Before the first item ¶
00:00:00 Councillor Lorentson: Welcome to the Planning and Environment Committee meeting. Today's the 11th of March and we're commencing at 9.30am. I'd like to begin by an acknowledgement to Country. Noosaville Council proudly acknowledges and respects Australia's First Nations people and their deep and abiding connection to this country. We pay respect to Kabi Kabi elders who have come before us and we pay respect to current and emerging leaders and their enduring commitment in pursuing a strong and healthy future for First Nations people. Welcome Mayor Wilkie, Council Stockwell, CEO Larry and Kim, Anita and Rowena. I'd also like to note that we have some Councilor observers online. Welcome Karen Finzel and welcome Tom. Can I please request before the meeting commences that everyone have their phones switched off or on silent.
1 DECLARATION OF OPENING ¶
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2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY ¶
00:01:00 And I'd also like to remind Councilors of their obligations under the Council Code of Conduct to treat fellow Councilors and Council employees respectfully. I'll now go to... Tom's a member of the Committee. Oh, excuse me. Apologies. I'd like to note that Councilor Tom Wagner is not an observer. He's a member on the Committee and I'd like to just note that he's attending online in this present day. Yes, I can capture that. That's fine. Thank you. So first now I'll go to confirmation of minutes. Can I have a mover and a seconder? So moved. Councilor? Second. Thank you. Thank you, Frank. All in favour? Carried unanimously. Now go to... There's no presentations.
3 ATTENDANCE & APOLOGIES ¶
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4 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES ¶
00:02:00 No deputations. And we'll go to item seven, reports for consideration of the Committee. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We need to hear from Tom as well. Councillor Lorentson: Oh, hello, Tom. Sorry. You've got to be loud. Thank you, Tom. You're in favour? No objections? Speaker 1: No objections. Aye. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you, Tom. We'll move to item seven, reports for consideration of the Committee. Item one, which is the Local Government Infrastructure Plan five-year review. And again, welcome, Kim Rawlings, Anita, and Rowena. And can I ask if we can just start with one of you giving us a summary or overview of the report that's in front of us. You're on the committee. Speaker 5: I might just note that this report has been done by Glenn, but he's away on leave, so I'll present it for him. Thank you. The purpose of this report is to seek Council's approval of starting the process to amend
5 PRESENTATIONS ¶
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6 DEPUTATIONS ¶
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7 REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE COMMITTEE ¶
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7.1 Local Government Infrastructure Plan - 5 Year Review ¶
00:03:00 the Local Government Infrastructure Plan, which is the LGIP. It forms part four of NUSA Plan 2020. We're required to undertake a review every five years of the LGIP. We've undertaken that review, and we've noted that it does need an amendment to support the planning assumptions that Council endorsed last year, as well as we want to undertake a review of our desired standards of service to make sure they're more climate resilient and include climate change factors. We will undertake the amendment, and we will bring that back to Council, including we will have an external reviewer look at that, and we'll bring that back following the preparation of the actual amendment. It will then go to the State for a State Interest Review, and then it will go to public notification. So this report doesn't actually contain the amendments. It's just requesting Council endorse us moving forward in undertaking the amendment process.
00:04:00 Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Questions from the floor. Questions from you, Tom. Councillor Stockwell. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Have we got a ballpark mind horizon for Windows 10? It's likely to be completed or presented back to us. Speaker 5: Over the last 12 months, we've been working across the organisation with all of the infrastructure areas to undertake additional background studies and undertake the review. So we're a fair way into the process. So we're hoping, actually drafting the amendments and pulling it all together, we can bring something back by the end of the year. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: And follow up, if I can. In that process, like I'm thinking in parks, recreation, sporting facilities, is a, and it has to be trunk, so therefore, you know, Shire-wide or district-scale sort of infrastructure,
00:05:00 is it going to be feasible or acceptable to include infrastructure that might be preparation in terms of training facilities for the 2032 Olympics in this review? Speaker 5: I believe that would be considered trunk infrastructure, so yes. We're, sorry, we are, the team are undertaking a full review of all of our sports parks, sports facilities, as well as the recreation parks, and redetermining the hierarchy as well, in terms of what is a Shire-wide, what is district-level as well. Okay. Councillor Lorentson: In terms of cost, future costs of providing the infrastructure, or trunk infrastructure, how will the predicted population growth impact those costs, and where are we going to get the money from? Speaker 5: So the population really is the demand. So, you know, what is our growth, and LGP is 15 years, so what is our growth projected
00:06:00 over the next 15 years? So that'll detail that. So that'll determine or inform the demand that we'll need for the infrastructure. So once we know what infrastructure we need, that will be costed, and using a proper costing method, and that's included in the LGP, so those costings. In terms of how it's funded, developer contributions, the LGP's main purpose is to seek developer contributions, but we know that the developer contributions are capped by the state, so it's fairly limited in terms of the real cost of infrastructure. So the ballpark is, from what I understand, about 10% of the real cost of trunk infrastructure is funded through developer contributions. The rest will need to be through other funding sources, such as grants or general rates. Okay. Councillor Lorentson: So developer contributions, where is that money sort of geared to?
00:07:00 Social infrastructure, or essential infrastructure? Yes. And is it different to trunk infrastructure? Speaker 5: So trunk infrastructure includes, in terms of the social side of things, only land, the land component for community facilities, not the actual built infrastructure. It includes trunk recreation parks, which have a Shire-wide hierarchy, so it's service the whole of the Shire, and then a district level, so they're both regarded as trunk, not local parks, so not your pocket parks. And then trunk recreation parks, which have a Shire-wide hierarchy, so service the whole There's an arterial network of the road infrastructure, including the footpaths and pathways and bus stops, and then there's stormwater infrastructure as well, again, that has a large catchment size. So it's the larger pipes and the larger bioretention basins. So it's not the local stuff that we would expect a developer to provide.
