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00:00:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So welcome to the first meeting of the Planning Environment Committee for this 2020-2024 Council. I'd like to start with paying our respects to the official owners of this place both past, present and emerging and it's probably a good story to tell at this point. When we did our cultural awareness training with one of the local Kabi Kabi people, he suggested that this is a time where you reflect on the people who've gone past, what they've taught you, what you've learned from them and how you can try and embed that in how you go forward and I think that's probably a good message for the day as well. So today is a little bit unusual, it's the first ever one of these we've held in the council chambers. Normally we do have public and it's normally packed. But instead the members of the public may be joining us via the interweb and we certainly have Councillor Wegener who is a member of the committee who is joining via
00:01:00 Zoom. We have the Mayor who is on the committee and we also have Councillor Finzel who's on the committee. You won't be able to see them but we also have as observers Councillor Frank Wilkie and Councillor Lorentson in the gallery. So I welcome you all. Just because this is the first one, normally what we do in these is all councillors can participate. We give those councillors on the committee the first bite of the cherry. If you'd like to say something or ask a question just indicate in the normal fashion. Okay and we move on to the first item of today's agenda and the CEO says I can't move the procedural motion to make it the last item of today's agenda. You have a strange sense of humour. I don't. It's not very good. Okay so generally how we do this is we just go through page by page if people want to raise an issue unless Kim would you like to start off with
00:02:00 an overview. What do you think might be the highlights over the last three months? Speaker 1: Yeah sure. Thanks Brian. Councillors this report is our department regular quarterly report. So we provide these four times a year and they generally just provide you an overview of what the department's been working on in the last three months, what our current focus is and what our plans are for the next three months. So you know a bit of a status report, current activities and current priorities at the highest level I guess. It you know obviously doesn't capture everything but it does capture what's what's kind of happening at the at the high level with each area. Obviously the last quarter has very much been focused on COVID response and our business and economic recovery and and planning around COVID. So a lot of my department
00:03:00 in various ways have been focused on working in various areas of the community in their own service areas and in coordinating our business round table. So it's been really been a big focus for us over the over the last quarter. We've also in the last quarter just before election received ministerial sign-off of the Noosa plan with a number of conditions to be complied with before council considers that. Now that we have the new council on board we the plan is to bring that forward to the new council for consideration in the coming months. I might leave it there and see Deputy Mayor Stockwell: if there's questions on on individual issues. So I'll move down we're on the first page and I'm going to see if there are does anyone um have any questions on the first page. Yeah I do the um the business
00:04:00 Mayor Stewart: round table that we've had I've been though they've gone so well and I think that business community has responded really well to those and looking forward um you know this is ongoing support and communication by round table and we flagged potentially Kim of doing that again with the business community but perhaps breaking it into specialised or subgroups or you know tourism and something like and business and then maybe agriculture. And so continuing on to liaise with the business community but in smaller groups because I think you said that worked so well it was a great way of you know every week or fortnightly now to just Speaker 1: have a chat and have a catch up. Yeah yeah look I think there's a whole lot of opportunity to um to look at how we segment that that business group um going forward. I think the next three months um the business round table will be very focused on recovery and our eight point recovery plan that we tabled um last week so there's still quite a bit of work to do um as it stands with
00:05:00 the business round table and as we lead into our review of our economic development local economic plan. I think the business round table will have um uh an important role in that um but yeah you know beyond that I think there is uh opportunity to to work with our key sectors um and and deeper dive um with you know whether that's smaller groups or a cross-section of groups. I think there's there's there's scope to move that way for sure. Yeah it's been such a great initiative. Speaker 4: Yeah really well responded to. I think what's worked well is it had that sort of representation role where that message then gets out from the group yeah exactly community into different groups so that's worked really well. Yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: On the similar topic of tourism Noosa collaboration um there's a dot point there for the next three months um workshops on review of council's local economic plan you don't know down when we have the item one local economic plan there's no review or shadow there so what's is there a plan to bring
00:06:00 to council a proposal about a review process that we can sign off on because it'd be somewhat premature to go out to the tourism body to do it without just getting our head around what we want. Speaker 1: Yes there is there will be a number of discussions with council about what the scope and um priority of that local economic plan is. We actually already find ourselves having conversations about the review of that economic plan given what's happening now in our in our economy and our community. I think it's an urgent item yeah so more highlighting it down the bottom Deputy Mayor Stockwell: we may yeah want to highlight that that's actually a priority to do is to to get a process started so I think adjusting to the current economic situation is a priority. Yeah sure probably different to what they were when they were drafted. Speaker 1: Yep no worries. Speaker 4: Yep it's all right for that plan's due for renewal now but even if it was you know one-year-old Deputy Mayor Stockwell: would probably need to be renewed yeah okay so that's page four under page five sure um just in
