1 ATTENDANCE & APOLOGIES ¶
00:00:00 Councillor Wegener: Everybody welcome to the Planning and Environment Committee meeting April 11th, 2023. I declare the meeting open and I'd like to acknowledge that we are meeting on the traditional lands of the Kabi Kabi people and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging. We have an apology from Claire the Mayor for today's meeting and we have councillors in attendance, Councillor Finzel, Councillor Stockwell and in the room with Councillor Lorentson and Councillor Wilkie and Joes, who is not here. Before we start today, this is our first day with the new computer programming system with Resolve meeting management systems and for everybody out there that's watching the legions, this is going to make it easier, so much easier for you to follow what's happening here. It's if you access to the reports you can now go onto the onto the website and you don't have to search
00:01:00 through the long documents you can just hit the report you're looking for to get the information much more quickly and even better for live streaming you can actually go to the different segments coming up on the from the meeting and say I want to watch this segment you know concerning you know whatever some particular point instead of having to walk through the four hours. So we might stumble a little bit today when going through the of this but we'll get to that in a little bit. You're in good hands. We have a Linda running the show. Okay so we will can we have the minutes in the last committee meeting can I have a mover and a seconder for the planning committee meetings? I'll move. I'm happy to second. Councillor Stockwell moved. Councillor Finzel seconded. Move there to a vote. Is unanimous? Okay. Is that all good there Linda? Just one moment please.
00:02:00 Welcome everybody in the in the audience today. Quite a good crowd. Thank you for coming today. Okay so let's go to the first agenda item which is revised council policy guidelines private land conservation partnerships and today we have the great Dave Burrows, Camille and Tim Rawlings in the room. Dave will you walk us through these reports. Speaker 1: Certainly Councillor. So this um this report is to do two things is to provide an update to the private land conservation partnerships program and also to recommend some changes to the actual voluntary conservation agreement program as well. So the report talks about land to wildlife how successful it's been in Noosa Shire since 1998. It gives a um some metrics about program growth. It indicates that the program is highly highly sort of
2 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES ¶
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3 PRESENTATIONS ¶
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5.1 REVISED POLICY GUIDELINES- PRIVATE LAND CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIPS ¶
00:03:00 resonates with the rural community in the sense we've got 415 members now joined covering in excess of 5 000 hectares of land so it's it's proven highly beneficial. So that's that's basically the update on land to wildlife. We're not proposing any changes to the land for wildlife program as successful as is we are proposing some changes to the voluntary conservation agreement program and the main changes we're talking about is getting rid of the five-year funding cap for the agreements to make it in perpetuity and the second um the second proposal is to actually um reintroduce rate refunds uh just to give you some background the voluntary conservation agreement program started when Noosa Shire was amalgamated with Sunshine Coast Council so that during the during the time of that amalgamation the VCA program had um in perpetuity agreements with the same landowner and rate refunds as outlined in the report so those properties when
00:04:00 we de-amalgamated those properties that were signed up during amalgamation have that type of that level of agreement because it's a contractual obligation and then the second term of the the new Noosa Council decided to make the just a five-year term and get rid of the rate refunds so we've got a two tier program which has an inequity in it so what we're proposing to do is address that inequity to make the program consistent across the landowners who engage in the VCA program and then there's the Councillor Wegener: split program the split zone program correct councillor now the third thing with the third Speaker 1: thing we're doing in this report is proposing a third a third program so the land for wildlife is is basically a non-binding program voluntary conservation agreements are binding on title but we've got a minimum size property property size of five hectares the split zoning is is proposing to work with those landowners who want to protect their land but don't have the site the values of the biodiversity values that to to sort of go for
00:05:00 a full VCA so it's up to five hectares in size the split zoning in fact is is a rezoning under the the Noosa plan where part of the property can be re-zoned as environmental management and conservation so what we're proposing is entering agreements with those landowners who want to come they're the main they're the main changes to the program we're asking we talk about what that means to the bottom line in terms of the funding amounts there in the reports they're obviously Councillor Wegener: not going to the confidential numbers and so with with the um VCA increase Speaker 1: the funding will increase by sixteen thousand dollars a year which is a fairly minimal amount that's what comes out of the environment leary with the split zoning there's seven properties who have nominated for split signing that'll come up to ten thousand five hundred dollars a year for three years
00:06:00 Councillor Finzel: yeah i just have a question thank you for your information there around the what comes out of the environmental levy to to fund it what comes out of that you're seeking an environmental levy out of the property and so that doesn't make that a default. There's been an increase in the environmental levy, but at the same time you're also seeking to get a rate refund. Correct. So to me that's like we're only getting two opportunities for public money, so how are we justifying that? Speaker 1: Council, each VCA property has a specific funding allocation based on the size of the property. So if the funding allocation for a property is, for example, $3,000 a year, they can, under this proposed amendment, they can use some of that $3,000 for a rate refund.