00:08:00 So water and sewage separate because that's unity water? Yes, water and sewage is provided by unity water. Councillor Lorentson: And in terms of impacts on our sustainability issues, is that considered as part of the revised plan? Do we look at what does this mean in terms of asset management, sustainability ratio, our financial ratios, etc.? Speaker 5: Yes, so broader sustainability, yes, we want to encapsulate that. We want to encapsulate that in the review, and that's a key difference from the current one. So looking at the longevity of our infrastructure and also the climate resilience of our infrastructure. So we're planning to meet the future forecast. There's a financial model that happens in the back end of this as well. So we look at the value of all of our existing assets and then the value of the future assets.
00:09:00 So that kind of comes together. It goes to a big picture about the value of our current and future assets. Councillor Lorentson: So we're off to ALGA really soon. And ALGA is actually putting an advocacy piece on trying to get more money from federal and state for specifically these sorts of purposes. I think where I'm sort of sitting is I'm just concerned where we're going to get the money. It's developer costs, you know, we can't increase them. I think it makes sense that they're capped, especially when the next report we're looking at is housing affordability. Any further costs that we burden developers, we're going to see an impact on, you know, affordability of the product they're going to be able to produce. But yes, so that's really my concern. Who's going to pay? What are the impacts in terms of our sustainability ratios? And what do we need to do on an advocacy level to advocate for more funds for local governments to maintain these assets?
00:10:00 Questions or comments around the table? Mayor Wilkie: Yeah, thank you. My question probably goes to both questions that have already been asked by Councillor Stockwell and Councillor Lorentson. In your report, you mentioned that as part of the amendment process, the following background studies and investigations will inform the eligibility. I mean, it's quite extensive. You've mentioned not only population and growth forecasts, asset vulnerability, climate risk assessment. That would be about ensuring that the future assets that we provide are more robust to be able to withstand impacts of climate change. Speaker 5: So that's an assessment of our current, like, the trunk infrastructure to test how they would perform.
00:11:00 And then we'll do a variety of climate change factors. So whether it be flood, wind, heat, a number of factors. And then that will give us an idea about which of our assets are most vulnerable and that we might need to upgrade and so, and prioritise as well. So, so yeah, that's, that's, we're assessing our current network at the moment. Mayor Wilkie: So would, given that an application may be made, the developer may be asked to make a contribution for the provision of other assets. Would, those assets would be costed to be more robust and able to withstand climate change as well? Speaker 5: That's right. So if it's identified that we need to upgrade or replace that to a higher standard, it will be fully costed and included in the plan. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah. Yeah. And would it be mainly flood? Speaker 5: Probably likely for our stormwater network, yes. Yes. And probably for some of the built infrastructure as well, even roads.
00:12:00 So yeah, that's probably one of the greater impacts. Or could be erosion for certain road networks or other infrastructure as well. So all the factors are being put into a model to work that out. Mayor Wilkie: And I notice you've also taken into consideration the Shire-wide Flood Study, Integrated Traffic and Land Use Study, Recreational Parks Review and Plan. That will take into account the expansion of facilities in Wallace Park Precinct? Correct. Yep. Noosa Aquatic Centre Needs Assessment and Facility Upgrade Plan, which people are having input into currently. Stormwater Network Review, Noosa Gallery Investigations, because depending on where that, the new gallery goes, it's going to generate a need for more robust parkways. Yeah. Speaker 5: It's the land component only.
00:13:00 So it, you know, once a site's identified, the actual land component, whether it's purchase or preparation, can be included in the LGIP, not the facility itself. Mayor Wilkie: But it would be the trunk infrastructure, feeding the... Yes. Oh, sorry. As well as all the networks around supporting it. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a multi-court stadium that we're doing a business case for? Speaker 5: Yes. Mayor Wilkie: That will be included as well. That's... It's not an exhaustive list? Speaker 5: No, it's not exhaustive. It was just an example of... Mayor Wilkie: Yeah. Yeah. So it's an indication that's a fair body of work you're about to undertake? Yeah. And do you... How will you be resourcing the work? Mm-hmm. And what's the timeframe for delivering that body of work? Yeah. I think that's what Councillor... Yeah. ...Lorentson and Stockwell were asking as well. Speaker 5: So we started this process about 12 months ago, knowing there was a whole heap of work and updating of background studies to be done or commenced over that time.
00:14:00 So we're well advanced on a lot of these elements. So it's about pulling it together across the organisation. So we facilitate that across the different trunk networks. So we've been working with the various offices to get these studies done and start to review the current LGIP and pull out what the future networks are going to look like. So as I said, we're fairly well advanced and it's now about pulling that together and actually drafting. Mm-hmm. Which is a fairly big body of work in itself. Councillor Lorentson: Yes. Speaker 5: For Council's consideration by the end of the year. Mayor Wilkie: Right. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: Councillor Stockwell. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Just one that triggered my thinking is, what is the criteria benchmark for a stormwater system to be considered trunk rather than local? And I'm thinking feeding into the river is a whole lot of individual pipes.