00:07:00 Speaker 3: regards to probably just the ruling um under the municipal plan the current policy in the next quarter um you've worded it working with state government to ensure conditions are met briefing the council on moving it forward. I think it's important to note that the new use of plan prior to reporting scheme to council for adoption and then our quarterly objectives is to adopt and initiate implementation. Can I ask can we add to that um well there's an assumption that we're actually going to adopt and ensure that the conditions are met. When the new use of plan is brought to council isn't this also an opportunity for council to rethink some of the more contentious parts of the new planning scheme and in particular propositions relating to short-term rental accommodation. My
00:08:00 understanding is that the state government's actually rejected the draft new music plan in its current formulation and that those conditions we have a choice to either adopt and meet those conditions or b rethink the whole new music plan and I think it's important to note that that's important to note that the report doesn't actually offer that choice um so there's a couple of things Speaker 1: there um the the minister has signed off on the noosa plan uh approved the noosa plan with conditions so not rejected the noosa plan actually approved them the noosa plan uh with eight conditions um some of those conditions have required some towing and throwing with state government because it's their their conditions that require compliance with state planning policy and state mapping. So that reference to working with the state government to ensure conditions are met are about ensuring that uh the planning scheme reflects the state policy and reflects the state mapping because there are three conditions that relate to that um the the this report reflects
00:09:00 what uh what our plan is and and our intention is to bring forward the noosa plan uh with the conditions being met to the council for consideration uh of course the council can do whatever they like in when that when that report comes to council um so the you know what my attempts my intention wasn't to presume adoption there but that that is actually what we'll be bringing forward the plan for for council's consideration to adopt the new noosa plan what council does with that in terms of wanting to review it change it that will be council decision Deputy Mayor Stockwell: and just for clarification the issues around state mapping was where we had done our own more intensive analysis to identify more up-to-date resource information which was different to what was stated in that and that's where we're negotiating how to reflect
00:10:00 our better quality information but also one of what the legislation says about state planning policy is that right that is correct Councillor Finzel: can i just clarify then so the in going forward to meet the conditions is that council work or is there any further community consultation? is there any further consultation happening with regards to meeting those conditions? no that's council work it's all council work thank you Deputy Mayor Stockwell: okay so i'm up to the noosa river plan anyone else got anything else on there so my question there is there appears to be a doctor missing on that one for the next quarter Mayor Stewart: environmental grants yeah has anyone questions environmental grants yeah i do in in light of um covert and everything's on the table um can you know is this is an opportunity for us to revisit all those grants and look where you know and prioritise i guess so these environmental um final recommendation endorsed by council for the um for the grants in regard to environmental we can then revisit these grants in light of perhaps the changed economic circumstances or situations or have those grants already been
00:11:00 been in place? Speaker 4: done and dusted they're done and dusted yeah the ones that have been decided already yeah have been implemented yeah but obviously it's up to council in terms of whether or not you want to revisit any grants for the next round the next round so we have an opportunity for the next round of grants Deputy Mayor Stockwell: okay yeah there is the current action as i understand is the we're negotiating with the successful applicants about project timelines considering the impact on their actions Speaker 5: yeah we have that that's great they were endorsed by council in january or february with covid we were back to mention the five successful applicants and asked where where do you sit now two of those five chose to begin straight away and the other three chose to postpone until the first of july but they've already signed agreements the current round of project grants was advertised in february and march will be coming to council in the next month or so for
00:12:00 Mayor Stewart: assessment so that's everything yeah everything new is on the table yeah okay yeah great thanks Deputy Mayor Stockwell: okay and yeah but there's no real plan i was thinking there must be a top point you've forgotten about the final plan to council for adoption we went out to consultation at the end of that quarter will be six months afterwards i would have thought that there would be plenty of time to identify what the stakeholders do and don't agree with them and put that in front of them Speaker 5: we did we've completed our review of feedback from december prior to presenting it to council we intend to bring it to the councillors for workshop to talk through that feedback and get some i guess some guidance on any further consultation or table consultation councillors would like to see prior to a split with the council for adoption we think it would be prudent to be able to workshop with the council's that feedback first because i know a lot of the Mayor Stewart: stakeholders that december january period was difficult for consultation it's their busiest time so is there an opportunity to go back and engage with those stakeholders again there is