00:07:00 There's no additional funding. Councillor Finzel: Oh, they apply for that? Speaker 1: They apply for it. Okay. And the rate refund has got a lot of governance around it in the sense that all the other actions have got to be done, like all the weeds managed. The property's got to be in relatively pristine condition. Okay. So they can apply for a rate refund. So there's no additional funding. Okay. Thanks for that. It's just a re-diverting of some of the funding for that. Councillor Finzel: Yeah. Thank you for the clarification. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I just remembered, I did have a question. Table 1 in your report, it's entitled Comparison of Land Acquisition and VCA Costs, something Coastal Council voted 2009 to 2013. So those figures are average per hectare figures for those particular four years that haven't been increased or subtracted. So I'm just wondering if you could just look at the CPI because I would have thought the difference between land acquisition and VCA's in the current environment is probably 10 times higher. Yeah. Speaker 1: Correct. Yeah. Correct. That's just to show the ratio, but I agree entirely with what you're saying with property values now.
00:08:00 There'd be even more. Councillor Wegener: Question from Amelia. Councillor Lorentson: Hi, Dave. In terms of the two tier system, so Council made the decision to adopt by the end of the year and not go with the de-amalgamation at perpetuity. Can I ask what their reasons were at the time? Speaker 1: Well, I wasn't here, Council. I can only assume it was financial reasons. It might have been just more financial restraint in the post-de-amalgamation period. They were trying to possibly save money, I think. But I really, I can only surmise that. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Okay. Councillor Wegener: Well, just because the day's here and there's the most pleasant person to talk to in the world, but kind of on a philosophical note, so we, the right payer will be, will be giving a little bit extra to this, but the value that we get is we're going towards succeeding with the environment strategy.
00:09:00 And the environment strategy said we have 50% of land value. And that, that's something that was voted on. We, as you said, the Shire residents have definitely voted for that. It takes a big part of it. And this is how we're going to get there. So we're just taking another step forward. Is that right? Speaker 1: Correct, Councillor. So if you just look at the PowerPoint on the second, second slide there. So it's under the new corporate plan and the old corporate plan specifically mentioned. There's an environment theme, 1.2 partner with landowners to manage, protect and regenerate natural environmental assets. And again, as you articulated before, by 2030, there's no net loss of ecosystem barriers and half of the land was managed for its environmental barriers. So engaging with private landowners is a, is a clear, clear outcome of the corporate plan and the environment strategy. Councillor Wegener: It's obviously cheaper than using the environment levy to purchase land as well. Speaker 1: Well, it is. There's still a place for both, but I think this is a really good tool to use.
00:10:00 It's a really good tool to use. Councillor Wegener: And how many other Shires have managed to make 50% of their land for environmental laggards? Speaker 1: I would think none. Councillor Wegener: Should we do another first? Speaker 1: Well, definitely. Speaker 7: We're not quite there yet, but we will be. We'll get there. Councillor Finzel: Yeah, I just, just to clarify that on page three, it says we're currently sitting at 36.6% of the Shires under conservation protection. And our target is, isn't it? To reach 50% by 2030. Is that correct? Speaker 7: Yeah, our current figure is actually, it's updated from that. It's sitting at about 42%. Okay. Yeah. Speaker 1: That includes land for wildlife properties. That's right. Councillor Finzel: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So just to clarify, we're not at 50%. No, no, no. That's a target. That's a target. Yeah. Speaker 1: If I can just say another thing, at the agenda review last week, you asked for some aerial photograph comparisons. We just knocked up a couple of quick ones if, so this is the Kin Kin area.
00:11:00 So we've got a comparison between 1958 and 2022 there. So obviously we're looking at agricultural areas and the Kin Kin Valley was one of the major areas that was cleared in the early 1900s for agriculture, bananas, beans, grazing, dairy. So you can kind of see the change. The country to the left-hand side of both screens is the Wundum National Park, which back in 1958 was a forest reserve, but obviously all that cleared land to the east is all the Kin Kin Valley there. You can see the, and from that time, you can see the amount of woody vegetation that's regrown, particularly along the creek lines, and I'm not going to sort of say that's all the result of land for wildlife. That's the result of many purposes. It might be property subdivision, but it's, the key reason is, is landowner aspirations. They want to see more vegetation on the property and land for wildlife is just one of those things where council can actually support those landowners. Councillor Lorentson: Fantastic. Speaker 1: And the second one, sorry, the Cooroy area. So it's very much the same story that the bottom left-hand corner is the West Cooroy State Forest, which is now National Park.
