General Committee Meeting - 7 July 2026 Transcript

2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY ¶

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00:01:00 So if I can invite the staff. Oh, did I miss one? Councillor Finzel: Yeah. Getting a bit excited there. There it is. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I found it. Councillor Finzel would like to move the confirmation of the minutes. Councillor Finzel: Happy to move. Happy to second. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: And Councillor Phillips seconded. All in favour. Councillor Finzel: Yes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: That's unanimous. And now we move on to the first item. Director Walsh: Councilors, I just wish to revise on Dr. Steph who belongs to take a yield. So I'll be presenting the report on her basis. But knowing that she is the author of the report with the support of Transport Officer Damien Berg. So I can't pretend. I can't pretend to be as an expert as Stephanie, so it's not that I do my best.

4.1 GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES DATED 9 JUNE 2026 ¶

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Nothing was transcribed under this heading — a stretch of the recording with no speech the model could make out.

7.1 MOVEMENT AND CONNECTION ACTION PLAN 2025–2027 ¶

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00:02:00 So the Noosa Transport Strategy, originally established in 2017-2027, is approaching the end of the strategic horizon. The strategy established a long-term transport vision of an efficient free-flowing individual transport system that enhances resident and visitor experiences and supports sustainable transport and value outcomes. Since adoption of the strategy, we have delivered a remarkable suite of transport initiatives across public transport, active transport, parking networks, and public transport. We have also delivered a number of transport initiatives across public transport, traffic management, traffic data, and traffic safety, and visitor demand management. Many of these initiatives, such as the free bus loops and satellite parking, and our business as usual, which weren't envisaged back in 2017. So what's presented in this report is basically an action plan for the remaining two years of the transport strategy. It is intended to maintain delivery momentum, respond to current community priorities, and progress selective initiatives for investigations. The plan needs to be viewed in conjunction with our work underway across other initiatives, such as Go Noosa, walking and cycling strategy, as well as all the operational work that's undertaken by the team, which is outlined in the report.

00:03:00 I just note that the plan does not constitute approval of any capital works, and obviously any capital delivery would be subject to Council's separate budget processes. The report includes a transport and traffic program at a glance, including 15 strategy initiatives delivered and embedded. 400 customer requests assessed annually, three major strategic studies completed or progressing, two advisory communities reinstated, and four key safety programs underway. So I'm looking for Council to endorse the report and the movement and connection action plan for the remaining two years. Thank you, Councillors. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Do we have questions? Councillor Longiton. Councillor Lorentson: I have. In terms of the free bus system, I just wanted some clarification. I have. Is Council continuing to fund the free bus service, given that it's now $0.50?

00:04:00 Director Walsh: So we maintain an additional bus service during the peak periods, which is service 065, and that is a free bus. So if we didn't supply 065, there would be no bus on that loop. So it's an additional service to the transit service. Speaker 2: Thank you. Director Walsh: And the data shows that under the Go Noosa report, which is a separate report, there would be no bus on that loop. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Other questions, Councillor Longiton? Councillor Lorentson: There's reference to previous Council considerations, and I'm just referencing some of the resolutions in the past, as far back as I can recall, 2020, in terms of a one-way priority bus loop. So Council has resolved to investigate. I note you've mentioned a bus shuttle, priority bus lane. But there's no mention of a one-way trial. Is that captured somewhere, or is that part of the priority bus lane investigations?

00:05:00 Director Walsh: Yes. So Council funded that investigation last financial year, which has just concluded. And we're pleased to advise that that modelling has actually been completed for both the priority bus lane, including consideration of the one-way loop, and also a shuttle bus. And I understand that Stephanie Boleyn has actually shared with the workshop, we'll put you a question for the workshop, to actually report the findings to Council for further consideration. Councillor Lorentson: Fantastic. Really look forward to that. And probably my last question, in terms of ferry or river transport discounts, again, I note that it was included in the past resolution. Has any further progress been made? Director Walsh: The only progress we've made on river transport is the Noosa Woods public transport. So, the next vehicle that we could, pardon the pun, that we can progress that is the Northern Sunshine Coast public transport strategy, which the State Government has promised for some time now, and seems to be hooked up internally.