00:15:00 But within our strategies and forward planning, we're looking at a number of different types of systems. A system of tidal gates and this river plan has a system of trying to keep plastic and other rubbish out, which is diffuse, trying to stop diffuse impacts. Do they trigger, if we have this as an overarching strategy that we want to get all this, does that trigger the being trunk or are they all still considered because they're small pipes being local? Speaker 5: Yeah. So there is a pipe size that determines whether it's trunk or not. I guess that's up to us whether we want to change that. I guess doing this exercise won't just look at trunk network. It obviously will look at the whole network as well and what future upgrades might be needed to stuff that isn't trunk as well. But the pipe for trunk is 650 mil. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So I'm thinking that perhaps there is a discussion around the policy approach to stormwater.
00:16:00 Yeah. Particularly where it acts. This is the river. It's a really significant issue. Not just on the river but also in the inland. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah. Hey Tom. Question please. Thank you. Yeah. Speaker 1: With the trail network and those trails that we're building for walking and cycling, is that trunk infrastructure or if it's on council land? Speaker 5: Not the trail network, not that recreation trail, but the pathway network and the cycle network, yes. Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah. Let's put it. It's growing out there and it's valuable but there's not a lot of hope. Speaker 1: How is it paid for? I was just wondering if developers aren't actually going to be paying for that or that? Speaker 5: Well maybe through the development process that they might build some of the network as an offset to their infrastructure charges, but I know we've got a lot of grants to
00:17:00 actually construct that network. Was that your question? Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: In terms of risk, you mentioned in the report there's a few risks. Can you elaborate the risk that financing for infrastructure falls below design? That's if we don't provide an accurate revise. We have to, under legislation, it's mandatory that we have to revise the legis every five years, is the risk if the update is not accurate.
00:18:00 Speaker 5: Yeah. If we don't undertake the exercise and respond to changes in like future projections of growth and the infrastructure isn't planned to support that growth, then that's a risk to count on council that we'll have growth and we won't have the right network or we then, without having a comprehensive plan across the organisation, doing ad-hoc works as they arise rather than having a planned approach. Integrated. Absolutely. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Any further questions? Councillor Finzel, if you have any questions? Councillor Finzel: Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. In regards to the attachment, one of the things that I think is really important is that we have one in the report. There's a few questions in the list that have been in the checklist that have been marked no. How are the gaps to be addressed moving forward because in relation to the outdated DMAT information
00:19:00 on that checklist? Speaker 5: Yeah. So with regard to DMAT, you'll recall council endorsed it. It was the revised planning assumptions last year from Unity Water, which we adopt for the purposes of our forward planning. So those changed projections will be incorporated into the plan and amended and our demand for future infrastructure will reflect that in what infrastructure is identified. So there's a section in the LGIP that actually has all those population forecasts and demand calculations. So that will all be amended based on the new projections. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Mayor Wilkie: I'm happy to move it, Madam Chair. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Can I have a second? Councillor Stockwell, would you like to speak? Mayor Wilkie: Thank you, Madam Chair.
00:20:00 Look, it's very important. This work is done. It's critical for capital works and asset planning and I wish the team well. You've got a huge body of work ahead of you. I'm really pleased to hear you've already over the past year getting a head start on it. So well done and look forward to the final report. Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: Any further comments? No? Thank you. Thank you for the report and we're looking forward to the revised report coming back to council. Thank you very much. No further questions? All in favour? Supported unanimously. Thank you. Councillor Tom Wagner? Speaker 1: Aye. Thank you, Tom. Councillor Lorentson: Supported unanimously. We'll now go to item 7.2, Noosa Housing Strategy, and welcome to the desk, Rowena Skinner. Thank you, Rowena. Speaker 4: Councillor, this report basically is an update to the housing strategy that council
7.2 NOOSA HOUSING STRATEGY - UPDATE ¶
00:21:00 adopted in December 2022. Council was unanimous in their priorities. I think it's important to note that the housing strategy was adopted in December 2022 to sort of assist with the housing crisis that nurses have been experiencing. As part of that housing strategy, one of the commitments was ongoing monitoring and updating on the situation. So this report provides an update on where council's at with all the actions within the strategy. And it also specifically looks at the housing crisis. And it also looks at a monitoring program that will commence to sort of create a benchmark that can then be reported every two years going forward. Over the last year, council's appointed a housing partnerships officer who's advancing
00:22:00 housing projects on council-owned land. He's working with not-for-profit accommodation providers and government agencies. He's been applying for grant funding and has been successful in some of that. The planning scheme amendments that were prepared went through community consultation, were altered and then went back to the state for final sign-off. And we've purchased a subscription to ID.com housing profile, which gives us data-driven information that we can complement with our own more regular monitoring as well. So all of that feeds into the monitoring process that we're suggesting going forward.
00:23:00 Thank you. This report's just looking for council endorsement for that monitoring program. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you, Rowena. I'll throw it to the floor. Questions, Councillor Wegener, Wilkie, or Councillor Stockwell? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: You go first. I've got one. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah, thank you for the report. We're, the New South Council's point, I believe, is to play its part in the national housing availability and affordability of housing. We've got the planning scheme amendments, which have been out for consultation, and with the state currently. One of the responses has been to do a change to what is capable of being delivered on community facilities land. Currently, the zoning allows retirement villages, but we've made a change to allow affordable housing. And that was in response to requests, as I understand correctly, from the New South
00:24:00 Wales City Council. Could you talk a bit about what churches are looking to provide on land that they own, zoned community facilities? Speaker 4: Yeah. Councillor, since the last, the previous government was approached by, I guess, a bunch of church groups that, and as well as the YIMBY Association. So YIMBY is Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes. And this group, along with the churches, are sort of trying to find areas where means of affordable housing, emergency housing, transitional housing, social housing, can be constructed on land that's being underutilised by whether that's church groups or other groups that
00:25:00 And we have a lot of organisations that might have spare land within the community facilities zone that they're not needing for their own purpose. So we started reaching out under Claire Stewart, we started reaching out to some of the religious organisations locally and sort of suggested that they might look at some of their land assets to see if there's anything that's surplus to their requirements. We have had traction with some of the churches. There's a lot for them to work through in terms of their own forward planning and whether they're going to need that land in the future. Relocatable buildings were particularly of interest in terms of it doesn't alienate the land if they do have a future need well down the track. Mayor Wilkie: Like tiny homes? Speaker 4: Like tiny homes, exactly. So one of the local churches for instance was looking at similar to that.
