1 DECLARATION OF OPENING ¶
00:00:00 Councillor Lorentson: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Planning and Environment Committee meeting today, 10th of March. I declare the meeting open. I'd like to begin by an acknowledgement to country. Noosa Council proudly acknowledges and respects Australia's First Nations people and their deep and abiding connection to this country. We recognise the Kabi Kabi people as the true people. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters of the Noosa area, and thank them for their careful custodianship of this unique environment for over thousands of years. We pay respect to Kabi Kabi elders who have come before us, and elders past, present and emerging, and to their enduring commitment in pursuing a strong and healthy future for First Nations people. Attendants, welcome.
2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY ¶
00:01:00 Thank you, Council's Mayor, today. I note that Councillor Finzel is online. Welcome, Councillor Finzel, and everyone is in attendance. Can I please request, before we commence the meeting, that everyone have their phones on silent or turned off? Thank you. Okay, we'll go to confirmations of minutes. 4.1, Planning and Environment Committee meeting minutes, dated 10th of February, 2026. Can I have a seconder? Thank you. So that's Councillor, Mayor Wilkie, mover, seconder, Councillor Tom Wegener. Sorry, something's just dropped off. That's okay. So, mover, Councillor Wilkie.
3 ATTENDANCE & APOLOGIES ¶
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4 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES ¶
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5 PRESENTATIONS ¶
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4.1 PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES DATED 10 FEBRUARY 2026 ¶
00:02:00 Seconder, Councillor Wegener. Speaker 4: Seconder, Councillor Wegener. Councillor Lorentson: No discussion. All in favour, please. That's unanimous. Thank you, Sally. And welcome, Councillor Phillips. I note you're online as an observer. Thank you. So, there are no presentations, no deputations. We're going to go to... Thank you. Item 7, Reports for Consideration of the Committee. And we'll start 7.1, Noosa Plan 2020, Section 18, Amendment Process, 94 and 170, Pulse Road, Cooroy. And welcome to the desk, Michelle and Anita. Kim's not online. I'm here. Kim's here. Oh, hello, Kim. I'm looking for you online. Sorry. Welcome, Kim. Thank you. I'll hand it over to Michelle if you want to give us an overview of the report in front of us today.
6 DEPUTATIONS ¶
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7 REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE COMMITTEE ¶
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7.1 NOOSA PLAN 2020 - SECTION 18 AMENDMENT PROCESS - 94 AND 170 HOLTS ROAD COOROY ¶
00:03:00 Speaker 1: Morning, Councillors. Today's report is to seek Council endorsement to work with the State Department of Planning to undertake a Section 18 process under the Planning Act 2016 for a proposed Amendment to Noosa Plan 2020 regarding land at 94 and 170 Pulse Road, Cooroy. These sites were included in the urban footprint under the SEQ Regional Plan Review back in 2023 for employment land. The amendment is required to Noosa Plan 2020 to facilitate the employment and land use outcomes for these sites. A Section 18 process allows for a tailored approach to amend the Noosa Plan 2020 and allows local government to co-design the plan making process and adapt steps in conjunction with the State to be more flexible and responsive to the unique local context and communities within their local government area. It's important to consider that as part of this process, there's still the statutory community engagement that will be undertaken and there is still State interest review.
00:04:00 Once the process is agreed with the State, the Section 18 notice will be issued by the Chief Executive of the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning. A further report will be presented to Council outlining the agreed Section 18 process together with the draft amendment to Noosa Plan 2020. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you, Michelle. Questions around the table? Speaker 4: Michelle, could you repeat the question? Michelle, could you outline what the consultation process will entail? Speaker 1: So the consultation process will still undergo the statutory requirement of 20 business, of a minimum of 20 business working days. So we will still be required to do that. And it will be our normal process that we will do in terms of notifying owners, adjoining owners and going out into community. A communications plan of, yeah, a communications plan will come with the, with the amendment when we present it here. Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: In terms of standard planning scheme amendments, how does the Section 18 process work in comparison?
