Pat Spicer

PAT SPICER QUESTION 1 Noosa Council's Facebook post on 28 January 2025 refers to land at 62 Lake Macdonald Drive, Cooroy as "unused" despite its zoning for community facilities and its allocation for cemetery expansion in 1999 with a supporting DA in 2008. Local residents, including those who as children played on the land in the1960s, have long used the land for recreation. What are the reasons the council considers the land "unused"? RESPONSE PROVIDED BY KIM RAWLINGS, DIRECTOR STRATEGY & ENVIRONMENT The 2008 Development Approval lapsed in August 2012 and was never used or acted upon. The land is zoned Community Facilities under the Noosa Plan 2020 and is owned by Council. However, while some residents may have informally used the site as open space, the land has never formally been a Park or open space area, and its usage never encouraged. It has been laying fallow since Council acquired the property. The land was contaminated and when Council was notified of this, signs were erected to restrict all public access to the area. The land is currently being remediated. Council has a responsibility to plan and to benefit the whole community, not only in relation to cemetery purposes, but for a wide range of other community purposes and needs. Housing is one of those needs to be planned for. Our Shire is experiencing a significant long-term housing crisis and once remediated, social housing is proposed on a portion of the site. This will contribute to much needed affordable housing, meaning a roof over the heads of some of our more vulnerable community. Community consultation for the use of proposed lots 2 and 3 will take place in the future. QUESTION 2 Council has marked land in Garnett Street, Cooroy with a red boundary on the zone map, labelled “Further Consultation Zone Change” in the legend. This map has been in effect since “Your Say” for Amendment 2 so this consideration has been operational for a number of years already. With further amendments to the Noosa Plan under consideration, what is council’s specific plan for this land which is currently zoned Environmental & Conservation and includes privately owned low-density residential? RESPONSE PROVIDED BY KIM RAWLINGS, DIRECTOR STRATEGY & ENVIRONMENT It has been confirmed with Mrs Spicer which lot the question refers to. The split-zoned privately owned lot in Garnet St, Cooroy has a small portion zoned Low Density Residential, and a large portion zoned Environmental Management and Conservation to protect the native vegetation on the lot. The native vegetation is also covered by the Biodiversity Overlay being an area of Biodiversity significance. The Environmental Management and Conservation area of this lot also sits outside the Urban Boundary. The zoning of this lot has not been, or proposed to be, changed under any of the Noosa Plan 2020 amendments. Previously, in the 2006 Planning Scheme the whole lot was zoned Detached Housing, the equivalent zoning to Low Density Residential under the Noosa Plan 2020. Under the first Noosa Plan 2020 the lot was split zoned to protect the native vegetation and continued as this zoning since. Council currently has no specific plans for this lot.