00:26:00 Another one of the local churches had capacity for anywhere up to 10 small units that they sort of thought could be something like pensioning units or similar. So we are sort of seeing them put their mind to what they can use their land for. In parallel, there is a process that the state's going through where the current Premier has an undertaking to those groups of churches and the Yimba Association where they have reached out to the local government association to create a model code for this purpose. So a model code for affordable and social housing outcomes or community housing outcomes particularly on the land. On community facilities, zoned land, predominantly zoned by religious groups but not necessarily limited to religious groups.
00:27:00 The model code is currently being drafted by a consultant and then if that's accepted by the state it would be available for councils to adopt in their planning scheme. But we're sort of ahead of that game. We're sort of contributing to the process but we already through our amendments have provisions that if signed off by the minister will serve the same purpose. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. So it also means that community facility, land zoned community facilities around the Shire which would already house retirement villages can house community housing, affordable housing? Speaker 4: Yeah. So community housing which can obviously take various forms.
00:28:00 It can be in apartments, it could be in detached housing, it could be in relocatable or manufactured structures. It could be in a boarding house situation. Mayor Wilkie: And the land on McKendon Drive owned by, is it Sundale? Speaker 4: Sundale, yeah. Mayor Wilkie: They've had an approval for a retirement village for some time now. Yeah. So under the planning scheme amendments if they so chose to do so they could provide affordable community housing on that land with a new development application? Speaker 4: They would need a new development application and at that type of scale it would still need to go through impact assessment. Mayor Wilkie: Impact assessment. Speaker 4: But there are other avenues as well as you know for them to sort of, if affordable social housing is part of what they're looking for. They would deliver on that. There's other avenues they can go through with the state as well. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah. And the council isn't directly providing affordable housing.
00:29:00 It's creating opportunities for it through planning scheme amendments. Councillor Lorentson: Yes. Mayor Wilkie: The state partnering with community housing providers. Speaker 4: That's right. Council through. Mayor Wilkie: Rezoning. Speaker 4: Yeah. Through the process of the housing strategy council was quite clear they didn't want to be developers. They weren't in-house developers. They weren't in the game to be a community housing provider itself. But there are expert organisations that do a very good job in that space. And partnering with those community housing providers who have access to all the government grants would make the most sense. And there's local private developers who are interested in partnering with those community housing providers as well. Mayor Wilkie: And one confusing aspect of the whole debate is the difference between a strict definition of affordable housing and providing units or dwellings which are available for a wider
00:30:00 range of budgets. Yeah. And therefore affordable to a greater range of people. Yeah. Could you just talk to how we're seeking to achieve both of those outcomes? Speaker 4: So the state, I think it's a good question. Council, with the half-polar legislative amendments that came in last year, the state created a definition of affordable housing component which while obviously helpful in terms of the bigger picture of bringing in legislation that supported affordable housing, we found that it's a little bit broad. And it's broad for our immediate needs. So with the proposed amendments, we came up with our own definition of affordable rental
00:31:00 premises, which specifically ties it to being small dwellings. So no more than 100 square metres of GFA. They had to be affordable for basically low to medium income people. So the household would pay no more than 30% of their income in rent. They had to be owned or leased by a registered community housing provider or the government itself. It could include social housing, but it's unlikely to. So social or community housing through a community housing provider. And it had to be affordable. It had to be committed to that purpose for at least 20 years. So while large growth areas are producing affordable housing, which is affordable for
00:32:00 say, first home buyers to purchase, that's not part of that affordable rental premises definition. So we're specifically looking for housing which is affordable. Which is rental, long-term, affordable rental, and managed for that purpose so that it is committed long-term. Speaker 5: So in addition to the range of affordability, the planning scheme amendments still look to provide bonus provisions for small dwellings in a range of sizes to provide housing diversity and housing choice for around, which I guess does somewhat provide for a range of affordabilities. We wouldn't necessarily say it's affordable. And once it's on the open market, obviously there's no control. The definition was about controlling that. That it was rental only and up to 20 years.
00:33:00 Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: Councillor Wegener, you've got a question. Speaker 1: Yeah. I was looking at action number three, which says to monitor other Australian local governments and relevant overseas examples as innovative approaches. Is there any good stories that you can tell us about similar governments dealing with the same problem? Speaker 4: Well, Councillor, most other local governments have different sets of circumstances. So we would find that there are areas that share some similarities with non-local governments. There are areas in Noosa Shire, but then they're different in other aspects. So we find areas that are obviously in tourist, you know, places like ski resorts, places
00:34:00 like beach resorts. But they have a different set of circumstances in other aspects to Noosa Shire. They might be more remote. They might be on island communities. They might be isolated. Not considered part of a high growth south east Queensland corner like ours. So there's lots of learnings from different places, but I can't suggest there's any one silver bullet. Certainly, you know, even through SEQ, Council of Mayors, we've sort of started seeing what some of the challenges are. I mean, there's a lot of work going on in Western Canadian ski resort areas and places like that are doing. But the, you know, they may have, they've got a different set of legislation framework.