00:05:00 So we're making the process faster? Yes. More efficient? Yes. Yeah. But in terms back to the community engagement, is it less time for the community engagement or the same? Speaker 1: It's the same amount of time. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah. Speaker 1: Yeah. So the process really is just, there's opportunities to have a more tailored State interest review. Obviously with this kind of process and the narrow scope of the amendment, not all State interests would probably be wanting to have a say. There's opportunities for combined State interest review and community consultation, saving that process as well. And there's delegation opportunities that will be, that can happen as well to allow the process to go through quicker. Councillor Lorentson: Questions around the table? I've got a few, but throw it to the table first. Yeah. In terms of infrastructure risk, are existing roads, waters, utilities adequate in that
00:06:00 precinct for industrial use? Or will Council need to invest in upgrades and to abase the cost? Speaker 1: Basically infrastructure processes through planning scheme amendments is dealt with under the Local Government Infrastructure Plan. We'll do consultation with the relative State inputs around infrastructure, but from the, I guess, preliminary investigations we have undertaken, it should be adequate for the proposed land use. Speaker 6: Infrastructure charges will be liable for the development, which will contribute to any trunk infrastructure. And through our current LGIP process, we're identifying any upgrades required to road networks. In terms of trunk. Also, the State Government are looking at particularly their State roads around that
00:07:00 area and the intersections around Cooroy as well. Councillor Wegener: To follow on from that, so it's not, they don't have sewage up there. So will Unity Water be putting sewage in up there? Speaker 1: That would be part of the State interest review process. And yeah, that would be required to connect into the existing Unity Water infrastructure. It's an industrial State. It's been included in the urban footprint, so it's expected that those services will be provided. Director Rawlings: Can I just add to that? Please, thank you. Through the Chair. So there's likely to be costs associated with this. That's a good, it's a good question. They will all be investigated through the process, but there could be State infrastructure costs. There could be Local Government infrastructure costs and there will be private infrastructure costs. This is contributing to regional and local employment and industrial land use outcomes. And we are required to strategically plan for future industrial and employment land.
00:08:00 And it's those things that we kind of have to weigh up, that there is likely to be some investment required to enable those outcomes. At this point, we can't exactly say what that is, but the process will reveal that. But to service the land itself, that will be the owner's requirement. They will need to get the land development ready. So there will be some substantial costs in getting the site development ready by the land owner. But the wider network costs, so how the land uses contribute to the wider network, that does form part of our legit process. And you know, we talked to Council about the legit process and how much that contributes to the cost of trunk infrastructure. And as you know, it's only a portion. Speaker 6: Yeah. Director Rawlings: So there are other costs when you look at the wider network. But again, it's part of that strategic forward planning about weighing up the delivery of
00:09:00 industrial land employment opportunities. Yeah. Speaker 6: It's a good question. Director Rawlings: Okay. Councillor Lorentson: Probably my other question, I think I raised this earlier. But Council already owns industrial land in the Cooroy Precinct. Why aren't those sites being progressed first? Director Rawlings: Probably Anita, you can comment also on the industrial land supply study. But some of those sites are being advanced early. This has probably got a lead time of, I don't know, a year or two. I don't know. Five. Five to ten years, possibly, before it comes online. So our industrial... I can't quote the figures. I'm sure one of you can. Or maybe it's actually in the report.
00:10:00 The... We do an employment and industrial land supply study, as all local governments do. It's an important feeding in process to the regional plan. It's important into our own planning scheme. And that study showed that, you know, at a certain point in time, we start to have a shortage of a particular industrial land. But, yeah, this site itself won't come online for, at best, five, maybe eight, possibly ten years. So in that period, those other sites in Cooroy, we anticipate, will be advanced. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah. Speaker 6: Did you want to add anything? No, I think you covered it. Okay. Councillor Lorentson: Council Wigner. Councillor Wegener: And the urban footprint, is that synonymous with sort of an industrial footprint? And it's called an expansion of the urban footprint, but when I think of urban, I think of housing. But it's set to be industrial land, but it's still under the urban footprint, is that right?