00:12:00 And again, you can see the, see the way the woody vegetation coverage is pretty much extended over the waterways and some of the steep slopes, so it's a good story. Speaker 6: It also supports our, it also supports our natural areas too, you know, through weed management and that sort of thing, you know, reducing the amount of weeds going onto protected areas as well, if you have good private landowner management as well, so, yeah. Councillor Wegener: As you mentioned in the, say, the healthy waterways report, that most of the silt coming off the areas comes from underneath Guantanamo trees, which really was surprising, so, yeah. Any further questions? Councillor Finzel: Yeah, I just have a question. So with regards to this, will there be any changes for staff as we progress this? Will you need more council staff to help manage anything or are you satisfied that staffing is adequately provided? Speaker 1: Councillor, this is going to matter.
00:13:00 I mean, I'll say that Sunshine Coast Council have got seven staff doing what one person does in Noosa Council, so even though it's the biggest shire and there's more rate payers, so the benchmarking across all 13 local, SEQ local governments shows that in terms of equivalent FTEs, Noosa Shire is the most under-resourced, so I'm just giving you that as a, as a bare fact, but I'm not, we are actually looking at increasing some resourcing in the next five years. Yeah. Speaker 7: We've put up for additional resourcing in this program for a couple of years now. Okay. And again, we will this year, because there is a growing demand. Okay. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So. Councillor Finzel: Oh, sorry. There's a question. So will that come up through your, you've requested up to address program resourcing as part of the 23-24 budget, so will staffing be included in that? Yes. Speaker 6: Yes. So that's correct. So it'll be 1.6 FTE in total for the first FTE. 1.6? 1.6. Oh, 1.6. Yeah. So it'll be one full-time staff member and one part-time staff member.
00:14:00 Still subject to budget? Yeah. Yeah. Councillor Finzel: Okay. Thank you. That's all right. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah. Just a couple of questions. So in terms of the BCA and the split zoning program, the policy makes reference at this possibly plan amendments. Can you explain what's been on that? Speaker 1: Well, under the NISA plan, as part of that, every property in NISA Shire is allocated in zoning. Yep. Whether it be urban, rural, rural residential, industrial, et cetera, et cetera. Most of the, all the properties in the hinterland is zoned rural or rural residential. So what we can actually do under a planning scheme amendment is rezone part of that property as environmental management and conservation. Fantastic. Speaker 7: We've actually been offering the program informally for some time, and there has been some voluntary uptake. So this is really formalising the program?
00:15:00 Fantastic. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: So just a question that's following on from that then. So in the report, it says on page 12, from time to time, we put the planning scheme amendments around this up to state. Have we got anything in the pipeline at the moment to send an amendment up? Speaker 7: Yeah, we have. We have. And what we would do is when we do an amendment package, we would just package that up with us. Okay. With the other amendments. So we just, like we say, from time to time. It's not something we probably run on its own. We just, when we do our rounds of amendments, we include those sorts of options in there. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. And then just one other question then. It says that the environmental management and conservation zone, and I guess it's the owner, marks up the nominated area on a map of the property. So how do we formalise that mapping if the owners, do they give us a map, or? Speaker 1: I go out on the property with a hard copy map. We talk it to and negotiate. The owner says, this is the area I want. Then I go to our GIS section.
00:16:00 They digitise the map internally, and I send the owner back that map and say, is that what you want? And they say, yes. Then I sign a letter saying, this is what we want. And it's formalised that way. That's what strategic planning need to have in their record keeping. Councillor Finzel: So that it's just based on what the owner wants to see. Absolutely. And it's also based on the environmental values of the site. Yeah, that's what I'm wondering. Yeah, giving where you're putting. Speaker 7: Absolutely. So to qualify for the zone, it has to have the environmental values. That's the first pass. If it doesn't meet that, then it's not an option for the program. Yeah. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So mine's just a comment, and I don't think it needs, I'll tell you what it is. Just in the guideline, there's in the second sentence on land for wildlife, you go into a bit of current detail that I think for a guideline is probably unnecessary. So the sentence is, the funding level is based on a number of members in each council. And full stop. Noosa Council's contribution to the 2022-23 financial year is 14,500. I think that's superfluous for a guideline. And the other one, it talks about host council arrangements.
00:17:00 Once again, I don't think, for the report, that's fine. But I just wanted to, like, I'm happy to move the recommendation, but maybe by ordinary meeting, just have a look and see whether you agree, and just have a minor amendment available, if that's what you think's fine. Yeah. So I'll move the recommendation. Yeah. I do say, I think as we continually see a massive increase in land value, the opportunities for acquisition are going down. But the... The opportunity to achieve those targets that we had on the screen through private nature conservation becomes not only more affordable, but it's also a long-term more effective, that you're inviting within the landowner a sense of responsibility. So to me, this is really important to get right.
