Wave park gets State Government thumbs up; but Council will decide

Surf Park Development

Howard Salkow

Senior Journalist

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An artist impression of the proposed NorthBreak Port Douglas resort. Image: Visualisation by Hunt Design.

A $317m surf park, which will produce man-made waves, to be known as NorthBreak and located in the Mowbray Valley (5640 Captain Cook Highway, Mowbray), has received State Government approval, but the ultimate decision rests with Douglas Shire Council.

In a letter dated January 11, 2022 and addressed to the CEO, Douglas Shire Council, said in part: “The development application was confirmed as properly referred by the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) on 6 August 2021.” The approval is subject to a number of conditions.

Developer David Imgraben, who said the SARA approval is state approval for government stakeholders, said he is aware that the Development Application will be voted on by the five councillors.


Related: $317m surf park slated for Port Douglas


A Council spokesman said the report will be tabled at a future Council meeting.

The proposed park, which will be in close proximity to the Wangetti Trail, is part of a proposal that involves the establishment of a tourism resort, comprising a number of elements, including:

  • A wave park;
  • Ancillary facilities including a freshwater swimming lagoon and aqua park;
  • A hotel complex, comprising circa 160-room short-term accommodation units;
  • A village precinct, comprising shops, food and drink outlets;
  • A self-contained housing precinct, comprising a maximum of 90 self-contained dwelling units that may be attached and/or detached;
  • A tourist park, comprising self-contained cabins (about 35 cabins);
  • Helipads;
  • On-site effluent treatment facility; and a
  • Caretaker’s residence.


Major infrastructure asset

When the project was launched, Imgraben said NorthBreak will be a major infrastructure asset for Port and the whole FNQ region for that matter.

“Being at the grass roots level of chatting with visitors to the area in my own businesses for the last 30-odd years in Port, there is a repetitive story I hear, or the same questions I hear with so many of them: ‘Where do you surf around here?’ ‘Are my kids safe from crocodiles if they swim at the beach?’ ‘When does the stinger season finish?’ ‘What, you can’t swim at the beach in the summer?’ I know we have all fielded the same questions, many times over,” he said.

Imgraben, meanwhile, told Newsport today said he clearly understood that a number of unforeseen circumstances had held things back.

“Yes, we had originally hoped for an outcome from the council to our DA prior to Christmas, but there have been some minor delays from external consultants.

“And then none of us expected that Omicron would tear through our community so quickly after Christmas, and the chaos it caused as far as infections and associated isolation periods. So to expect anything different than a delay would be unreasonable,” he said.


Council’s new CEO

Imgraben said he believed the new CEO has just started at council, and would have expected that council would want to have her fully appraised of the NorthBreak proposal prior to any DA decision.

“The NB proposal has a lot of moving parts, and the Planning dept at the DSC has been put under a huge workload assessing the impacts of all those parts.

“But from day one, we have purposely had an open book approach with council. We have kept everyone appraised of the developing proposal and looked for guidance and advice regularly to make sure NB not only complies, but also exceeds all expectations.

“I feel we have a very sound and positive working relationship with council,” he said.

At the launch of the proposal, Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr said the concept is amazing and would fill a massive hole in our tourism market for the younger generations.

“It will fit in well with our sports tourism focus and once the Wangetti Trail is complete, locals and tourists would be able to walk or ride their bikes to the proposed Surf Park,” said Kerr.

But Kerr did not miss out on the fact that there will be those who will support the idea and those who don’t.

“At the end of the day it will be based on their application under the various schemes and planning layers and then on the advice of the officers that are specialists in the planning fields,” he said.

The construction phase of the project, at an estimated cost of $317.3m, will generate:

1,247 full time equivalent jobs, of which 453 will be direct (i.e. on site), and 794 indirect (i.e. supply chain), and generate $117.5m in wages over the two year construction period, the majority of which will go to regional residents.

Upon commencement of operations, the project will:

  • attract 128,680 visitor nights to the facility;
  • generate $79.2M direct expenditure into the region;
  • generate an estimated 740 full time jobs per annum, 644 as direct and 96 indirect jobs; and
  • generate $36m annually in wages and salaries, mainly for local residents (data courtesy RPS Economists).


Detailed analysis

The Development Application was presented to Council in July last year and in preparing the development concept, the study team led by Mowbray Valley-based Hunt Design – the master planners and architects – undertook a detailed analysis of a broad range of site issues considered relevant to the proposed development.

According to the DA, prepared by developer Imgraben, included an economic analysis (undertaken by RPS Economists), of project costs and benefits, environmental and engineering constraints and opportunities, agricultural land suitability assessment, site flooding, access, and service provision.

The results of these studies have been used to inform and guide the concept design and layout of the proposed development.


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