00:11:00 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's correct. The urban footprint entails all urban land, which is industrial, commercial, residential, yeah, those types of land. You said it excludes rural land, for example, and yeah, and the state set the boundary through the regional plan process. Speaker 6: When the state included these two sites in the urban footprint, it was specifically notated in the regional plan for employment industrial purposes. Speaker 4: Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: My last question, if there's a potential financial gain from this re-zoning, will council, as part of the amendments, advocate to the state to capture any benefits? What's the, I think, the windfall gain, or is there a... Value capture. Yeah. Director Rawlings: Yeah. We don't have that provision. No. In Queensland. I think we should always advocate for those sorts of outcomes, and we'll obviously advocate
00:12:00 for community benefit outcomes. Obviously. There's a portion of the development, there's a portion of the land that will need to be preserved to protect surrounding waterways, so there'll be some environmental outcomes, there'll obviously be some employment outcomes, so there's a raft of benefits that this development could deliver, but I do understand your question, and it is, yeah, it's not a provision we currently have in Queensland to be able to do, but I think it is something we should definitely keep on the agenda. Thank you. Any further questions? Councillor Wegener: Councillor Tom. Just one little niggling thing. It's 104 Holt's Road, or 170, and 94, so it doesn't actually touch there. The second block doesn't seem to actually touch Holt's Road. It looks like it's more on the other road. Speaker 1: Holt's Road goes around the corner. Councillor Wegener: So Holt's Road goes all the way through, it's a different name on the map, but that's okay.
00:13:00 So it will touch. Yep, the legal address is probably, yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Yeah. Great. No further questions. Speaker 6: Councillor Lorentson, we've got Jessica who's joined, and Karen's got a question. Councillor Lorentson: Oh, thank you very much. Councillor Finzel, you've got a question? Councillor Finzel: Yes, good morning. Through the Chair, I just have a question to staff, to how does this process align with or integrate with the South East Queensland review, and will this be, if reported as part of a properly made submission to the State? Speaker 6: So just to answer your question, Councillor, this site, these two sites were originally included in the last review of the SEQ regional plan in 2023. So it's not forming part of this review. It's actually been in place and included in the urban footprint now for two and a half
00:14:00 odd years. So we are going through a process from a planning scheme amendment process to facilitate the outcomes that the SEQ plan envisage, which is employment land. So currently it's rural. It would need to go into an urban. It's industrial, all the like. Thank you for the clarification. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you, Karen. No further question? I'm happy to move the report. Can I have a second? Second. Councillor Stockwell. Just probably the only point I want to note or reiterate is that the section aiding process still includes key steps such as community consultation. So the community will have the same time as per our normal planning scheme amendment
00:15:00 consultation process to review and comment on the draft. So welcome that opportunity to our residents. But it would be really quite interesting, a section aiding process, to see how and if it works as intended. And if so, I think really great. Any further discussions? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Stockwell. I think that the key point is that the analysis shows that the amount of developed industrial land at the moment is at capacity, that there is a current demand for more. And the DMAT, the Future Population Projection, shows that the cropping capacity is at the next 15 years, one of the largest growth areas in terms of both people looking for jobs and the need for employment land. So I think it's, as we know, it's not going to reap immediate benefits, but we need to
00:16:00 just keep on looking and getting ahead of the game. And this will provide a significant boost to industrial land in the Shire and employment opportunities in probably five years' time. Councillor Lorentson: A question before we close. Just out of curiosity, does Council look at how many potential industrial sites that this site can accommodate? And what are those numbers? Speaker 1: So it's going to produce around 18 hectares of industrial land in terms of the number of lots and things like that. That's all subject to the development. Yeah. Yeah. So we're looking at larger size lots. Yeah. That's where we find the shortage for our future industrial lands. So we'll be working through that as part of the amendment and the provisions that will come to you in the next couple of months. Thank you.
00:17:00 Councillor Wegener: So, although the state is doing this and then we vote for it, for the urban footprint to be expanded, it still falls under the Noosa Town Plan. So, for example, we had the distillery there that we had, you know, shuffling about whether it could fit in with the town plan or not. And so the same thing will go here, that all the new developments still have to be consistent with the Noosa Plan. Speaker 1: Correct, yes, yeah. Councillor Lorentson: No further questions or discussion? I'll put it to a vote. All in favour? Thank you. Thank you, ladies. So, we'll go to the next item, report for consideration of the committee, 7.2, the Noosa Plan 2020, amendment number 3, minor amendment. And Tara and Kim and Inigo, thank you. I'll hand it over to Tara and Kim.
