The proposed redevelopment of the historic Grafton Brewery is in doubt after council posed over 100 conditions on the business including restrictive operating hours.
The development application DA for a craft brewery, distillery, and coffee roastery at 160 North Street, Grafton, by Rick Firth on behalf of the Brewhouse Group Pty Ltd was unanimously approved by Clarence Valley councillors at the August council meeting.
But Mr Firth said the development may never be realised due to the onerous and duplicitous requirements that make the development potentially unworkable.
“The proposal we submitted pays respect to the old buildings in the precinct, will create over 40 new jobs, and act as a huge drawcard for Grafton,” he said.
“It is about reestablishing manufacturing from the site of locally branded products and allowing consumers to enjoy these products where they were produced, all while being immersed in the site’s history.
“However, what should have been a straightforward approval process has taken almost nine months, cost me hundreds-of-thousands of extra dollars, and imposes 101 conditions.
“While I’m committed to rejuvenating the historic precinct, issues like restricted operating hours and additional costs to build footpaths outside my boundary could make it unworkable.”
Mr Firth said some of the conditions imposed by Clarence Valley Council include restricting weekday trading to 8pm and 9pm on weekends, a 200-metre footpath to Turf Street that will cost over $80,000, and 14 trade waste management requirements that are not workable and were applied by Council before trade waste applications were submitted.
“It’s astounding that an economic impact report of the project that was funded by Council cites other brewery operating hours as the reason for restricting the hours of operation for the Grafton Brewery site,” Mr Firth said.
“But they have taken their information from a Google listing and not the actual licenced operating hours and these other breweries were approved by their respective Council with operating hours that are the same or greater than what our proposal sought.
“We received 33 submissions in support of the DA and 325 signatures from residences in the local area, including adjacent streets, who all understood the hours being proposed.
“This is an established industrial precinct that has been here since the early 1950s and we really want to make a go of this, but with the added costs and limited ability to make money it might not stack up.”
Mr Firth said he is now seeking legal advice and potentially lodging an appeal in the Land and Environment Court.
This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 20 September 2023.
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