00:06:00 Because that will be the next opportunity for us to advocate for a river transport system. And we're looking forward to continuing to collaborate and advocate for the release of that draft plan for Council and stakeholders. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Phillips: A couple of questions. Thanks, Shaun. Just in relation to the road safety audit, the crash investigation and the data that is received from there and the black spot nominations. Can you just explain to me how I will see that as a councillor come through? What report will I be looking for as to what data influences our decisions? And is there any coming into our community that we would see? Director Walsh: It's fair to say that, unfortunately, during COVID, the sort of capture of that data and its projection to both the relevant two committees, the Traffic Safety Committee and the Speed Advisory Committee, sort of fell by the wayside. And we also had an absence of staff in that area. So, one of the things I'm proud to report of in the last financial year is that those committees are being re-established.

00:07:00 And that data is now being presented to stakeholders such as QPS and TMR to actually inform, you know, strategies moving forward. I think we've got more work to do in terms of closing the loop in terms of that report, that reporting coming through the council. And I'm happy to take that on notice about how we more effectively report outcomes from those investigations to council. Is that a fair statement, Damon? Yeah. So, do you want to contribute anything else to that? Speaker 9: I do know that Stephanie has submitted some black spot nominations for TMR, and that's just going through the process now. So, it relies on the state agreeing to and prior to that. We're in competition with every other local area in Queensland. Yeah. Director Walsh: And escalation of our data to TMR at those relevant committees is really imperative to get their support to actually fund those black spots. Speaker 8: Okay. Director Walsh: So, I think there's a little more in as well. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So, we have Councillor Finzel and, yeah, I'll get to Councillor Wilson after Councillor Finzel.

00:08:00 Yes. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Coming back to the question regarding, like, river transport and reference to the northern transport. Director Walsh: So, we've been advocating to the state government, TMR and TransLink, that the northern Sunshine Coast public transport strategy should include a future direction for river transport. We're very lucky at the moment that we have a commercial provider who's providing really valuable transport service. But over the longer term, how does that translate into a more frequent and sustainable transport? So, we have the same view, but we need to get TMR online. We are heartened with the program that now operates down at the Gold Coast Waterways called Hop On and Off, which is actually a joint commercial and TransLink model. So, it's on a TransLink schedule that they actually charge a more commercially driven fee.

00:09:00 So, the fact that TransLink actually implemented that system on the Gold Coast is a really good model for Nooses River in the future. So, it's not about excluding commercial operators. It's actually about working with them in a collaborative model. In partnership. Councillor Finzel: Fantastic. And can I just one more question? Director Walsh: One more. Councillor Finzel: Just with regards to the walk and ride to school program. I noticed we were out at Karan last week. They had a really positive community engagement there and great uptake from the kids who loved the pizza that they got. It's part of the reward for participating. Where are we heading in terms of that and also in relation to closing those gaps on pathways and connectivity? Director Walsh: So, probably about the school program, I'm really happy to talk about that in the next report, which is the Go Noosa report, which focuses on expenditure to the Sustainable Transport Levy. And that actually focuses on an increase in that program, because perhaps if I can park that question to the Chair for the next report, because it's a bit up here. Okay, thank you. In terms of the other question about accelerated program of pathways, in last year's budget, Council thankfully actually approved a budget of $500,000.00.

00:10:00 To advance detailed design on pathways and cycleways through the Shire and the invention that would end up with shovel ready projects that would then put in for additional funding for the subsequent financial year. There's a very large appetite from the Council from our discussions about accelerating for paths and cycleways. And that's the first step that we've actually got designs ready to actually be brought on the ground and very thankful for that. So, we're currently formulating the locations about where we'd like to do that design work. And we need to have a separate Council briefing on those locations. Councillor Wilson: Okay, thank you. Director Walsh: Councillor Wilson. Councillor Wilson: Thanks. Firstly, is it possible to move the microphone closer to the staff? I'm really having trouble hearing and I'm getting all the background noise instead.