7.2 Noosa Plan 2020 - Amendment No. 3 - Minor Amendment ¶
00:18:00 Speaker 5: So, Noosa Plan was originally adopted in July 2020 and has since had two amendments, a minor amendment in September 2020 and a major amendment in September 2025. The planning scheme is subject to regular reviews to ensure it remains contemporary, responsive to emerging issues, accurately drafted and consistently interpreted. The report recommends the adoption of a minor amendment in September 2020 and a major amendment in September 2025. The final amendment to Noosa Plan 2020 being amendment number 3. The amendment seeks to correct minor errors, formatting and improve clarification where required. These amendments do not introduce policy changes and do not require public notification, state interest review or ministerial approval. Adoption of amendment number 3 to Noosa Plan will support clearer interpretation of the planning scheme and consistent decision making. Following adoption of amendment number 3, a public notice will be placed in the local newspaper and will commence the date the notice was made. So, it's important to note that the recommendation is to resolve to make, prepare and adopt the minor amendment.
00:19:00 Councillor Lorentson: Questions around the table? Mayor Wilkie. Thank you. Speaker 4: There are minor technical amendments. What is the most significant of these minor technical amendments in your opinion? Speaker 5: None really. There is some clarification. We've had some issues in the past regarding minor technical amendments. We've made that a lot clearer in the scheme as to when something comes in as a referral to Council as opposed to as an application. That's probably one that's been tripping up DA for the last few years. So, that's made that a lot clearer. Other than that, they are really super minor. Formatting. Yeah, formatting, errors, typos. Typos. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 6: There was one redrafting of a provision just to clarify it and separate it out.
00:20:00 So, it was very clear. There was some misinterpretation going on. But the policy intent or anything does not change. Councillor Wegener: Thank you. You did a lot of work in here. I mean, it's insubstantial to go through it and the amount of effort that has gone into this. Thank you, Tarana. Speaker 5: There's been a lot of feedback from DA too. Yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: The benefits of being the most recently appointed strategic planner. Yes, that's right. Director Rawlings: Can I discuss this? DA background. Yeah. But it's a huge document. I don't know how many thousand pages, but it's a huge document. And the more it's used by DA, things are picked up. Formatting. I mean, dot point wrong. This says 8.1, it should be 8.2, those sorts of things. And we just keep a running list. And the list has got to a point where we're like, okay, it's time to rectify some of these
00:21:00 things. But just to be clear, this does run a very different process to the previous one. This is simply an administrative minor amendment process that council has the remit to both resolve and adopt and put in place. So it doesn't require community engagement or consultation because of the nature of the amendments. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'm happy to move to . Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Who would like to speak to the report? Anyone? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Oh, just thank you for putting in the time and the effort in your new role and putting all those years of DA experience to the test by fixing up your old colleagues. Thank you. Councillor Wegener: Thank you. Yeah, I tried to find something to be get-up-ity about, and I couldn't find anything. I was reading a lot of it.
00:22:00 Yeah, they're just, you know, some really nice clarifications. Yeah, I went through a little bit spelling mistakes, too. Councillor Lorentson: I think what I picked up is just the attention to detail. And there was nothing significant that would change the intent or the meaning of the, you know, of the amendment. But it's the little details. So thank you very much for the hard work, Tara. Really appreciate it. No further discussion? All in favour, please. That's the annals. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you. That brings us to report 7.3. And welcome to the desk, Patrick and Richard. 7.3 is the report. Request for delegation under section 42 of the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994 associated with OPW 25 slash 0072 development application for operational works, vehicle crossover, road
7.3 REQUEST FOR DELEGATION UNDER SECTION 42 OF THE TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE ACT 1994 ASSOCIATED WITH OPW25/0072 DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION FOR OPERATIONAL WORKS (VEHICLE CROSSOVER, ROADWORKS, DRAINAGE WORKS, EARTHWORKS, VEGETATION CLEARING AND WATERWAY BARRIER WORKS) - 36 ROSES ROAD FEDERAL ¶
00:23:00 works, drainage works, earthworks, vegetation clearing and waterway barrier works, 36 Roses Road, Federal. And hand it over to you, Patrick. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. So the team are assessing an operational works application as you've detailed for those range of activities to facilitate access to a property at 36 Roses Road in Federal. The site currently does not have access. It's effectively landlocked. The current access is through the adjoining property, which is in the same ownership. So this application, the operational works application, is set up in the same ownership to the site from Roses Road. Now, as part of the application, it's been identified that the works result in an interface with the state-controlled road.
