CHOPPERS ARE GO: Port Douglas helicopter base clear to start after appeal dropped
HELIPORT PROCEEDS
A Nautilus Aviation helicopter base in Port Douglas will now go ahead without further delay after an appeal against Council approval for the facility was dropped.
The facility plan was approved by Douglas Shire Council about 15 months ago but was delayed by the appeal. That court appeal was due to start this week but late last week, DSSG and the co-appellants withdrew the case.
Chief Executive Officer of Nautilus Aviation’s parent company, Morris Aviation, Aaron Finn told Newsport that the company has had a “good win” with the withdrawal of the appeal by the Douglas Shire Sustainability Group (DSSG) and others who had opposed the helicopter facility in Port Street.
Nautilus plans to start work on building the base shortly now that there are no more hurdles.
“We’ll lodge our building application shortly and commence construction in the next couple of months,” Mr Finn told us.
The new helicopter base plan was devised from a need by Nautilus to converge its operations into one central heliport instead of its current two facilities: one at the Sheraton Port Douglas, the other next to the Highway at Killaloe.
“It’s all about bringing operations together and making them a more viable business model,” he said. “Closer to the Marina as well, for our customers with Quicksilver.”
Included in the plans for the facility at numbers 23-33 and 35-39 Port Street are two landing pads, refuelling infrastructure, hangers, an office, a reception area and caretakers’ accommodation.
Mr Finn said Nautilus remains confident its new helicopter base will not disrupt the Port Douglas way of life with excessive noise or other issues, which the appellants had based their case on.
“Our whole application was focused on being neighbourly and having a low impact development on the residents of Port Douglas,” he said, adding, “that’s why this appeal’s been quite frustrating.
“We’ve gone through the hoops and had three different noise tests done, with flights in an out of the site to prove that; we’ve adjusted our flight plans and things like that so the impacts are very minimal.
“I just hope that other developers in the Port Douglas area see this as a victory for all developments that’ve been appealed and dragged through the process by Douglas Shire Sustainability Group.”