourism tycoon Rob Lamb.
The Ella Bay Integrated Resort Development is a proposal to create a sustainable community by transforming a 450ha cattle station into a fully master planned, resort and residential eco-community over a 15 year period. The development will be a new eco-resort location for Far North Queensland and include three resorts, 540 residences, a village precinct, championship 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, children’s playgrounds and swimming lagoon. It also includes an environmental research and educational centre.
The goal of Ella Bay will be to develop a world class ecologically sustainable community, with emphasis on the environment; protection, research and conservation and sustainable development; designed to promote self- sufficiency, particularly in relation to energy, water and sewerage management.
The Ella Bay site is 3km north of the townships of Flying Fish Point and The Coconuts, 9km north of Innisfail and 88km south of Cairns. Ella Bay is an open, 9 km long, east facing bay, lying between Cooper and Heath Points.
The Ella Bay area is home to a large variety of plant and animal life including iconic species like the endangered southern cassowary, endangered and vulnerable frog species, remnant native plants, turtles, dolphins and saltwater crocodiles. Wildlife Queensland executive director Des Boyland said the federal government had raised concerns about the project five years ago and this was still the case.
Seven “fauna underpasses” and 25 “escape gates” along a fenced access road into the property have been proposed to protect cassowaries and other animals.
While acknowledging north Queensland’s long history of failed resorts, premier Campbell Newman insisted the Ella Bay development would be a boon for the region over the 15 year construction phase and beyond. “It will be a real boost to the tourism industry, it is going to be a boost to business in Innisfail as well,” he said.
Satori was giving 62.8ha of land from the site to the state government for national park.
The average annual rainfall at Innisfail is over 3500mm or 3.5m and the average number of rainy days per year is 150 days. The area is very prone to cyclones being battered by Yasi (2011), Larry (2006), Aivu (1989) and Winifred (1986).
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