00:35:00 They've got, you know, everybody's got different circumstances to a degree. So there's lots of interesting ideas, but not one silver bullet we can pick up and apply here. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Thank you. In terms of dwelling communities, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. And the housing diversity outcomes that's outlined in the South East Queensland, shaping South East Queensland 2023 plan, are we meeting our targets? And how many dwellings per annum do we actually need to build to meet this demand? I'm sort of asking, you know, where are we up to? Speaker 4: Well, I've got a couple of questions. I can't tell you the figure off the top of my head. We monitor the dwellings that are being delivered every month through building approvals. And we are tracking lower than I'd like us to be tracking.
00:36:00 We've sort of done everything we can to try and encourage a higher number of smaller dwellings. And clearly, we went through community consultation and there was some, you know, a lot of work that needs to be done. We're still seeing large dwellings, detached houses, and large duplex dwellings being a favoured product. And so, yeah, on a monthly basis, we're certainly not seeing high delivery. We see, particularly because we see so many houses being demolished with another house replacing it. The number of apartments, independent living units for retirees, any other form, you
00:37:00 know, even community residences, all of those, they're not as high as we would like it to Councillor Lorentson: be. Speaker 4: But in pure numbers... About 200. Yeah. It's about 200. Speaker 5: About 200 dwellings a year we're required. Yeah. To deliver to meet the target, which is 5,000. Mayor Wilkie: 2046. If I can just join in. I'm looking at the economics ID and it was saying that from the 23-24 year, there were 155 separate detached dwellings built and 209 medium and high-density dwellings built. Speaker 5: Sorry, where are you quoting that from? Mayor Wilkie: There's a link in the report to explore the housing story for Noosa Shire. And that's the figures that I thought would be helpful to this conversation. Councillor Lorentson: So is a knockdown in replacement, how is that counted?
00:38:00 Is that a new dwelling? It's not additional. It's not additional. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah, these are new dwelling approvals. Separate houses, 155, medium and high-density, time written on. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah. Approvals. Mayor Wilkie: Approvals. Approvals. Dwelling approvals, yes. Director Rawlings: So not yet built. Mayor Wilkie: Okay. Councillor Lorentson: Not yet built. So we're lagging a little bit behind. Speaker 4: Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah. The report notes that stats are showing a rising population over 65 and declining numbers under 35. That was like a really big red flag for me because I think of our under 35 year olds, our essential workforce, our nurses, our teachers. Yeah. Paramedics, hospitality staff, our retail workers. In terms of affordability, do we have a number? What is the median price for affordable housing?
00:39:00 So we talk about we're providing incentive provisions and bonus provisions for developers to develop smaller products, 100 square meters, et cetera, and we're going half a million parking spaces. But in terms of product, will that produce a product that is affordable to our workforce? And that's what I'm sort of focusing, a lot of my questions are around, what are we doing? Is it our median house price? I think in Noosa it's about 1.2 million. And is the median house price, I've got two kids, one's 20, one's 21, both actually have savings for a deposit. So I think the median house price is about 1.2 million. But their price bracket, I would guess, 600 to 1 million, 600 to 900,000. So my question is, what are we doing to help incentivize developers to build a product
00:40:00 in that price bracket so that we can keep our workforce here in Noosa and that they don't cross the border and go somewhere that's more affordable? Speaker 4: So in the scheme amendments, or the scheme amendments, I think the scheme amendments are, the scheme right now, we give them a greater GFA, plot ratio, we give a greater self cut for them, we require less landscaping, and we require less car parking. And in the amendments, in certain areas, they can also get an additional storey of height. So that they were designed to be incentives to try and make it easier to stack up that development on the site. I think in terms of affordability, because construction is very high, with incoming rounds,
00:41:00 we'll be looking at some of the other financial incentives. Fantastic. So, you mentioned the triggers in terms of development application fees, rates, infrastructure charges, etc. to see if there's anywhere there that we can explore incentivizing as well. In terms of affordability, I think the most affordable options are using the existing housing stock better. So spare bedrooms. Yeah. Granny flats. Thank you. The dated resort units that are transitioning to permanent housing that are, you know, they've become, they're no longer favored by tourists, but are in excellent locations
00:42:00 for key workers. So the new housing stock is probably a little bit more affordable. It's probably always going to be more expensive. Anything new. The construction cost is going to make it more expensive. The standard of construction these days in terms of what goes into a house or a unit is different to what was built in the 18s. So I think our best chance of affordable housing is probably in our existing housing stock. Councillor Lorentson: Is there opportunity with our newly appointed housing partnership officer to include, maybe prioritize looking for the supportable housing options for our workforce, you know, whether it's private public partnerships, whether it's like what you mentioned, incentivizing
00:43:00 resort owners to. Yeah. But can we expand their scope of work to include, you know, consideration of opportunities to help with our, what I call our essential workforce crisis, housing crisis. Yeah. Speaker 4: So he's doing that. Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Excellent. Speaker 4: He's doing that. Councillor Lorentson: Fantastic. It's already within the scope. In terms of existing housing stock, I'm going to ask just a couple of questions in terms of short stay local laws. Okay. I've heard so many numbers. How many unregistered STAs do we currently have? And I've heard numbers from 1500 to more. Oh, not relevant? Oh, okay. Speaker 3: It's just with a different department, so. Councillor Lorentson: Oh, okay. Sorry, Richard. It's, I thought, I think actually it is relevant because one of our, one of our actions is
00:44:00 introduction of, you know, residential housing. We've identified, you know, STAs as a, it's one of the causes of, I think it's the rentals stock. Yep. So, you know, throw that question at Richard. Speaker 2: I was going to say, Richard, Council staff have gone through our entire database of properties that we suspect were STAs. So we've actually gone through that entire database of properties that we suspect were Staff are continuing to follow up on any leads from the community and doing audits and proactively monitoring data in our community and data scanning as well. So it's safe to say we've done a very extensive research to identify a Shire. What that has identified is the number of properties that we suspected were STA originally. In some cases we've found that they've actually either ceased using the premises for a short stay,
