A Tasmanian council is buying back land once slated for a hotel build. 

After six years of design revisions, community campaigns, and false starts, the Clarence City Council has decided to buy back the land at Kangaroo Bay from developers Chambroad. Chambroad had planned to construct a 150-room hotel on the site, with each of the four levels styled according to a different theme.

At a council meeting on Monday, it was decided that Chambroad had been given enough time and extensions to proceed with the development, and the council ruled that time was up. 

Mayor Brendan Blomeley confirmed that the council could legally buy back the land for the sale price of $2.44 million plus GST and stamp duty.

“It is beautiful prime waterfront land, and I for one am very keen to do it justice,” Blomeley told ABC Radio Hobart. 

“We will go out to the community and consult with them, and we'll look to have the land appropriately developed in years to come.”

Chambroad's project director, Greg Hudson, expressed his disappointment at the decision, stating that the company had spent over $12 million on the Kangaroo Bay proposal to date, including $500,000 in the last few months alone. 

Hudson also claimed that the company had done everything the council had asked in terms of incorporating community feedback.

“After being invited to put forward plans for Kangaroo Bay back in 2016 and striking an agreement in 2017, it is a real about-face by council to now vote to rip that agreement up,” he said.

However, Blomeley said that the future of the site would now be considered formally as part of the council's City Heart project, but it was likely to end up as a hotel project because of how the land was zoned.

“It is zoned for a hotel, so it is quite a process to change that zoning,” he said. 

“What has come through with the City Heart consultation to date is the need to increase economic development, particularly in tourism and hospitality in our city.”

A community consultation process conducted simultaneously by the developers and the council found very mixed views on what should happen with the Kangaroo Bay site. 

Around 2,600 residents were asked their opinion of the hotel plans at workshops held by Chambroad, with a slight majority, around 51 per cent, finding the hotel project “appealing or somewhat appealing”.

In contrast, a council-led consultation process that asked people to give their views through the council's website found that 82 per cent of residents wanted the land bought back.