00:13:00 Speaker 5: we've met with certainly some commercial operators and given an undertaking to consult with some specific groups more deeply still my preference is the workshop first with the council is the feedback we receive from the whole community before we undertake that further feedback and we'll be hoping to get in front of the councillors within the next few weeks if possible to be able Deputy Mayor Stockwell: to do that certainly some of their concerns may be alleviated in that again mr q now have an officer on the river that may reduce the need for council to take certain actions which would be considered Speaker 5: under the community jury option look there's certainly no doubt that several of the concerns that were issued were already under review during the feedback process and we already had a mind that they might be changed so i actually think even an officer level we're already at a point where a lot of those concerns will be alleviated when we bring them through to council yeah i suppose Deputy Mayor Stockwell: my point of view that the key point is we also have budget preparation underway and this is a process that was started in the 2014-16 council in terms of the general important to have an agreed position prior to considering budget
00:14:00 initiatives that might be needed to implement an Mayor Stewart: initiatives in there now i do think it's so important to engage those stakeholders again if we can you know the people the key people who you know on the river who didn't have that opportunity in december january if there's an opportunity to do that we have been we have met once Speaker 5: we have we've given the commitment to go back to them um i was corresponding with one of the key stakeholders just the last few days explaining the process i just said i want to take the feedback to the new council first because it's very different there might be more more thoughts and feedback provided by the new council different to the old one um and then we'll Deputy Mayor Stockwell: go back to that community groups thanks okay moving down the page so the in zen um implementation zen organization australia dot one is about the community mission profile is that working with the the work that was already done by the zen community group or
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00:15:00 is that something different Speaker 1: um that it's it is working it's in collaboration with yeah but it is updating them reviewing that Councillor Finzel: yeah to make sure that you know we've got the um the right understanding and the methodology Speaker 2: can we get back to bring back the fish brian you missed it sure yes yeah please yeah no i'm just Mayor Stewart: a question i know that it's already been the contracts have been signed and there's been a commitment by council for 1.2 and the thomas conservancy at 1.2 was there to conserve the nature conservancy sorry the thomas foundation is is there and is there another um organization coming in with 1.2 million or we're looking there was looking at bringing in more money or more money there is that the final costings for that project okay um so the the current arrangement partnership Speaker 1: is uh 1.2 from council and 1.2 from the nature conservancy um that that is the that is the total
00:16:00 uh costed project uh there is an intention by the nature conservancy to attract further funding um to expand the project but it's not contingent on that so the current deliverables and and um outcomes sought from that partnership are contained within the 2.4 million um and any further funding i'm not sure that the funding um is considered will be to a scale up um but like i said the Mayor Stewart: delivery and that would be on the nature conservancy that's right that's right okay thank you and Deputy Mayor Stockwell: council wait a minute did you have a query as well yes um the technical advisory group to meet for Speaker 2: the first time on the um conservancy partnership has that already happened or is that coming up Speaker 5: it's happening tomorrow actually uh tomorrow is the first meeting the technical advisory group so the technical advisory group is made up of uh representatives of relevant state departments
00:17:00 that have interest in the river um and two independent scientists so they're the groups Speaker 2: involved in that okay great well i'm looking forward to the report to council thank you Speaker 5: and who are the two scientists involved in that um one is dr simon walker and i can't recall the name of the other i'll have to take that on advice okay i'll be able to tell you after tomorrow i've seen it but i can't recall okay thanks craig Speaker 3: can i ask a question um who actually monitors or ensures compliance when you talk about kpis and what's expected outcomes and delivery plans is there an independent person who actually monitors or ensures this compliance um so Speaker 1: as per the partnership agreement which was endorsed by council there are a set of um reporting requirements so on a we don't have it at hand but it's it's six monthly and annually reports um and then they're
00:18:00 provided to council um so council actually has a role in monitoring uh achievement against the the partnership um and the and the project plan and the um the kpis if they weren't meeting them hypothetically what would happen what can we do so so all the every milestones tied to payments and they need to meet milestones before there's payments um and then there are provisions also in the in the contract around disputes and um not not achieving outcomes um there are there are clauses in that that'll allow us to evoke them if we needed to if things weren't being there okay and is there a Councillor Finzel: financial um incentive there like is there a fine if they don't meet those requirements no there's Speaker 1: not a fine but uh the the the payments towards um the project are linked to achieving those milestones so they need to achieve those milestones before the next payment's made okay thank you
00:19:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: okay so i might rather than page by page i'll go item by item that gives everyone a bit of a figure so the next one there's on private land conservation partnerships land for wildlife and voluntary conservation agreements Speaker 4: i want to give a shout out to dave burrows and the team that craig's got this is an amazing achievement compared to what we've done over the last few years it's been really good Speaker 5: well to not have any new vca since the amalgamation and we're up to five now i believe in 2020. there's been a lot of works happening in the 18 months prior to that to get us to that point but it did certainly hit the ground running at the moment we're really Deputy Mayor Stockwell: pleased there's not too many better around the country than david that sort of work Speaker 5: i think kylie did a great work getting the program to a point watching with bushcare she got it to the point of success and um now is leaving the wellness to take the quarry Speaker 4: can i just get you to explain to council it's the split zoning approach and how that works