00:11:00 Director Walsh: Councillor Wilson, is that better? Can you hear me better? Councillor Wilson: Yeah, thank you. Yeah. I'm so sorry for this being a bit, but the review of the existing FlexiLink and Council cab services that's been on the agenda and been recommended for review in various reports now, is there a date we can expect that to be done by? Director Walsh: It's fair to say that we would like to do a review on that, Councillor Wilson, because the, you know, the cost per passenger is quite high. The preliminary review is to indicate the passengers that we actually did capture aren't captured by other social security agencies. We've got limited staff with a huge operational load. We would like to do that review, but I don't know whether we've got capacity to do that in 26, 20, what, 26, 27. And I note that the report focuses that we can do a review to see whether we can expand it to Kin Kin in 27, 28.

00:12:00 So it's proposed to be integrated into that second year of the Movement and Connection Action Plan. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thanks. Thank you. Any other questions? Councillor Lorentson? Councillor Lorentson: I've got in front of me some of our service and organisation meeting recommendations as far back as 2020, 2021. And not a criticism, but a lot of the recommendations that we see today are very similar to what we've been advocating year on, year out. And I think it's important to note that the recommendations that we see today are very similar to what we've been advocating year on, year out. Thank you for the last 16 years that I've been in Council. My question is, what's new and how are we going, in your opinion? Director Walsh: Yeah. So firstly, probably the only nuance of what's new is more to focus on e-bikes. So this plan is about a wrap-up of the existing strategy from 2017 to 2027, and focusing available

00:13:00 resources and efforts on wrapping up the existing strategy. So it's not fully as a procedural way. This is not about a new program. We forecast that for us to embrace on a new direction, we would need to start preparing a new transport strategy because this transport strategy is over 10 years old. So it's fair to say that the transport space is very challenging. If you note that three years ago, we actually had a vacancy in the transport coordinator role for over 12 months. So us trying to resource and lead this space and then staff it is incredibly challenging against the competition in South East Queensland. And we've regularly advised council of that. So moving forward, that's why we're trying to seek adoption of the movement connection action plan is about what we can do with what we've got with confidence and focus our available resources with those items listed in the table. Councillor Phillips: Thank you. Director Walsh: And for Phillips. Councillor Phillips: Lately, I've found out that there's been a lot of competition. There's a lot more legislative and non-legislative.

00:14:00 And so I've decided I'm going to make some notes around which ones are and aren't. Just a quick question. Is this one a legislative requirement to come to council? Director Walsh: It's not a legislative requirement. It's just a strategy. It's a wish list, if you like, for council to pursue. And this is still a wish list of items that we think we should focus on in the remaining period. Now, there are operational aspects that we deliver that are constrained by the Transport Act. And the Traffic Act, you know, when we're doing assessments of road treatments and the like. So that's operational. Councillor Finzel. Councillor Finzel: Just following on from that, perhaps maybe to provide a little bit more information. Can you talk us a little bit about the Noosa Plan 2020 and how that planning framework speaks to land use, transport, access and parking considerations? Yeah. Director Walsh: Councillor Finzel, I'll probably have to take that on notice and talk to the planners more about it.

00:15:00 Oh, okay. But I think historically you'll find that when this plan was originally, strategy was prepared in 2017, we were in the process of drafting Noosa Plan 2020. So there would have been significant technical review of the number of car parking spaces per unit, for instance. The strategy and framework plans of Noosa Plan about our road network and our arrangements around that. So, and I think that's why the report notes that this work is completed because Noosa Plan was adopted in 2020. But what I can do is take on notice to give you more information about what changed in Noosa Plan 2020 as a result of the transport strategy. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Mayor Wilkie: Councillor. Happy to move it, Mr Chair. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We've got a mover for the motion and we have a seconder. Councillor Finzel. The floor is yours. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. The Movement and Connection Action Plan is a practical forward-thinking roadmap that builds on the significant achievements of the Noosa transport strategy and positions our community for an even more connected future.