00:18:00 Yeah. We did restrict the number of years of land. And the vision was that the... You could get the contribution or the payment for a VCA. And it was, as a result of concerns about the financial implications. But as we've seen, the difference is minor. And if we look at the opportunities going forward, it still is... It's only ever going to be a portion, very small portion, of buying a similar amount of land. So it probably makes sense to make it conducive. And also the equity between the existing and the current land. It was also interesting to see the comparisons between 1958 and we probably don't realise the significance of the change every day. I remember when we started Lake MacDonald attachment care and old Murph Covey who at the time was a long-distance living person who'd been born in the Croy area. He got up in front of everyone around Lake MacDonald and said I want you to look around.
00:19:00 He said when I was a boy you couldn't see a tree. It's all regrowth. He said there was a banana farm doing the bananas, they got a disease and then it was replaced by beans. And so we've had this huge response over many decades and what's left to do is probably the harder thing to do and that's getting in there and protecting those areas that make key links. And if you look at that Croy map it's one of the key areas where we get an east-west and a north-south connection which those sort of long regional scale connectivity is really important in a climate change environment because you want species to be able to migrate into different temperature zones, different altitudes, etc. So to me this is an important change and it's a useful guideline. It is only guiding staff but still every decision about a BCA has to come to Council
00:20:00 as would a change in the zoning. So I think it does just reflect the changes in policies that have been made incrementally over the last couple of years. So I think it's a good step. Councillor Lorentson: Can I allow to ask a question for you? Councillor Wegener: No, no. Do you want to speak to that? Councillor Finzel: Yeah, sure. Look, I think anything that supports protection of our environmental values and moving forward to a sustainable future for generations to come is really supported. It was shown in our liveability survey that was in the top three things that people valued when we engaged with the community. So yeah, I'm happy to support anything that continues bringing that protection for future generations is well worth looking at. I like the idea that it goes back to state for amendments. Shows it's not just Noosa Shire, it's across the board. Everyone across, you know, Australia and the state is interested in how we're progressing
00:21:00 and trying to reach targets for, you know, climate change and meeting our own targets with our expenditure through our corporate plan, our policy guidelines and where we're headed as a council. So yeah, I support this today. Councillor Wegener: I'd like to just briefly say that when we are making a trade off, you know, the rest of the entire residents, rate payers, are making a contribution to this. And what are we getting back? And I think as a community, what we get back is identity. We, this is, we are, we live in Noosa. We are part of Noosa. And the land for wildlife, the BCAs and the growth of the regeneration of our forests is who we are. And I think that we should keep trumpeting our incredible successes. And today is another step towards this incredible success. That way there's so many people. People just think, oh, you know, we're cutting down everything. We're developing like crazy. And it's actually not true.
00:22:00 We're going the other direction here in Noosa. And we should be very proud of that. I think people are proud of that. People support this decision. So should we put it to a vote? And we're going to, this time, before we put it to a vote, you know, on the screens here. Oh, hang on. Why in front of you? Why in front of you? Have you voted already? Have you voted? Okay. So we're going to click on the vote. And hit yes. And save. And save. Councillor Lorentson: How does it come up there? Councillor Wegener: Should we raise our hands? Yeah, let's do this. The same road as before. Speaker 7: Oh, there we go. Yeah. Councillor Wegener: Good luck. It's been unanimous. Thank you. Next, we're on to consideration number two, small business friendly program.
5.2 SMALL BUSINESS FRIENDLY PROGRAM ¶
00:23:00 Good morning. Councillor Finzel: Hi. Morning. Hello. Hi. Councillor Wegener: And we have Vicky to walk us through this. Can you walk us through this? Speaker 2: Lynne might do that. Lynne might do that. Lynne might do that. Speaker 5: Okay. Good morning, councillors. Morning. As we discussed at the workshop, this is the small business friendly charter that we are recommending that council approve. We also are asking for the delegated authority to the chief executive officer to deal with any matters arising from the implementation of the charter. To refresh your memory. We brought this to your workshop because we saw an opportunity to celebrate small business month and an opportunity came up for us to sign this charter at the annual conference which is being held in the Sunshine Coast for the first time.
00:24:00 So we thought that it was a great opportunity for Noosa Council to reaffirm its commitment to small business and all the things that we do across council for small business. And as part of that for us to sign the charter and as part of the charter to do an audit into next year of all the different things and to put an actual number across all of the activities that we do so that council is aware of the monetary value and having it quantified. Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Any questions? Councillor Lorentson: Just a quick question. Are there any budget implications associated with council signing this charter? Speaker 5: No councillor. We had most of it covered from our normal budget, our core budget.