00:20:00 sure because it's a bit unusual yeah in terms of land management yeah so we have a range of Speaker 1: programs to that that can go towards private land conservation and add to the private land sort of conservation estate and they vary in terms of their levels of i guess protection in the long term vcas is is one of them which is an agreement on on the land for conservation and we we provide some incentives for that but another one is um to offer a split um land use zoning so some some properties want their land protected in sort of perpetuity and providing a a conservation environment conservation zone through the town plan provides a significant amount of protection so landowners have the opportunity to say we block our land partly zone for environment conservation which then is enshrined in in the planning scheme
00:21:00 so that when we refer to split zoning that's that's what we're talking about so another level of protection Deputy Mayor Stockwell: that's probably a good time for me to know my future question um in our environment strategy we've actually set a target for the amount of public and private land protected for nature conservation which is half the shot um it'd be nice in reports like this to actually have that as a target but just like the finance report we have a trend line towards whether we hope to achieve it and how we're going i suppose that's not a question for comment but yeah to me one of the ways that we can embellish these reports which is that we're getting told what we're doing what we have done and what we propose to do what we haven't got is what they're achieving or how efficiently or effectively yeah so i think just maybe it's a new term something we can do offline and just have a look at what whether we want these progress reports whether they're going to be monitoring evaluation reports so that councils can actually understand my suggestion Speaker 4: of that would be happening at the sort of like any report about the implementation environment
00:22:00 strategy where you've got a whole lot a lot of indicators in there annually would yeah i just Deputy Mayor Stockwell: think quarterly it might be good to have a queue in the particular one so these reports actually start to be a monitoring evaluation tool as well as just this is what we're doing okay the next one is Speaker 3: the bca is fantastic um what i probably want to know is are there any financial advantages for landowners owners to take up these bc gains there are people that sign bca agreements Speaker 5: can receive up to five thousand dollars funding on their block for five years it varies between one thousand five hundred to five thousand depending on the size of their block so the more land it's committed to permanent protection the more they get is that five thousand Mayor Stewart: for five years or five thousand years for five years if i think that triggers at 40 hectares Speaker 5: so that's for the largest size but they can make it to twenty five thousand yep yeah for environmental
00:23:00 management plan which prioritizes their work over five years and that's council's commitment and once that five years is over the bca terminates um but it's protected in perpetuity so it's Mayor Stewart: essentially got permanent protection so what would council do to make their block environmentally Speaker 5: ready to go or suitable but that would all depend on it's different for every block so that's why we develop an environmental management plan so our officer goes out with them if they sign up the bc a they'll identify all the environmental issues on their blocks and they'll put a five-year plan of works in place that the council and the landholders sign off on and that's where the money will be spent over a five-year period on that block and we'll facilitate contractors to go in or and also Speaker 1: support the landholders so it might be weed eradication or restoration or is that who bears Speaker 5: that cost uh in that circumstance council will put their commitment towards it there'll be a landholder commitment as well but council's commitment will be capped at an amount depending on the size of the
00:24:00 Mayor Stewart: block on top of the five thousand no no no yeah but the five thousand for environmental works it's Speaker 5: not a cash payment for five thousand dollars per year yeah it is a bit confusing because some of our earlier vcas that were done during the amalgamation of sunshine coast don't have a five-year sunset clause on them um so some of those vcas councils tied into in perpetuity so when we de-amalgamated we developed a new policy we actually thought it was a better fit to have a i think a five-year commitment it's quite appropriate uh to a private land rather than a permanent one um but we still have to commit um provide that commitment to the earlier sunshine Mayor Stewart: coast ones okay and and craig just here it says 12 new properties are signed up how many properties Speaker 5: across the shire probably have this that's land for wildlife not vca so we have 19 um uh 19 current vcas 19. in 19. 24 have signed up over a period of time but um once the properties are sold the protection remains but the agreement is actually with the landowner um so for the earlier sunshine coast ones
00:25:00 that agreement in perpetuity ceases when they sell the property but the protection doesn't um so over time the amount of those ones we're paying in perpetuity will gradually decrease to the point where we don't have them the land for wildlife is a different program it has no permanent protection and we don't offer we offer some resources in the way of plants and advice but no but no money we have over about 300 300 yeah and they're all real properties over a hectare of size so it's a really significant land holding yeah okay so it might be Deputy Mayor Stockwell: good for the new councils to understand why we sort of put a bit more focus on voluntary conservation agreement when we look at the cost benefit of actually the environmental levy going to that direction versus buying or acquiring land and having to manage it ourselves yeah we did Speaker 5: quite a bit of work looking at the actual costs of purchase and ongoing maintenance of land compared to the cost of making those payments that we talked about to a private land holder for the same size block um and while there is a slight increase in risk because we don't have the same
