Developer says resort will be sensitive to landscape

The developer behind the contentious proposal to revive resort plans for Gnarabup, which has divided the Margaret River community, has welcomed Wednesday night’s council vote not to support a rezoning attempt.

“The council made a good decision last night,” Saracen Properties project director Joel Saraceni told the Times yesterday.

“To proceed with a rezoning on land that has been appropriately zoned for 15 years would have been financially disastrous for all ratepayers.”

Mr Saraceni said more detail around the resort plan and associated mixed-use village development would be available in the new year.

“We are more than happy for our development plans to be judged on their merit and the facts as the design being produced by our talented design team is of a very high quality and sensitive to the existing landscape and environment of Gnarabup,” he said.

“We will also be preserving the Aboriginal heritage site in an area of new public open space, providing improved public access to the beach through our land, and reintroducing native plants and trees that haven’t been on the site since it was first cleared for farmland in the 1930s.”