Busselton foreshore plan to provide short stay accommodation

The short stay accommodation is part of the Busselton Foreshore Master Plan endorsed by council on July 9 last year.

At last week’s council agenda briefing the City of Busselton Chief Executive Officer Mike Archer asked council to implement a marketing program to guide future land development.

The proposed land for the short stay accommodation will involve the relocation of the tennis courts on Marine Terrace.

Once the courts are relocated the land would be divided into five sites along Marine Terrace from Queen Street to Brown Street.

The report showed that the last time the city opened the proposal for expressions of interest, investors said there needed to be a guarantee of money for the relocation of the tennis courts, the expansion of Busselton Regional Airport and utility costs for the proposed sites.

Busselton Chamber of Commerce and Industries Chief Executive Officer Ray McMillan said there was definitely a demand for the accommodation in the CBD.

However, he said the amount of land available and the height of buildings needed to be a commercially viable proposition otherwise it would not attract any interest from developers.

He said the chamber of commerce was part of the original foreshore masterplan with other organisations and supported the development.

“Busselton has a lot of accommodation but nothing connects the CBD and foreshore,” Mr McMillan said.

“So there is an unmet demand there.”