00:16:00 This plan recognises that great communities are built around choice, accessibility, safety and connection. It celebrates the success of initiatives already embedded in our community, from Go Noosa holiday transport services and community transport programs to upgraded accessible bus stops, about 140 of them, if I read correctly. Expanded pathway networks and active school travel initiatives. These achievements demonstrate our commitment to delivering real outcomes for residents and visitors alike. What makes this plan particularly impressive is its focus on smart, evidence-based decision making. Rather than rushing into costly infrastructure projects, it invests in the investigations, planning and community engagement needed to ensure future decisions are strategic, informed and financially responsible. The priorities identified are exactly the right ones. Safer routes to school. Expanded walking and cycling opportunities. Improved end of trip facilities. Corridor investigations. Behaviour change programs.

00:17:00 And a proactive approach to emerging e-mobility challenges. And that will help create a more sustainable, healthy and accessible Noosa. Importantly, the plan looks beyond the immediate horizon. By commencing preparation for the next Noosa transport strategy, we are ensuring that future generations inherit a transport network that meets the changing community needs and needs of the community. It's a balanced and achievable plan. It strengthens safety. Supports active lifestyles. Reduces congestion pressures. Although we've acknowledged the demand on this network is so high we may never fully get there. Improves accessibility. And prepares us for the future while remaining grounded in practical delivery. I'd like to thank the staff for working on this program under very difficult circumstances. It's an enormous body of work. And we're proud to be part of it. We're grateful to you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Councillor Wegener. Councillor Wegener: I'll just quickly speak to this.

00:18:00 We know that the residents want movement, connection, traffic looked at and long-term planning going on. And I'm of the opinion that we are starving ourselves through the budgetary process. And it says right here. And the primary risk relates to internal capacity, particularly of the balance between progressing strategic per job project work and maintaining business as usual services. So I would love to see more resources put toward this area where the public has told us that they want this movement. And I wish that that wasn't the primary risk right there. The funding. Thank you. Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson: Similar to what Tom's just said. I'm going to go back to the 2017, the actual strategy.

00:19:00 And when you read it, it's really clear. Move people, not cars. Prioritise walking, cycling, public transport. Tackle congestion by reducing traffic. And not adding more road capacity. That was the promise that we made in 2017. Nine years later. And that's the promise that we made in 2017. And, you know, the question I just asked before, how are we going? And there are genuine wins. And I think the report acknowledges that. In particular, active transport investments growing. Road safety programs have been reinstated. I've taken in a lot of the education programs and really commend those. Staff have worked really hard. And we have got presently some excellent staff working in this space. And I want to acknowledge and respect that. And I want to acknowledge and respect that work. But when I go back to, like I said, in the 2020 recommendation in our services and organisation committee recommendations, year after year after year, we've got pretty much the same

00:20:00 sort of recommendations. Priority bus lane was part of the 2017 strategy. End of trip facilities. Surfboard lockers, which have been trying to push and ratified showers into facilities. That was all part of. You know, the 2017 strategy and part of resolutions, past resolutions in council, ferry service. That was also identified as an opportunity in 2017. And nine years later, it still remains at that opportunity. So my question is, and again, not a criticism of staff, back to what Tom said. It's probably a question for us as the elected representatives, because I keep coming back. There's something between strategy. There's something between strategy. There's something between funding and delivery that gets stalled and funding, resourcing, and sometimes just simple as political will.

00:21:00 So my question or the opportunity I think we have in front of us is in terms of the review of the 10 year strategy. And that's possibly where I would love to invite and put some bigger thinking on the table. At the moment. At the moment, what we're doing year after year is doing exactly the same thing and expecting a same result in terms of, you know, congestion and traffic issues. So maybe the thinking for the next review is throw that all away and let's put some really big ideas on the table. I've been looking at what works in Europe and there are towns in Europe that are facing exactly the same challenges that we are having. So I'm not going to go into too much detail here. In New South too many cars, not enough space and a precious environment to protect. And they've made a deliberate decision to actually change their models entirely. And we've had some discussion about this over the years, but this is something I'd love further