00:26:00 control over a private block and there's also no public access um the difference in cost per hectare for conservation was in the order of 20 to 30 times um i've had to double check those figures yeah that's right there's an enormous cost difference um so it's a very cost effective Speaker 3: way of achieving conservation outcomes great can i ask um how how did you calculate this amount is this sort of formula a legislative formula or is this Speaker 5: something that council puts together there's no legislative formula um it was calculated when we first started the program during the sunshine coast regional council i honestly couldn't tell you how it was originated it's certainly in keeping with what other councils are providing quite a few other councils continue to provide pca payments in perpetuity not restricted to five years but we've made the changes since we think that works better um in noosa so i i there's no specific calculation just simply what's in keeping it's a balance of trying to figure out um an appropriate
00:27:00 investment to encourage people to become part of the vca program um versus the cost benefit doing this versus purchasing money so it's probably a bit of a balance but there's no big problem Speaker 1: and and it's based on the cost of works based on the environment management plan that's done for each site so it can vary for each site okay the bond then community bushland care program Deputy Mayor Stockwell: euro ringtail protest pest management noosa bushland reserves strategic plan noosa trail network could you give the community an update on Speaker 1: the tourism noosa study on the trial network yeah sure um the tourism noosa uh with uh biosphere um developed uh have recently completed a um noosa trail master plan um they're in the process of
00:28:00 preparing and working with us on an official launch of that of that master plan uh that master plan provides looks at our um our whole trail network and provides a lot of information about what we're doing and what we're doing in the next few weeks um and it provides a set of um informed uh through stakeholders and users of the trial network um improvements to that trial network and and tourism hinterland tourism opportunities um so uh a great opportunity through that through that master plan to look at the potential um to improve and expand the trail network um and yes like i said there's they're working on a current launch for that at the moment so i'm looking forward to that and you know that the intention is that that plan then is used to inform um future investment um future grant opportunities whether it's state or federal or tourism grant opportunities we've got a
00:29:00 a clear plan that's that identifies a clear set of priorities so that'll be great so in terms of Deputy Mayor Stockwell: the next three months we're in a unusual situation in that it's likely that we're going to have significant funds available for shovel ready projects and are we working both with tourism news around our own teams to look at what are the low hanging fruits which are sort of lay down the stairs that they're the best things to start with or we can do with some certainty um other than just looking through a grant planning process yes we are Speaker 1: yes we are we're using this document um and our internal knowledge and craig's team managed the Speaker 5: trial network um to i've fallen off in a lot of spots i can show you um to to yes but we're working on a series of potential shovel ready projects related to the environment at the moment over the next couple of weeks and those include um but i guess the master plan doesn't give us all the answers there's probably some that aren't quite shovel ready even though we may envision but there's a few that are there's a few that are clearly i think it's not going to come for this
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00:30:00 Speaker 4: sort of stuff it's really going to be a good good project we can get going into the hinterland um Councillor Finzel: coming back to the hinterland linked to the shovel ready projects with the year-old ringtail project and harvesting is underway currently is there any plans to link shovel ready projects and replanting out there where are we at with that spot we'll do that one um Speaker 4: no um at the moment the um when that current area so talk mainly about the rural area that's been logged yeah so that'll take a while for that plantation license to be um extinguished when that's available then there's opportunities for that to happen so that's something that we're looking at um so that's a good opportunity to do planting we are working with another provider at the moment to look at doing a um a larger scale replanting across both ringtail and uh furore and um trying to get them to spend a couple million dollars on doing that so we're
00:31:00 just working through the state government to get that approved um i hope you should have something Deputy Mayor Stockwell: in the next two or three months okay and there's obviously a significant link between that area and the trail master plan and future opportunities like some of them the uh trails in that ringtail euro link between pomona and lake of donalds and warrior pointer have a lot of potential they do a lot of good steep downhills not a lot but some would speak down okay we move on to strategic and land use planning and the first item we've already discussed up top but the new nurse of plan does that item generate any more queries or questions we go on to coastal hazard adaptation planning and i noticed a cost benefit analysis cba of potential inundation risk responses underway and is that the last bit of information we're waiting on before we can have a draft of that campaign yes yes it is the intention you've got
00:32:00 Speaker 1: a briefing on this on thursday um and yes the intention then is to finalize the draft and bring it forward to council for consideration okay Mayor Stewart: just just um just says complete draft for public so what will the public consultation be on that Speaker 1: um so that will be um a open consultation process on the on the plan and everything that the plan encompasses around coastal hazards um potential responses risk areas all those sorts of things so as part of the briefing with council we'll talk about um you know what that needs to look like how long that needs to go for who needs to be involved in that what methods we might use given covert and you know not being able to have kind of big meetings and things like that so we are um we are working to kind of adapt how we how we have effective consultation in the current environment it would