00:45:00 or in some cases we're actually paying transitory rates when they were actually permanently occupying the premises, so we counted the number of cases that was actually happening, which is why the assumptions originally were probably higher than what we've actually found in terms of random compare investigations. So we'll have some other numbers that we'll release shortly following the completion of this recent piece of work that we've been doing, but certainly that number has come down for a while. What was originally envisaged in terms of the total number of STAs, noting that we have a number that are also exempt, around 1,200 properties that are not required to be registered under the STA, that still have the ability to operate, and obviously not required to be approved under the local law itself. Councillor Lorentson: Fantastic. So it would be great to understand those numbers maybe at a later stage, Richard, but just to understand, is what we're doing in terms of our local law,
00:46:00 in terms of our housing strategy, is actually working to produce the desired outcomes, which is providing housing diversity, affordability, and more permanent rental stock in the market. Thank you. Speaker 5: I might just add to that, we are doing an extensive housing monitoring program, which looks at the rental premises coming onto the market, and we cross-check that back to the STA, I guess, master list that we originally identified, to understand what the shifts are. It's difficult to know what then goes back into the STA market, but that will happen through the STA monitoring process. But it is a moving feast of around that, I would suspect, 1,000-odd properties that move in and out, so that we're trying to get a handle on and monitor. Councillor Lorentson: Awesome. And rental bonds, do you access that information in the STA?
00:47:00 Yes. And how are we going, increasing or decreasing, in terms of rental bonds? Speaker 4: Yeah, they're not increasing. They've been fairly static. In some areas, they will go down. Each part of Noosa Shire is quite different as well, I think. We spoke about areas such as Noosa Heads where rents are quite high. They will have a higher vacancy rate, and their vacancy rate could be 4% at Noosa Heads, but their rents are high. And so many people can't afford it. Whereas, Cooroy and Pomona might have 0.01% vacancy rate, because, you know, there's less of them.
00:48:00 They're snapped up very quickly, and they might be more affordable to people. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Any further questions on the wall? Mayor Wilkie: Yes. What is your sense of... How many vacant, non-principal place of residence or investment properties there are in relation to short-term accommodation? Is there any thinking around how we can encourage owners of non-principal place of residence or investment properties to long-term elect? Director Rawlings: Yeah, we are doing some work around getting a better sense of vacancy rates. At last census, it's... It tells us that there's 18% vacancy rate. Now, that needs to be unpacked, because, as you know, you know, people... Yeah, anyway, it needs to be unpacked. So, we are looking at a range of sort of data inputs to try and get a more accurate sense
00:49:00 of what our vacancy rate is. And then, you know, explore opportunities to encourage, you know, homeowners to either, you know, put them back on the permanent rental, even for a period of time over peak periods or whatever. We will look to do things like that. You know, similar to what we did a couple of years ago in, you know, writing to short-stay owners to, you know, see if we can incentivise or encourage them to put their properties back on into the rental market. And, you know, at that time, we tracked it and, you know, we sort of got about 120 swapped back into permanent rental for a variety of reasons, but it was around the time of that sort of campaign that the Council did. So, you know, we will continue to do those sorts of things. I think, you know, even if they... You know, if you get 100 properties back onto the existing properties, it would take, you
00:50:00 know, a year plus to build 100 properties. So, like Rowena talked about before, better utilisation of our existing stock is our best bet in terms of affordability and supply. In the short term. Mayor Wilkie: And just to go back to the dwelling approvals, 155 homes, 209 units the last financial year. Dwelling approvals only. I think you're making the point that they haven't been built yet. Director Rawlings: So that's... Some may have, some may not. Yeah. Or some have started potentially. You've got a sense... Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm not sure where those figures come from. So the figures I look at, Frank, is every month I get the actual building approvals. So people don't get a building permit unless they're building. Yeah. So I look at the building permits on a monthly basis. And as does... As does Lood. Yes. And Tara. And so we have a pretty good understanding on a monthly basis of what's actually being
00:51:00 built. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah. So this is from the length of the report. Yeah. And it's Dwelling Approvals. New Dwelling Approvals. But you've touched on a point that is also critical to the housing shortage. It's not that local governments aren't giving approvals. It's that industries are also having challenges in delivering and constructing the dwellings that have been approved. And the figures that were in the report in the Brisbane Times were 60,000 pre-approved lots in South East Queensland. That still lay vacant. Yeah. Because they haven't been built. Because the development industry are struggling to deliver. So it's a complicated issue. It's not just local government lagging. Local government's playing its part. But industry needs help to deliver as well. Director Rawlings: Yeah. Construction costs and labour costs are two major constraints. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: To support.
00:52:00 Director Rawlings: Yeah. Tom. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah. Kind of an oddball question. Typical of me. Speaker 1: Our assumption is that the economy is going to stay relatively the same for a long time. But if there is a crash in the economy, say a recession, would that lead to a larger housing stock, do you think? Where the tourism would go down and the STAs in residential neighbourhoods would much more easily revert back to long-term rentals? Speaker 5: I'd say it's hard to predict. It's hard to predict. But it's a possibility. And I think that that is the nature of our housing stock, that it does go in and out of, between STA and permanent, depending on the market and the supply and how much they're getting. So I guess it's a possibility. It's hard to predict. Councillor Lorentson: This was suggested to me by just some residents.