00:24:00 And accordingly, approval is required from the chief executive to proceed with those works, with the assessment of the operational works application. So it's a technical requirement. And we've identified that the relevant officer does not have delegation to the site. So we're seeking, effectively, a one-off delegation to the CEO, which will be one delegated to the relevant officer so that this operational works application can proceed. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you, Patrick. Questions around the table? Speaker 2: This person had the driveway. Thank you. It's been a long time that we've been working with this landowner, so I certainly appreciate the ability to progress. Yeah, correct. We've been working with them, I think, for several years now, trying to find a solution, Speaker 3: including easements and a whole range of different things. I think it's important for Councillors to also note that officers have had in principle discussions with DTMR as well, and they're supportive of that.
00:25:00 So this is really the formality through just getting a sign-off from the chief executive. I'm happy to move the recommendation. Councillor Lorentson: Sorry. I'm the chair. Excuse me. Councillor Stockwell. I have a question, Richard. Given the need for section 42 under the Transport Infrastructure Act, should Council consider formally amending the CEO delegations to include this type of application so that we don't need to go through this process? Speaker 3: Yes. Councillor Lorentson: Is that something considered? Speaker 3: Thank you, Councillor. Yes. The intention is that with our next round of delegations that come through to Council, we'll be looking to include this permanent set of delegations to be passed on through the CEO. This is just obviously dealing with this current application, but we'll deal with it as part of our normal annual review package of all delegations from Council to the CEO and to the relevant staff. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Councillor Stockwell, mover.
00:26:00 Thank you, Sally. And seconded by Mayor Wilkie. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: This is just unusual in that we rarely get such applications, technical detail to address, but as the staff said, this landowner's been trying to resolve this issue for a number of years or have been on site and have a look. The alternatives to go through the other property with an easement are constrained because of the very steep nature and the waterways that have to be crossed. There is evidence of historic access along the paths which this one facilitates. It probably was an old farm tractor and four-wheel drive access when there was dairy on the site. So it's a fairly straightforward issue and the landowner's aware of the need to construct it to the appropriate standard, but all we're doing is giving staff the authority to assess the application and approve or otherwise. Councillor Lorentson: Any further discussion? I'll put it to a vote.
00:27:00 All those in favour? That's unanimous. Thank you, Sally. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you, Richard. And to stay at the desk, we'll now move to Item 7.4, Planning Applications Decided by Delegated Authority. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Yeah, this is the report for the applications that are decided under delegation for the month of January of 2026. There were 20 applications that were decided by Delegated Authority. So there was 20 that were approved and that there were two that were refused. The applications that were refused, one related to the construction of a swimming pool within the coastal protection setback area, a five metre setback area. In the last couple of days, that refusal has since been appealed to the tribunal. The other application was a combined application that DBW and an early referral response and
7.4 PLANNING APPLICATIONS DECIDED BY DELEGATED AUTHORITY – JANUARY 2026 ¶
00:28:00 the setback components which form part of the early referral response were not supported. So it was approved in part effectively. Speaker 4: Setbacks to which boundary? Speaker 2: To the front and side boundary. They were a portico extending within the front boundary and also additional covered car parking area. Speaker 4: So what was the ultimate outcome? You said partially approved, partially approved? Speaker 2: Yeah. So it works to the rear of the building. So it works to the rear of the building. So it was approved in which was effectively a terrace area and some minor modifications to the existing dwelling were approved. But those additions to the dwelling which encouraged me from the setback were not supported. To the front of the building. To the front of the building. Yeah. Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Any further questions around the table? I'm happy to move it, Madam Chair. Thank you. Can I have a seconder please? Thank you. So that's Mayor Wilkie moving.
00:29:00 Seconder, Councillor Tom Wegener. No further discussion? All those in favour? That's unanimous. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you. Thanks, Richard. And there are no reports for noting, no confidential session. And this has been a really short meeting. I now declare the meeting closed at 10 o'clock. Thank you.
8 REPORTS FOR NOTING BY THE COMMITTEE ¶
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9 CONFIDENTIAL SESSION ¶
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10 MEETING CLOSURE ¶
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