00:25:00 We did ask for a little bit extra to do more with. But even if we don't get that in the new financial year, we're confident we can manage it within our budget. Yeah. Councillor Finzel: I'm happy to move. Yes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: You moved. I'll second it. I can ask questions and you can talk to us again. The chair has moved. Councillor Wegener: Thank you. Cr Brian seconded it. Councillor Finzel: Yeah. Yeah. Look, I think the recommendation that comes before us today is well worth supporting. I think through COVID and where we've been during our time here as councillors, we have actively, like you said, engaged with small business. We're working closely with small business, trying to get those outcomes to support small business. It's important to me as the environment across this Shire for functionality and how the ecosystems of our small business all get together and how we support that.
00:26:00 So I'm happy to support the recommendation today. I think anything that we can do to move forward with the collective, it's not just our council, it's across many councils that are moving forward to provide, you know, better framework and governance. So I'm happy to support this small business friendly program today. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah. Mightn't sort of... I'll talk to it and ask the question at the same time. So when we look at the stats, 7,000 GST registered business, 58% are non-employed. So sole traders. Lots of very nice people today, sole traders. Yes. 31% have less than four or less. That's a lot. And 9.25 to 19. So 98% of our businesses are small businesses. What would be really interesting to do in the audit, and we may have already done it, is have those breakups and the sectors where they sit, and then cross-check our programs
00:27:00 whether there is gaps or holes, because we tend to, you know, those, you know, retail businesses are frequently part of change to commerce who are well-served. You know, we've got excellent programs in the digital tech sector, you know, which we're The good thing about that one is we start with small business, end up medium, and some, well, I think we've got at least one that started small and now it's large. But there's probably something else that we need to have a think about, you know, that's not the education sector. But are there another suite of challenges or opportunities with perhaps that 58% of sole traders? You know? Is it just providing, you know, incubated space? Is it providing shared workspace? Is it something else? And I just think that would be an interesting part of the charter, is folks who work out, well, are we servicing that broad sector commensurate with the need? And other than that, I think, you know, as we said, the attachment that showed what we're
00:28:00 doing to meet the charter clearly shows it's something that this council is serious about. And I think, you know, there's a lot of work to be done there. If 98% of your businesses are small, then it makes sense to spend a lot of your economic development focus on that sector. Thanks, Brian. Councillor Wegener: Question. So there's globalisation, and then there seems to be a movement against globalisation, really focusing on our local businesses. Would you be getting that? Speaker 5: So what we're trying to do is we're trying to, you know, we're trying to, you know, what we've tried to do, councillor, is to respond to the needs of our businesses who basically come to us when they're in need. So COVID was a great example where they came to us for a request for cleaning, for help with cleaning and sanitising. And we were able to go out and get something like $20 million worth of value for them to
00:29:00 do that. Part of what we've inherited is a business community that comes to you when they need, rather than for us to continually do, you know, the cookie cutter example of a whole range of different programs. So to councillor Stockwell's comment, what we're looking at is to try and offer some green programs for those businesses as well. Our survey is anecdotal. Surveys are suggesting that if we can help them to make money through doing greening, we will get a better uptake. So we're starting to look at that. But to the councillor's point, there is probably quite a few gaps that we could fill. And we want to make sure that it's an across the council opportunity to look at what we do, what we do well, what we maybe don't need to do anymore, and to look at where we could
00:30:00 actually add some real value for our small businesses. In terms of globalisation, where they do want to upscale or accelerate growth, we are the conduits into different government departments that can help them with that. And Chris, as you know, does a wonderful job at the Digital Hub. And that's a model we'd like to replicate for other sectors of the community. Councillor Wegener: Localisation, it's called. Localisation. Yeah. It's much better in terms of moving up. It's much better to have a small business here to move out into the globalised world instead of a business out there that's been buying up Noosav. Yes. You know, there's so much to this. Just this week, I've met a person who is doing a fantastic beer ad campaign. He just moved here a year and a half ago. And he's moved here because it's a buyer's beer, because it's Noosav. And it's just a big part of his identity as a brand advertising specialist. And so he's come to USA.
00:31:00 And then another cat named, I won't give his name, but he came here from France as a baker. So he's a big pastry chef. And now he's working for the advertising company as a filmer. He's gone out on his own and created his own digital filming computer, whatever that is. But he made the advertisement for a beer called Travala, which wanted to associate itself with Noosav. And it's all just being together. And it's all very exciting. But it actually comes back to the previous report, which was being in the environment. Because when you look at the ad, it's just Noosav, ginger land, coast, trees, and so forth. And that's what they're selling. And they're selling Noosav every day. So I just wanted to point that out, that people are still coming here because of Noosav. It's what it is. Speaker 2: Part of the charter is actually finding out stories about that. Because there's lots of them. There's lots of them we know about. And there's lots of them we don't know about. We'd love to hear more about it. And maybe connecting them with others that they might grow their business with.