00:53:00 And I'll throw it at you. I think it's with Ollantay and Oren. So we can't be sure that we have done it. But has a review of biodiversity mapping ever been undertaken more recently? Have we got land that may not necessarily have any environmental value that could be used for our biodiversity mapping and maybe developed for housing? Have we done a review of that, Anita? Director Rawlings: We've just updated our vegetation biodiversity analysis and development report. Very current review has happened and it's just been approved by the state government so it's very current but it's part of the process I mean we do it as part of this SEQ regional plan process and as strategic planners we are regularly looking at our Shire and looking at our constraints because biodiversity is only one of them we have a lot of others we have bushfire we have good quality agricultural land you know we have landslip we have a raft of flood you know a raft of
00:54:00 of constraints in terms of land use and yeah so we're always looking at at land suitability you know you also need to consider our own boundary and what's within but you know as part of SEQ regional planning process and our regular strategic reviews we look at all the land to see you know what might be have some capability you know for future it is something that's done regularly. Speaker 5: We also look at opportunities within the urban area to utilize you know existing services and infrastructure as well yeah so not just about expansion it's more about an infill kind of policy that we look at as well. Councillor Lorentson: And in terms of what SAGE have delivered, you know a few projects, do we get provided with a report from SAGE to be doing their own strategic reviews and looking at maximising the options?
00:55:00 and opportunities on SAGE land, does that get back into our data in terms of our work supply? Yes, yes, yes it does. Any further questions? Thank you, I'm having a second. All in favour, no further comments? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah, no, I do, stop it. Councillor Lorentson: Oh, excuse me, go ahead. Can I just stop it? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah, it's a really interesting report in that when you get to the point of setting a strategy and then trying to evaluate it and needing to monitor progress against targets, for the first time I think it's really clear how complex achieving improvement is. When this debate first started, I know the ministers of the Times office were saying all we need to do is increase land supply and that completely will be useless in Noosa if our aim is what I think is one of the more important targets in this report.
00:56:00 And the target is that Noosa remains home to a healthy cross-section of society including young people, families and key workers. I think that's at the heart of why it is Noosa Council business to be into housing. I think what the data that we have seen in this report indicated is we're moving away from that. What it says is that we've seen a loss of low-income families. Now, that would be great if it was low-income families who are benefiting from economic diversification and getting higher income jobs. But what we know is it's people who've called Noosa home for decades moving out because they can't afford to live here. They can't find rental premises. It talks about, you know, what we need is a population that maintains a healthy workforce between 18 and 65. But what we find is we have these large gaps. And we find that people who are here, traditionally those in housing stress have been in low-income.
00:57:00 So what we're finding is middle-income families are increasingly in housing stress as well. So some people criticise our initiatives to increase housing affordability and increase availability of small dwellings suitable for key workers and, you know, small households as being going against population cap. I argue it's exactly the opposite. The population cap, in essence, is about how do we create a sustainable community. And you can't create a sustainable community if you don't have a healthy cross-section of society, young people, families and key workers. So to me, this monitoring activity is really important to reduce a whole system that is at the moment failing so we understand where the best levers are to approach from a quality and a planning perspective. So that, it may be decades, it may be more, before we start redressing this balance,
00:58:00 but we have to take these steps gradually and progressively. Councillor Lorentson: I probably just want to add to that. I agree with your comments, Councillor Stockwell, but just to add to that. We really need to consider what housing product that we use. We really need to prioritise and that's that price bracket. I think that's really important. We need to refine exactly the housing product. And I think we need also to collaborate with private entities to make this a reality. We lose our workforce and this town doesn't function. And then the divide between the haves and the have-nots becomes greater and greater. And my kids move out of town. I'm going to move out of town. And I just think there's just unintended consequences when we lose a younger workforce of those younger people.
00:59:00 And it's not just about buying homes, as Councillor Stockwell mentioned. We have rental housing stress as well as mortgage housing stress. And my numbers say that 35% of people that are renting are actually having housing stress, which means they're spending over 30% of the amount, compared to about 12.9% of people that are enduring mortgage stress. So it's also about like, you know, the old boys that I serve with. This is their home. They have never had another home other than NUSA. And we have a responsibility to go ethically. And as a council to, you know, do what we can to provide rentals and affordable housing products. And that bracket is $6,000 to $900,000 to keep this community functioning and healthy.
01:00:00 And we need a diverse cross-section of people living here. Mayor Wilkie: I thank each and every one of you because you've been on this journey for a long time. Prior to the NUSA Plan 2020 coming in, you were flagging and working on the housing needs assessment. You knew where the stress points were. We were working together to put together the NUSA Plan 2020, which sought to restrict further spread of STAs in residential neighbourhoods. The plan has given amendments to do so more in medium density and high density, all residential neighbourhoods. And as Councillor Lorentson and Mr Stockwell have said, it's a multi-faceted problem. We have to work in partnership with the state, private industry, and use our planning scheme to the best advantage to provide the opportunities for a diverse range of housing to suit a range of budgets
01:01:00 and also that special end of the market where the housing needs to be subsidised and managed by a community housing provider or the state. And I note in the report that the state has already taken up an opportunity to purchase land in Tewantin to provide social or affordable housing right in the Tewantin CBD. So it is good to monitor our progress on this. Perhaps there's no more important piece of work that this council will ever do than work to play our part with other levels of government in addressing this national shortage. Thank you for your support. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you for your support. All in favor? Speaker 1: Aye. Councillor Lorentson: Aye. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
01:02:00 Thank you. And I welcome to the desk Patrick and Richard. And we move to item number 8, reports for voting by the committee, planning applications decided by delegated authority. Welcome Patrick and Richard. And I would like to invite you guys to give us a summary or overview of the delegation report in front of us. Speaker 3: Our monthly report, each on the applications that have been decided by delegated authority for the month, the January noting the applications that we are able to decide under the delegation. A bit of a quieter month, January, knowing number of public holidays, staff on leave. So the number of applications decided was a bit down on the norm with 22 applications decided.