00:33:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: be about the third or fourth round of consultation on that project so the first one uh yes it would it would be about the fourth yes okay hold the shore climate change adaptation plan um so this the coastal hazard adaption plan is what we've got the state government funds for and it purely relates to the potential impacts and our responses in the coastal script whereas the other one looks at a broad range of potential implications and how we might respond that's right did we did Mayor Stewart: that go out to public consultation that one community consultation um that's Speaker 1: um components of that have been consulted on but the the draft itself is not yet complete yeah so that will need to be as part of the consultation it's sort of been hand in hand it's been hand in Mayor Stewart: hand it just takes a broader view so that will go out to the community at some point yep yep yep
00:34:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: business as usual activities i would have thought current priority saying not business as usual all these reports got business to you but it's a bit yes okay local economic plan any questions that i've had my say about i think it is a good timely thing look at the review process business support development Speaker 2: um actually can i have a question on that one yes mr can you run down or just is there a list of the shovel ready projects that we've been talking about um i know a couple of the constituents are asking me like well where what are they tom and Speaker 1: i thought is there a list of them uh there will be a list of them there's not quite a list yet um tom but yeah that's the intention to come up with a list um which considers things like we've talked
00:35:00 about the trail master plan and what the priorities up there are a range of environmental um initiatives that might have been in the pipeline around the environment strategy um good path pathways things Deputy Mayor Stockwell: capital works capital works funds yeah i think the federal government's already put out one for travel ready bikeway projects haven't they they've already got a grant around that i haven't seen i don't know if they've got one out through time again so yeah do you think um then giving good Speaker 1: consent to so yeah the intention is tom to um have a list of shovel ready projects um and brett they're likely to be provided to council through the budget process in the next week or two um but i don't i don't have that list on hand at the moment thank you okay can i ask a question Speaker 3: question yeah lauren uh kim um finalizing concept planning for the expansion of the digital hub
00:36:00 um can you explain why the digital hub actually means extension given that it's not income generating um i totally value its work and commend council for investing in knowledge-based industry i love all that but my question is um i'm really in the position to do it to expand the digital hub i know that we're going to be expanding it to the community center um can Speaker 1: i ask why um frank or um feel free to jump in here um we we received funding for the expansion stage two of the digital hub as part of the whole Rufous street precinct redevelopment so the funding that we got for the expansion of the community house or the redevelopment of the community house which is to a a new site um as part of that there was a refit of the old community house to become stage
00:37:00 two um of the digital hub so when we talk about the expansion of the digital hub it's into the old community house a refit of the old community house and that was state federal regions funding so Speaker 4: bbrx the building better regions funding which is what comes out from the commonwealth government um once a year so we picked up and i can't remember the exact figure two points something dollars out of that which lou o'brien was very instrumental in getting for us which was really good so that covers that entire project which is the community new community house and the expansion of the hub into the community older community house on the corner there Deputy Mayor Stockwell: and so some of the remember just quickly reviewing it some of the opportunities with the second stage is a more a more useful training area than will currently exist and that's more than a little bit downstairs yeah it's more than that it'll facilitate a range of different delivery options better than currently this as well as more more shared space or more office space
00:38:00 Speaker 1: yeah more office space that absolutely so at the moment the current facility provides for all of that uh the the permanent um longer term lease tenants co-working and that training um teaching sort of community space the current concepts for the refit of the community house to play a greater role in that um in terms of the training in the community space which will allow then more co-work and tenanting of the existing hub building but yeah it is um being delivered through that federal funding grant okay and just a question Councillor Finzel: there with regards to that then is there an expectation of money coming back to council out of this precinct and if so is there an expectation of money coming back to council out of this precinct Speaker 1: is there a plan for that uh yeah there is there absolutely is um there's a i don't have the
00:39:00 the financial um reports with me here but council has received six monthly reports on the progress of the digital hub which um details all the all the financial modeling and the projections um for the for the hub um so so yes um that there is an intention for that the hub to it's true it's tracking above what we are what we're really trying to do is we're trying to make sure that we're doing what we originally projected obviously pre-covered yeah um there's now an impact with with covered which um you've seen some initial uh reports on um but we'll continue to continue to monitor that based on when people can get back into the facility um the plan is for it to be cash positive yeah yeah yeah and we're on we're on track for that that's good thank you but not on Speaker 4: day one it's going to take yeah yeah time to get filled up like any new business yeah okay thank Deputy Mayor Stockwell: you the business support and development Mayor Stewart: i'll just look we've had to answer a lot of questions here kim but i just want to congratulate you and anthony and the team and carolyn i think you guys i see what you guys do in that round table