00:32:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Has he actually got a program? Or is he just doing market research? Councillor Wegener: So we have to go to the digital hub to upload these colossal items. And just think what a great service because that is so facilitating his business. He wouldn't be able to do that at the digital hub. Speaker 5: So, Councillor, we have many, you know, many businesses that look to the digital hub for guidance, acceleration, incubation. We'd like to replicate that eventually in other ways. And we've got a lot of projects that will help us put the building blocks in place to do that. I think it's important that, you know, we, like every other branch of council, we're looking for value-based businesses. So those that aspire to align with what we believe in.
00:33:00 And because of that, we have a number of businesses that are one-man bands, more than some of our other counterparts around South East Queensland. Who are dealing more at the small and medium enterprise. We are very much in the one-man band. And so it's a different game that we work with. Councillor Wegener: Long live the one-man band. Speaker 5: And woman. And woman. Councillor Wegener: Should we put the recommendation to a vote? Yeah. Have you done yet? Okay, we're good now. Let's go to the press. Yes, let's do it. Yes, and say it. And we're going to have that come up. Councillor Lorentson: Yep. Councillor Wegener: Okay, fantastic, thank you. Thank you, councillors. Thanks. Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you very much. Thanks. Thank you.
5.3 MCU22/0209 APPLICATION FOR MATERIAL CHANGE OF USE FOR SHORT TERM ACCOMMODATION AT 515 COOROY NOOSA ROAD, TINBEERWAH ¶
00:34:00 Councillor Wegener: Next we have an application for material change of use for short-term. Next we have an application for material change of use for short-term accommodation at 515 Cooroy Noosa Road in Tinbeerwah and Patrick Murphy to come and walk us through. Speaker 3: Thank you. So as you said, this relates to property at 515 Cooroy Noosa Road in Tinbeerwah. It's proposed to use the property for the purpose of short-term accommodation. There's an existing dwelling on the site, which is zoned rural. It is proposed to accommodate up to eight people within the five-bedroom dwelling. The site is 2.93 hectares in area, which has meant that it doesn't meet the four hectare requirement within the scheme, and it's flipped it from a code-assessable application to an impact-assessable application. The closest dwelling is on the opposite side of Cooroy Noosa Road, and it's approximately 160 metres away. There's a council reserve to the east.
00:35:00 There's a reserve to the east, which council is trustee. This site was previously used as a restaurant. The planning scheme certainly encourages the use of the hinterland areas for the purpose of small-scale visitor accommodation, meeting a number of requirements. This proposal has demonstrated, other than the lot size, that it meets those requirements, and it's recommended subject to conditions that the application be approved. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Stroud. Councillor Stroud. Just to clarify for anyone interested, while you talked about the requirement of four hectares, that's an acceptable outcome, so it's really only one way to achieve a performance outcome rather than a requirement that it has to be that? Speaker 3: That is correct, Councillor Stockwell. Councillor Finzel: Yeah, no questions. It's pretty straightforward, yeah. Councillor Wegener: Do you have a question? I've got a line.
00:36:00 . I see that this is a business. A short-term accommodation is a business. I don't understand why it's not being looked at through the lens or through the regulation of the Business Activities Code. And the Business Activities Code says the purpose of the Business Activities Code is to ensure businesses' activities are developed in a manner consistent with the Noosa Shire Centre's hierarchy. And so being a business is a business. It should be consistent with the business code. And the business code says businesses should go where businesses belong. And in the rural area, you have farming, you have agriculture activities, you have those. And just as you wouldn't take a cow or a pig and bring them into the beach area, you know, that little property there, you don't take a holiday motel and drop it in the middle of a rural zone. So I don't understand why we're not looking at it as this isn't the primary code to assess it with.
00:37:00 Speaker 3: So firstly, the Planning Scheme defines this type of use as short-term accommodation. So it's quite specific in that regard. And in the rural zone, it actually makes it a consistent use, subject to generally code assessment if the lot size is more than four hectares in area. Notwithstanding, there are a range of land uses. Within the Planning Scheme. And there's a definition section within the Planning Scheme which actually identifies accommodation uses, industrial uses or business uses. This is not included in those business uses. It actually uses the term business activities, accommodation activities. And from that business activities, we have a business activities code which applies to those land uses. No accommodation use requires assessment against the business activities. That includes a retirement village, other types of dwellings.
00:38:00 Nothing actually requires assessment against the business activities code. And you might find there could be some form of duplication as well, if you were to assess it against our current business activities code. And against the visitor accommodation code, which we have assessed it against, which is really specific to visitor accommodation. So I think that whilst it's an impact-assessable application, and it is assessed against the entire Planning Scheme, the codes that you assess it against need to be relevant. And as I said, the visitor accommodation code is sufficient in that regard. Councillor Wegener: Okay. If there's no other questions, I'd like to move this to General, because of the significance of the matter and for further considerations. Sure. Okay. I'll... Are you moving? I'll take it. Okay, thank you. I think we need to learn more about this, and as we know, I've been kind of uppity about short-term accommodation in the hinterland.