00:22:00 workshops and discussion is it's about transit arrival centres. And, you know, most of us or some of us have had this experience. I've had this experience in New South Wales. It's in Waikiki where you arrive at a transit centre and there's shuttles and buses and ferries that bring you to high visitation areas like Noosa, Hastings Street. So the question I hope that we post part of the next review is, is that radical for Noosa? And I'm not talking a bus stop in a transit centre. I'm talking proper, proper transit. It's a very private area. Because it may be the answer is it is might be too radical for Noosa. But the question I'm asking is maybe that's exactly the thinking that we're needing, because

00:23:00 to me, it's more radical to watch Hastings Street year after year, grind to a halt every Christmas while we wait for another investigation to conclude. So... Thank you. Again, I'm going to go back to the Noosa River as another big thinking and an opportunity that we really need to put our efforts into. We really need to activate the river as a transport corridor, not investigate it. And again, not impossible ideas. It just takes political will and just not innovation, but bold leadership is probably what I'm saying. Just the ability to just sometimes think outside the square and throw out the existing model. So again, I support the plan before us today. It's solid, careful work.

00:24:00 And again, acknowledge the staff at work. But I want us to endorse it with our eyes open and with an honest acknowledgement that sometimes investigation without delivery is not good enough. And with a real commitment that the next transport strategy will be different, not more of the same. Councillor Phillips: Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Phillips. Councillor Phillips: Thank you. Thanks for the report, Dawn, and your team. I do hope that, well, I would like, I would say I'm going. I'd be proud to be part of a council that during the operational review in the next 12 months that we may see an opportunity to provide resources to deliver some of these great programs. In my opinion, it, I hope I never see council not resourced again to have people on speed management and black spot programs. One of our core responsibilities.

00:25:00 Is our road networks and seeing the long list. I do hope that within the next 12 months, I'm part of a council that has resources in an ongoing resources in areas that should just be business as usual. It's great to hear that there are those programs up and running. And I would imagine that there's a bit of a backlog, but I do hope that they can catch up and give some recommendations to areas in our Shire that have caused serious injuries. If not, fatalities, and so that's the thing that I'm very passionate about making sure we're never under resourced in delivering those outcomes for our community. Yeah, thanks for the report. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Cancel Fins all. Councillor Finzel: Yes, thank you. It was good to get the report on passionate about connectivity, especially in our hinterland communities where there's big gaps between our villages, how we get young people moving so that we can, you know, reduce social isolation and those impacts on our young people.

00:26:00 I'd like to thank the staff for bringing this report, because I think the separation from the budget thing, economically investing in active transport infrastructure improves access to local businesses, tourism destinations and activity centers, as we all know, well connected pathways encourage people to spend more time in our villages, supporting local commerce and enhancing the visitor experience while delivering long term value to the community. Importantly, these, these priorities align strongly with feedback we received through Council's livability and placemaking work, where residents consistently identified safer, greener, and better connected communities as a key aspiration for Noosa's future. I also believe there is significant value, as I mentioned before, in separating the long term targets of the movement and place action plan from the annual budget process.

00:27:00 Doing so allows Council to maintain a clear strategic plan for the future of the community. As we work towards a sustainable future, we need to build a sustainable economy by really building a sustainable economy that is able to sustain our population. while retaining flexibility to pursue projects as funding opportunities, partnerships, and grants become available. This approach enables us to focus on evidence based decision making rather than short term budget cycles. We've heard around the table today that everyone is keen to look at how we move forward and how we really seriously look at our budget and how we can actively provide provision to move forward on these long term strategies and things that need to be done. A stage delivery model also creates valuable opportunities for data collection. By monitoring pathway usage, travel behaviour, safety movements, economic activity, community education and participation, Council can build a stronger evidence base to guide future investment decisions. This information of course can help refine priorities, demonstrate outcomes, support

00:28:00 external funding applications and ensure that future projects deliver the greatest possible benefit to our community. Ultimately the Movement in Place action plan is not simply about infrastructure. It's about creating healthier communities, protecting our environment, strengthening local economies and delivering the connected, liveable and people-focused Noosa that our community has consistently told us it wants for the future. So I thank the staff and I thank the community. And my co-councillors around the table that we feel like we've got a collective vision forward to really drill down in the rest of this term to a strategic look at how we can deliver the community expectations. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. So this is a good report that it looks back and see what we achieved. I don't think anyone's focused on one that we've done some good work in and that's on