00:40:00 i think you've done a wonderful job with getting businesses and engaging with them through covert it's very difficult and it's unusual and unprecedented but you guys and anthony's eight point framework i think it's really it's it's really outstanding so congratulations on that Speaker 2: thank you industry and strategic development Speaker 4: just maybe i can update the council about the cq university obviously you know we've been liaising with them about their decision or their proposal to shut their campus here you know being very realistic they've got some significant financial challenges they're trying to address um they haven't made a final decision yet but by the betting man i think they'll be moving on um so the approach we've taken is to try what i call the flagpole approach that is we are trying to talk them into keeping some presence here to keep the flag following the ground so when things do turn around for them they can come back and be reignite their presence here because i think they do have a long-term
00:41:00 presence but they've got bigger fish to fry at the moment in terms of some of their challenges and i wouldn't like to be in their shoes having to address some of the big financial issues they're working through so we've done what we can to try and keep them a presence here and they've got to make their final decision on that in the next couple of weeks and i've been liaising with the vice Speaker 3: chancellor about that so what sort of incentives that are you offering um seeking now what we've Speaker 4: done um in the previous one you would have seen there's a reference to nita which is the noosa education and training alliance how'd i go the right one um they have a proposal that we've helped facilitate in terms of a learning hub about a place where all tertiary education and other education groups can work together um and we've said to cq you can be part of that in fact that the local head of the campus was involved in that process as well and our state members trying to get funding off the state government to establish that so we can get cq into that at the moment the word hibernates
00:42:00 Mayor Stewart: everyone yeah i'm trying to use the term hibernate and let them come back yeah there still is a door or a window open yeah yeah okay communications and marketing Deputy Mayor Stockwell: leadership and strategy program uh local government infrastructure plan the next planning scheme Mayor Stewart: i've just got a question where are we um we're still in consultation aren't we with the bush by federal funding what we're going to use that 1.2 million yeah so that would come out of kerry Speaker 4: companies report this afternoon on the agenda so it should be like that yeah yeah okay Okay, Auditing Programme for Advertising Devices, Business and Visual, Kim, what have we got to go on that? We've got Civic in the hinterland, that's it, isn't it?
00:43:00 Speaker 1: Parts of Noosaville. Okay. Yeah. The industrial area, that's been done though? Not completely. Not completely. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Plumbing and Building Audit, Educational Programmes and Swimming Pool Immersions. Compliance Provals, Electronic Plumbing Application Project. Have we got any other broad questions? Speaker 4: Maybe just on that last one, just for councillors. On the compliance approvals, what we've been doing recently is making sure that we have our own house in order in terms of building approvals because there are a lot of older council buildings that didn't necessarily have the right approvals in there, so Alan and his team have been going through making sure we've got all of our own buildings certified, which we're asking other people to do the same thing, we've got to make sure we've got our own house in order, so a lot of that stuff's now been done and they're working through that backlog pretty well.
00:44:00 Yeah, they are. Including some of what I call the community buildings, you know, the football clubs and things like that that are on council land that may have been put up on a wing of a song or a wing of a prayer, so, yeah. Speaker 3: Brett, is there an obligation to use an independent building certifier, not council building certifier? Speaker 4: No, we can, they're all trained, so we've got qualified building certifiers as well, so they are obliged to follow the building legislation regardless of what council says, so they have to deal with it, and they have to personally certify that as well. Speaker 3: I just want to pay attention to your confidence and interest in it. Speaker 4: No, that's what happens now, you know, a certifier can certify their own property, a building certifier can certify their own property, or they get paid to certify someone else's, so the council certifiers can certify council properties.
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00:45:00 They used to certify them all. Yeah. It's only an average few of you, no, I won't say that. Yeah, 10, 15 years ago, the only people who could certify were council certifiers, so that was the only ability to do it. But now, there is a private certification process as well, and it seems a bit silly to pay someone else to do something that council staff can do anyway, so. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah. Okay. Well, my only take on it is I'll have a chat that we've managed to sit around and have a look about what might be some ways we can look at, you know, what is the impact, what is some, maybe traffic light diagrams on little things on projects, maybe on these reports, just to make it a little bit more like the monthly financial report that we're looking, not just about what's being done, but if it's being done in accordance efficiently, effectively, et cetera, and what may be some trend lines that I think we can look at, you know, maybe, you know, some of the things that we've managed, so. Yeah. Council that's got . Absolutely. Yeah. Speaker 4: That'd be good. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Always looking at ways to improve them.