00:39:00 And I see that this is... I consider it a business first and foremost, not accommodation. It has nothing to do with housing. It's just straightforward, a business in the hinterland. The rural... These codes are about putting businesses and properties, getting the proper use of the rural residential code. Basically... Well, I can read it. The purpose of the rural activities code is to ensure that a range of rural activities are established and operated in a sustainable manner, which conserves the productive characteristics of rural land. So that's right at the top. And I don't see turning a rural property into a hotel really fits the code. And then when you go to the business activities code, it's basically the same thing. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: It says business activities... Mr Chairman, your motion was to refer it, and you're talking about substance and medicine,
00:40:00 so you're not talking to the motion. Okay. Councillor Wegener: I would love to bring this up, and I'll be talking to staff before this, so I can get this, so I'm not wasting everybody's time. Okay, can you second it? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Put it to a vote? Mr Chairman, I'm from the Cashman area, the Lake MacDonald. I went in and the change from a dwelling house to a short estate does trigger the SEQ water development guidelines. My reading is that the guessing where the excellent disposal area is is greater than 100 metres from the waterway, but could you check that? I'll look at that, please. Councillor Wegener: And also, didn't last week we mention in a chat about whether a fence is necessary on the floor as part of the conditions? Speaker 3: Yeah, we did. Yeah, so a dam is not subject to the building code requirements for fencing. There is a pool that's on site that has pool fencing around it, but we've checked with our building department and have confirmed that there's no requirement
00:41:00 for the fence under the building regulations. Councillor Wegener: Should we put it to a vote? Okay, it hasn't dropped on the screen yet. Sorry, there you go. Okay. Put it to the on-fair report to the Deputy General. Is he unanimous? Okay, thank you. Patrick? Speaker 7: Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Round to number four. Minor change to a development permit commercial business type one office and commercial business type two medical at 28 Eony Creek Road, Noosaville. Councillor Lorentson: Hi, welcome. Councillor Wegener: Good morning. We have Nadine to walk us through the report. Speaker 4: Okay, good morning, councillors. In July 2020, council approved
5.4 MCU22/0038.01 – MINOR CHANGE TO A DEVELOPMENT PERMIT (COMMERCIAL BUSINESS TYPE 1 – OFFICE AND COMMERCIAL BUSINESS TYPE 2 - MEDICAL) AT 28 EENIE CREEK ROAD, NOOSAVILLE ¶
00:42:00 an application for a two-storey office and medical building on the vacant site when you come into the Noosa Civic. It proposed two storeys over basement car park in the building. The applicant has now indicated they've got an anchor tenant who has required some changes to the building which involves the construction of a purpose-built radiation treatment facility in the basement area. There is some additional gross floor area required for that radiation facility but it's actually been offset by some changes to the internal layout of the building in terms of changes to lift wells, stairwells and some additional storage areas which means the GFA stays the same. The other major aspect or change is there's removal of eight tandem car parking spaces as part of the development and we've put it to our traffic consultant who has reviewed the
00:43:00 extensive information submitted by the applicant who's indicated that the proposed car parking as it stands is sufficient for the proposed use. And there was a comment previously about also disabled no we don't call it disabled PWD Speaker 7: all accessible Speaker 4: and that will be the building code specifies requirements for that for the provision of accessible spaces for hospitals of this nature. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I think the key issue here was the balance between the additional area in the basement
00:44:00 for the high radiation facility and we've got expert advice to say what they're talking about and what they're proposing is sufficient. So that's for me all that is needed. I think this is an establishment that no one ever wants to visit but it's really important it's there. To have facilities such as this for our local residents considering our ageing population is a good step forward in terms of the level of health facility choice we have in the Shire. Councillor Wegener: Thank you, Councilor Stockwell. Thank you, Councilor Stockwell. I'm sure that I've echoed the rest of this as well especially the part of not getting the number. Okay, until we put it to a vote all in favor carried unanimously press the button.
