Motel far from staff of dreams

A plan to build an unmanned motel in Orange has created an uproar in the central west town. Locals have labelled it a ''car thieve's paradise'', a ''double-storey noise factory'', akin to a ''Port Botany cargo terminal'', and a ''front for an illegal brothel''.

To make matters worse for the developer, the Sydneysider Bryce McDougall, they do not like the look of it or that it would share a driveway with a childcare centre.

Guests staying in the 36-room building would get a text message on the day of arrival with a room number and security code. Mr McDougall said all the concerns were unfounded. The motel would be aimed at business travellers and it would have CCTV cameras, a phone number manned 24 hours a day and an employee to respond to problems.

Despite staff recommending it be approved, councillors knocked it back at last week's planning meeting. The deputy mayor of Orange City Council, Jeff Whitton, said it was refused because of safety - ''for the children [using] that shared driveway and safety for the daycare centre, having a facility next door that doesn't have any onsite management''.




Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 20 May 2012