00:46:00 Council, what are you looking at? Councillor Wilkie: Well, look, I, these quarterly reports are always very extensive and detailed and of great benefit to anyone in the community who wants to see what each department's been up to. The question I have in terms of oversight is what's, what's, probably goes to what Brian's are learning too, what's not going well? What's not tracking well? What are you really worried about? In fact, to use the CEO's question, what's keeping you awake at night? How will these many projects that you're, you're across? What's the one that, that worries you the most? Speaker 1: Look, at the moment, it's what's happening in our economy and our response to our business community and the high number of unemployed and, and how we, how we help transition and facilitate and, and come out of that because, you know, there's been a huge impact. We've had, you know, our figures are showing a lot higher than what we thought and, you know, that's concerning.
00:47:00 We, we, we, we're optimistic about being able to come back strong in, in some sectors. Yeah. But it's, it's going to be a tough road. So, you know, for me and I know the team, we're getting requests and calls all, every day on, you know, seeking support and advice and facilitation and, and that sort of thing. So that's quite rightly front of mind for us and, you know, and, and a serious job that we need to, you know, put a lot of effort, investment and energy into. So that's, you know, that's probably top of mind at the moment, Cr Frank. Councillor Wilkie: And would it be overly cautious to flag that it's going to be a rough road for one, two years ahead, not just going to be over by the end of this year? Speaker 1: It's definitely not going to be over by the end of this year. You know, I think we'll, we will see some initial strong recovery, but that, you know, there are businesses that may not be able to return.
00:48:00 You know, I think we'll see a higher, a higher amount of vacancy rates and, you know, things like that. So it's, it's definitely going to take us a couple of years to fully recover. Councillor Wilkie: That's an Australian wide. Speaker 1: Absolutely it is. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah. I know, like in some ways we want to have a crystal ball to see what the future holds, but we really can't, can we? It's very difficult. And watching you guys, you know, really struggle with that once it's actually going to look like on a day by day basis. And, you know, we're doing our best. I know that there are quite a few people saying, well, Tom, what is going to happen? And I said, well, we're just watching, you know, and you guys are getting the shovel ready projects ready to give people hope going forward. And that's really, really important because I know that that's what people are kind of looking for. Speaker 1: Yeah. Speaker 3: To add to both what Tom and Frank had said, would this also be an opportunity for council to seek out, I don't know what you call them broadly, but it's people that are actually trained in innovation.
00:49:00 This is an opportunity for council to think outside the square, especially in the area of planning and environment. And I think we may have just touched the surface a little bit with our relaxation of what we consider enterprise precincts. And I think we could probably push that on the road a little bit further. And this is the opportunity to actually be a little bit more creative, still work within the plan, but rethink how we zone, rethink how we support small business and community. Speaker 1: Look, absolutely. We're working. We're already, we've got an incredible amount of talent in this community and connected to this community. We've been working with a whole lot of thought leaders through the, that are connected through the hub, the Peregian hub, particularly about, you know, business recovery, continuity, innovation, innovating your business models.
00:50:00 So, yeah, absolutely. And I agree. Now is the time to do that. To consider those things and to innovate. Absolutely. Speaker 4: And the mechanism that can probably happen is through the local economic plan. That's really going to determine what's the new economy, what do we want the new economy to look like, not just return to what we were. So how do we get some thinking around where we should be headed there over the next, you know, three to five years. Speaker 3: And I think we should also add to the conversation, it's not just small business that we should be looking at supporting, but it's also our youth. Because I think they're the ones that have been hit hardest during this COVID-19 crisis. They're the ones that are in hospitality, retail, tourism, and they can't live without it.
00:51:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Challenges ahead. And I do reflect that this is a report about the quarter from January to March. And in terms of your department, probably a quarter from January to March. We've had one of the most time-pressured, stressful three months we've had in the last four years. And to come out of that into the COVID, for you as director, having both economic and planning, I think that's a great stress on you. So I think from Councilor Orr's perspective, I think we have to acknowledge you and all your team about the significant hurdles that you've been continually having to jump since New Year's Eve. Thank you. And that brings the end of the first item and last item of the agenda, and I concur the meeting closed. No, no, no, you've got to move in second there. You've got to move the motion. Speaker 4: Oh, we haven't done the only thing we had to do.
00:52:00 Speaker 1: One job. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'm going home. Speaker 4: You had one job wrong. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Would someone like to move the recommendation? Mayor Stewart: I'll move it. You move. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: And segment? Councillor Finzel: Yeah, second it. Yeah, there you go. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: And Tom, if he's carried by the voice, all those in favour? You say aye, Tom. Yeah. Speaker 4: And it is unusual, Council, to say we've only got one item on this agenda. Normally we'd have quite a few core planning or development applications, but, you know, we've got a special meeting tomorrow because of some time constraints. We had one last week, too, or whatever, also. Yeah. We'd normally have half a dozen of those, but, yeah, unusual. Yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I don't think I've ever been to one that's only had one item. No. Six years has never been. Pull up your socks. Oh, no, I was just thinking of you. Okay, now the meeting is closed. That's 10. 10. 10.