00:45:00 Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Bye. Councillor Wegener: Next we have Planning and Environment Coordination Bill number BD2147 2022 application for dual occupancy at 6 Margaret Crescent, Sunrise Beach. And to offer Patrick Murphy. Thanks, Councilor. Speaker 3: So this report reviews and recommends the settlement of an appeal against Council's decision to refuse an application for a dual occupancy at 6 Margaret Crescent. The application was originally refused under delegation as it was a code accessible application due to non-compliance with the policy plan's requirements regarding site cover, plot ratio, asymmetrical design and stormwater design concerns. Throughout the appeal process there's been some mediation with the applicant whereby they've submitted
5.5 PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COURT APPEAL NO. BD2147 of 2022 – APPLICATION FOR A DUAL OCCUPANCY AT 6 MARGIT CRESCENT, SUNRISE BEACH ¶
00:46:00 a number of amended plans. The original application exceeded site cover by 3%. It was proposing 43% as opposed to the 40% allowed by the scheme. And in terms of plot ratio it was proposing a ratio of 0.453 to 1 as opposed to the 0.4 allowed by the scheme. The amended plans have resolved these issues through a range of design options. The most significant is a new building in the building on the upper level whereby they've removed a multi-purpose room and an ensuite and put a balcony in that location and they've also made on the lower level they've increased the extent of an indent to each side of the dwelling near the dining areas and also they've made the louvers that were to the rear of the site to be fixed so they couldn't be closed. That would be a site cover issue. And then in terms of design the design of the building previously it was completely asymmetrical
00:47:00 and now if you look at the within the attachment you'll see at page 62 that the buildings now are very different in terms of their appearance. That's done in terms of colours and materials as well as some design changes and some changes to roof form. So as you'll see the report recommends the settlement of the appeal based upon these amended plans. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Any questions? Councillor Finzel: No questions. Councillor Wegener: It sounds as though the system works. We worked it out. You guys didn't need to spend any money at all but everybody's happy. Speaker 3: That's right. Councillor Wegener: Happy layout. Speaker 7: It's a mediated outcome. I'm happy to move it. Councillor Wegener: We'll get Councillor Finzel moved and I'll second it.
00:48:00 Does everybody speak? Councillor Finzel: Yeah, I think it's all been said. It's worked. The mediation process and the negotiation has brought us to this point today so happy to support and vote yes. Councillor Wegener: Councillor Gilead. Councillor Lorentson: You mentioned there was no cost and that was a great thing. There is a cost and I'll just seek clarification so bringing it to mediation there is a cost. Speaker 3: There certainly is a cost. We've had to engage solicitors, we've engaged a planning expert. It was just unfortunate I suppose through the assessment process that we had an applicant that wasn't prepared to work with Council to bring the property into compliance with the planning scheme. Yep. Councillor Wegener: Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'm going to speak to it. It's obvious that there has been improvements to bring it in to conformity with the current planning scheme. It's also obvious when you look at Figure 5 on page 5 of the report
00:49:00 of the elevations that the reason we're getting these big blocky applications is because we've removed the requirements for the fixed roofs and eaves in the Eastern Beaches code. To me that was a mistake which have been fixed by now. I think we can continue to get designs that cost us money that are too bulky until we have a planning scheme that reflects the Lucid Design principles. I think that the change from the previous scheme to this one has put us on a number of occasions into a place where we're having to spend ratepayers money to try and reduce the size of big bulky buildings. Councillor Wegener: Any other comments? Can we put it to a vote? All in favour? If it's unanimous, press the button. Yes button.
00:50:00 Save. And it's been carried. Councillor Finzel: Can I ask a question in relation to Councillor Stockwell's comment around the the planning scheme and the fixed roofs? Or is that for outside this meeting? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: You can go to the outside. Yeah. Speaker 7: You can follow it up with us if you like. Councillor Wegener: The report's OK. Next we have the Planning Applications decided by Delegated Authority February 2023. And Brian Stockwell has a great confidence in this. I have. I'm good on you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yes, in accordance with Chapter 5b of the Local Government Act I wish to declare that I have a prescribed confidence in this matter as follows.
6.1 PLANNING APPLICATIONS DECIDED BY DELEGATED AUTHORITY – FEBRUARY 2023 ¶
00:51:00 Sunkheist building approvals are identified as an applicant in number 21 the development application MCU 2022-0190. I contacted Sunkheist Building Approvals to undertake building certification for my proposed residence in Warring Point on 29 November 2021. I haven't started yet. This process is currently underway. The total fees associated with completion certification inspection regime is 5,904 which includes cancelled plumbing and drainage fees. As a result of my conflicts of interest I will now leave the meeting room while the matter is considered. Councillor Wegener: Any comments? Pretty straight forward. I move to accept recommendation. Councillor Finzel: I'm happy to second. Seconded. Councillor Wegener: Any?
00:52:00 Any questions? Um, Amelia? No, thank you. Okay. Should we put it to a vote? Are you ready yet? It's not on the screen yet. Speaker 7: I'm sorry. Yeah, you're wrong. All right. Councillor Wegener: Thank you. Should we put it to a vote? It's unanimous. Let me guess. Say it. Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Back into the room. Uh, we have no confidential session. And so this meeting is closed at 10.23.
7 CONFIDENTIAL SESSION ¶
Council's recording ends before this item. Where a meeting resolved to close its doors, that is what the end of the recording means — see what council discussed in private.
8 MEETING CLOSURE ¶
Council's recording ends before this item. Where a meeting resolved to close its doors, that is what the end of the recording means — see what council discussed in private.