Marong is set for an influx of new businesses with a proposed $1.75 million development which could see a chemist, bakery, gymnasium, real estate agent and motel on the main street.
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The Marong Family Hotel owners have applied to build a two-storey motel with at least six retails spaces next to the pub. But it will come at a price – the publicans say their development cannot go ahead without removing a century-old river red gum.
The million dollar Marong motel
It has already undergone a housing boom, now Marong could soon see a flourishing of small businesses to cater to those new residents.
That’s if Marong Family Hotel publican Robyn Lougoon’s plans for a $1.75 million motel and retail precinct get the green light from council. The ‘Marong Central’ proposal is currently before the City of Greater Bendigo’s planning department – but Mrs Lougoon is hoping to have the project approved, built and in business within 12 months. The publican and her husband Ross have transformed the Marong hotel over the last nine years and Mrs Lougoon said the development would to do the same for the town.
“In the time we’ve owned the pub there have been hundreds of new homes built in Marong but, other than that, the town hasn’t changed a bit,” Mrs Lougoon.
The two-storey Marong Central would see at least six retail spaces on the ground floor and Mrs Lougoon said she was already in negotiations with several businesses which she hoped to attract to the area.
“We've got a doctor’s surgery in Marong now and a dentist, so to have a chemist to back that up makes sense,” she said. “We're crying out for a bakery really, and we feel like a gymnasium would be a good fit for the area.”
Mrs Lougoon said she had got a sense of the businesses which residents wanted by attending community meetings run by council as it works on a structure plan to accommodate the town’s growth. Marong had a population of 900 at the last census – council projects that number will be 8000 in two decades.
The idea for a motel was prompted by the number of inquiries from punters at the pub, Mrs Lougoon said. The motel would be built to cater for around 60 guests.
“It was really designed around what people were asking for,” Mrs Lougoon said. “We’ve got a dorm room for sporting events that can sleep 10 to 12 people, we do so many weddings that a honeymoon suite was just a given, there’ll be a couple of bigger units, a couple of basic units and couple disabled units.”
Mrs Lougoon said she hoped her track record of redeveloping the pub and the running the nearby Connor Park Winery would convince locals to get on board her latest project. “We've proven our ability to take something old and make it look nice,” she said. “We've been tasteful with what we've done here – I don't think too many people would argue we haven't done a good job.
Personal conflict but gum must go
The publican and winemaker who is proposing a development which would transform Marong says she faced ‘personal conflict’ over the decision to seek approval to chop down of a 23-metre, century old river red gum on the development site.
“I come off the land, I don't class myself as a greenie but I don't like chopping down trees,” Robyn Lougoon said.
“However we looked at every alternative that we could to try and make this development work without taking out that tree and there just is no alternative.
“It's the tree or the development, there’s no way around it.”
An arborist’s report commissioned by the developers found the tree was exhibiting “symptoms of significant stress” due to years of drought and root disturbance from encroaching development.
The arborist said the tree would need a radius of at least 14.4 metres of cleared land, a reduction in floor space which the developer said would make the proposed Marong Central financially unviable.