The City Council has given the go-ahead for construction to begin on a new 52-room hotel in Argent Street after giving the development application a tick at the full meeting of Council.
The development will see the new building go up opposite the Demo Club. The land was recently sold for $150,000 to the developers.
“It’s obvious to everyone in town,” says Mayor Tom Kennedy. “Everyone in the community understands there’s a shortage of accommodation beds, a shortage of housing in Broken Hill.
“What has happened is a lot of houses have been used to accommodate tourists, so this is 52 beds that will maybe be not used for just tourists, but fly in, fly out doctors will also be able to use them as well.
“I hope that development will go ahead as soon as it can. We’ve done our bit, we have approved the development application, now it is up to the developers to get it done as soon as possible.”
One of the concerns expressed by the community and council during the public consultation period was the car parking situation with a large hotel open on Argent St where parking is already at a premium.
Council’s General Manager, Jay Nankevill, pointed to the new car park that will be created by the development of the new archive and library precinct, amongst other solutions that already have been put in motion by both Council and developers.
“There are probably a couple of considerations there,” Mr Nankivell told the Barrier Truth.
“The applicant has put forward that the majority of people using that facility will be via air, bus or train and they are not expecting a lot of drive-in customers.”
The new hotel will also provide 19 new parking spaces as part of the new development and council has planned to educate motorists and reinforce the two-hour parking spots along the main street in the CBD to free up more parking spaces going forwards.
