St Bernard's Hotel Mt Tamborine

St Bernards Village Concept Plan	Village Lodges Floor Plans & Elevations Type 1	Village Lodges Floor Plans & Elevations Type 2	Village Lodges Floor Plans & Elevations Type 3
Village Hotel Lodges Colour Schema Type 1	Village Hotel Lodges Colour Schema Type 2	Village Hotel Lodges Colour Schema Type 3	Village Hotel Lodges Landscape Intent
Hotel Shops Perspective	Hotel Shops Landscape Intent	Hotel Shops Ground Floor Plan	Hotel Shops & Caretakers Lodge Ground Floor Plan
Motel Shops Perspective	Motel Shops Landscape Intent	Motel Shops Ground Floor Plan

St Bernards Hotel is one of the mountain's most well-known and historic properties and because of its importance to the community, we want to provide information to residents about the proposal to provide lodge- style accommodation to replace the old hotel rooms and return the building and site to its past grandeur and prominence.

The current St Bernards project is the vision of Diane and Warren Morton, who have been mountain residents since 1981. Diane and Warren are well known in the community for re-establishing historic buildings. They have sympathetically restored the old Curtis homestead on the corner of Long and Curtis Roads, and established the Old Church in 1997 on that corner as a mountain landmark. This contributed to the now flourishing wedding business on the mountain. Their aim is to similarly restore the crumbling St Bernards hotel and give it a and to give it a reinvigorated purpose.

There has been a proposal to develop the St Bernard site with Council since 2005. That proposal included lodges, an extension to motel accommodation and tourist-oriented shops on the 8 acres of vacant land at the hotel and motel. The original proposal also included a supermarket, however, this has been removed and Council required the amended proposal to be re-advertised for public comment. Many people supported the original application and all the submissions from 2005/2006 remain valid.

The hotel has been in a state of gradual decay for close to 30 years and since it was purchased in late 2004 by St Bernard Village Pty Ltd, nearly $1m has been spent in restoring its reputation, carrying out structural repairs, re-decorating, rejuvenating the gardens and grounds, re-wiring and replacing worn out equipment. Much more needs to be done and the current owners are committed to achieving this and retaining the cultural history of the site. Unfortunately there is insufficient demand as purely a pub to justify this.

Accommodation on the mountain is usually at capacity only on weekends. St Bernards has an ambition to extend mid-week visits by catering for the convention market, and the lodges are an essential part of this. Although the hotel has old rooms and a licence for 65 beds this style of room, with shared bathrooms, is not favoured by today's guests. As with the flourishing wedding industry, a vibrant mid-week convention market could benefit and flow on to other local businesses.

Consequently 30 lodges are proposed on part of the vacant 8 acres and they are architect designed to give them an alpine image befitting the site. Extensive landscaping is proposed to supplement the rainforest experience for visitors and it is also proposed to provide a viewing platform from St Bernards falls which is located on the site. A state of the art effluent treatment plant has been approved by the EPA and this will ensure a Class A+ effluent which will be utilised on the site for reuse and irrigation.

There is also a need to provide more than a meal for day tourists to this side of the mountain and some shops with a tourist flavour are being proposed for the land in front of the motel and beside the hotel entrance. With the proposed coordinated approach, the quality and wares of these shops will add prestige to the existing tourist retail market.

The hotel is one of the largest employers on the mountain paying wages of almost $m per year into the community and it has an established reputation for supporting local clubs, charities and organisations. Additionally, local trades people have been employed over the last few years in restoration work and the proposed lodges and shops will further benefit local employment and trades people. This current proposal is necessary to take the hotel into the future as, once again, a desirable destination for both visitors and mountain residents and to ensure its continued operation as a valuable mountain employer.

The proposal is consistent with Council's planning documents. The application for lodges was made under the previous DCP where the site is designated as Village Center with specific provision for "tourist/commercial" uses. Under the current Town Plan, the site is located in the Tamborine Mountain Business zone which provides for intense business and commercial uses similar to North Tamborine and Eagle Heights. However, development of the current proposal will lock in a low-key controlled tourist activity on the site for a long time to come.