Dubbo Regional Council has approved a planning proposal for a development for Southlakes Estate including a shopping centre.
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Councillors met at an extraordinary meeting on Friday to resolve the proposal, which had been deliberated since the November meeting.
DRC Mayor Ben Shields said some councillors had wanted more information and had voted to defer a decision for a few weeks. Friday’s meeting was to “get what should have been done a few weeks ago finally through the system”.
On arguments over the development, he said: “It’s one of those very rare occasions where I can see both sides of the argument. Usually I can jump on one side of the fence and passionately back something. But, I tell you what ... this one was a hard one.”
“They’ve both got incredibly good arguments … ”
Developers, the Maas Group, and the owners of Orana Mall, who have opposed the proposal, spoke at the meeting.
After the decision, Maas Group owner Wes Maas said: “I’m very happy and relieved with the decision. It should have gone through 12 months ago. It gives us the go ahead to design and build for the next 10-15 years.
“It will take 18 months to construct but it won’t be something built overnight, it will be built when required.”
The general manager of Mall owners the Bachrach Naumburger Group, Steve Gooley, said the Southlakes shopping centre was "too big, too early".
He said $40 million of upgrades were made to Orana Mall since 2012 while adhering to the Local Environmental Plan, and amending the LEP for another centre would be a "joke" if passed.
Mr Gooley said he had no opposition to the residential development, but urged councillors to reject the shopping centre.
Cr Stephen Lawrence said he was confident approving the proposal wouldn't reduce the LEP to a joke.
Mr Shields said: “We’ve got to be seen as a city open for business, for too long Dubbo has been turning everything down and carrying on silly. That’s got to stop. It’s got to change.”
On competition between retail centres for customers, he said: “I do have a worry for those existing developers, those existing retailers just on the fact that they invested thinking they would have a clear run in that area. But, it will ultimately be up to the market now to determine.
“It’s still got to go through a DA, so they could be years ahead. The application will have to show a lot more work to see if its feasible to have a bigger retail facility out there.
“I think Orana Mall can sleep well at night based on the fact the Maas Group still have to go through the process of the DA and prove its economics of the its proposal.”
The proposal also sought to rezone parts of the land from low density residential to general residential to allow more residential types, alterations to the overall density in the southern section and to amend the location of the future public open space/stormwater system.