8 REPORTS FOR NOTING BY THE COMMITTEE ¶
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8.1 Planning applications decided by delegated authority - January 2025 ¶
01:03:00 Looking at the list, nothing of major significance within the list. Councillor Lorentson: Questions? Mayor Wilkie: I'm just curious, I'm just curious about the one at Production Street. Change to solar conditions include mud crabs. What's going on there? Speaker 3: Aquaculture. There's an aquaculture. Mayor Wilkie: There's an aquaculture tank. And they're growing mud crabs. Speaker 3: Well, you've caught me on the run, to be honest. I'm not sure of the actual detail of the application, but I would assume that would be the... The content of the application. Thank you. I do have a tropical fish there too. Councillor Lorentson: Patrick, we just spoke about development targets and approvals. Is there an opportunity or opinion that you would consider as part of the delegated report
01:04:00 to have what our targets are and how we're going? Is that something that should be, shouldn't be included, but be encouraged to have just a running report to understand how close we are to our targets, as, you know, dictated under the shaping... Speaker 2: Yeah, we certainly can do... I think probably monthly is probably not overly helpful, but certainly on an annual basis around how we're tracking. As Kim Rawlins mentioned earlier, there's a difference between approvals issued and then actually delivered product as well. So that's closely monitored on a monthly basis. In terms of what's actually approved, but then what's actually finalised and actually ready for occupation. And so those are the two elements we need to monitor closely. But certainly I think, you know, doing at least an annual or a six-monthly report is a good idea and helpful in terms of how we're tracking with approvals
01:05:00 and also delivery as well. Speaker 3: I just think importantly to note that the decisions that are made through planning will not reflect all the dwelling approvals. And the secondary dwelling approvals are issued. Yeah. So it's more relevant, I think, in terms of what Richard said around building approvals. Speaker 2: Yeah, because a number of homes and secondary dwellings won't require any planning approval. It's all accepted development under the planning scheme. So a large volume of the housing doesn't actually get assessed by Council. It's deemed to comply and certifies or will approve those without any approvals from Council or the buyer as part of that. Councillor Lorentson: And that will catch it under a different report? Yeah, correct. Speaker 2: Yeah, we could look to do that on an annual basis. I think it would be a good idea to average out the ups and downs throughout the year. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you very much. Questions anywhere? Mayor Wilkie: Thank you, Madam Chair. The report shows there's 22 approvals given in the month of January. So it's a slow month. Can you refresh my memory? What's the typical number of approvals in an average month?
01:06:00 Speaker 3: It's generally the trend that we're seeing. Yes. Yeah. Mayor Wilkie: Was December slow in January? Was that a busy month? Speaker 2: December's usually relatively busy. I believe we were over 30, maybe mid-30s in the lead up to Christmas. A lot of applicants, and you can imagine clients, are interested for receiving approvals and decisions before the break, noting a lot of consultants and industry take a good break over the Christmas period. So that's usually a higher period. Patrick might be able to pull up the report. Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. It is generally a busier month for those reasons that Richard has identified. January, again, a lot of consultants away, staff away, quite a month, and then you often see a little bit of a dip going into the end of financial year. Yes. And then picking up after that period. Mayor Wilkie: And may I ask, how are the staffing levels in DA?
01:07:00 Speaker 3: They're good. We have a vacant planner role, which has been recently filled, and that'll be starting from the next number of few weeks. That'll complete the number of planners. We had a new compliance officer yesterday. There's been a vacant compliance officer role for a period of time, so that's great that we've got someone now on the ground. Development engineering has got a number of roles that have been filled as well. They'll be starting, one officer starts next week, and then the second officer starts a couple of weeks after that. So there's some good resources coming through the team at the moment. Good to hear. Speaker 2: Really good. Good to hear. Given how difficult, you know, planners and engineering roles are across the state at the moment, so good to have access to some really good candidates for those roles. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: Councillor Stockwell. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Just 4 to 6 Hay Street. Yeah.
01:08:00 Was the... The extension to the currency is only mentioned for the operational work, so the change in terms of the amount of lots. I just remember that application being a little bit tricky, I think, from memory in terms of lot layouts and mango trees and things like that. Can you just tell me what... I'll have to come back to you on that one, Councillor, just to give you details. I had a look on the mapping, and it is a site. I think it is, but it only talks about two lots where there's the original approvals. The more that might be a second or third stage being combined. OK. Councillor Lorentson: Any further questions, Councillor Stockwell? Sorry, Werner? Speaker 1: No, I'm good. Thank you. Fantastic. Councillor Lorentson: No further questions. All those in favour? Can I have a mover and a seconder? Tom, do you want to move? Speaker 1: I'll move it. Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: And a seconder, please. Thank you. Mary Wilkie.
01:09:00 All in favour? Fantastic. Councillor Finzel: Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you, Richard. There are no confidential sessions. And I now declare the meeting closed at 9.42am. Thank you, everyone, for your attendance. Attend 42, excuse me. And thank you, those online attending. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Mary.
9 CONFIDENTIAL SESSION ¶
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10 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.