00:29:00 the off-road pathways. So the report clearly identifies that since the adoption of the Council's Walking and Cycling Strategy, Capital Works Program and Grant Foundation Opportunity has invested approximately $7.3 million up until May of this year and that's seen a lot of missing links addressed and also some other projects and that figure doesn't include where there's been increased off-road connectivity as a result of larger projects. The director did mention about the gap we had. In the transport planning area for a year and it, in my opinion, it did cause delay as it was worth the wait because the team we've got there now, as I think all the councillors agree, the level of professional acumen that comes to their reports, to their briefings, it really gives you confidence that we are heading in the right direction and we've got the right people doing the role of trying to implement our movement strategies to the point where I would say one of the officers around the table walks to the table and says,

00:30:00 walk to talk, in fact he rides to talk because he rides to work and commutes which is one thing that not many Noosa people do and one that over the coming years I would say we would increasingly like to encourage. The director also mentioned about something new being around e-bikes and in fact I think that the key thing for the future is not just e-bikes, it's e-mobility. So while the current news will focus on the issues around teenagers doing what teenagers do with new technology and creating a bit of a stir, there is also a broader move to e-mobility, people not buying a second car and getting an e-bike but taking the e-bike to work down at Hastings Street. But more of our community is, I had some relatives visiting last week and one of them has moved into actually the business of aged mobility and she said what they're seeing is a lot of people, baby boomers, who are at the point where driving is not an option.

00:31:00 They're not buying any more and they're buying e-mobility and so when we look at the design of our off-road pathways we will have to look at are they safe not just for walkers, not just for people with their dogs, not just for people on e-bikes but also our aged e-mobility. I know one of my old masters football team mates when he turned 80 something, he got an e-device and he used to come up here and whenever he could he'd try and run me over but it is something that our community will be, probably see a significant increase over the next 10 years of the number of aged people who will adopt smaller e-devices to commute, to go shopping, to get to the doctor and I suppose that's something that the investigations over the next two years will help inform when we come to do the next strategy. Councillor Wilkie, would you like to close? Mayor Wilkie: No, I'll ask Councillor Wilson. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Oh, Councillor Wilson, sorry. Thank you. Councillor Wilson: No, thanks. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah, thank you.

00:32:00 Some good comments around the table. You don't have to be on council very long to understand the work of local government is never done. There's always more to do and it's all about prioritising resources. So when it comes to transport the priority has been firmly on the road network and cycling and walking. To the point where we've got a free loop bus and we've got a free bus and we've got a free bus now that's carrying up to 72,000, a record number of 72,000 passengers during the Christmas period alone, which equates to taking 51,000 car trips off the road. It definitely has an impact on congestion. It'd be a lot worse if that mode of transport wasn't available. But despite all that, as the report says, the work is on the Noosa Woods jetty investigation. The on water option is still very much on the table and every councillor around the country on this table has had ample opportunity to drive that towards completion. We're almost there and that's still very much on the table.

00:33:00 So we haven't dropped the ball on the jetty investigation by any means and we look forward to future workshops on that and funding opportunities and also what the next phase is on that. Again, there are challenges in the local government faced by all councils across Queensland. When it comes to staffing as well and as Deputy Mayor said, we've got an excellent transport manager now in form of Dr Stephanie Ballon and it is a very hard working team and they're serving us very well. So again, commend the staff on this excellent update. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I put the motion. Those in favour? Yes. Councillor Wilson? Yes. That's unanimous. We move on to the next item, which is the Go Noosa report. Director Walsh: Thank you, councillors. We have a short presentation to actually show on the screen, which will be also tabled as

7.2 GO NOOSA REPORT ¶

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00:34:00 part of the minutes to the meeting and I'll just have Stephanie up. And again, I just wanted to acknowledge the work of Bernadette Goodman, who's actually on leave, scheduled leave at the moment, who's prepared this report with Stephanie, Damien and I just also want to acknowledge the manager, Paul Rickert, who is in the room. I've just got him in the background monitoring traffic arising from the Doonella Bridge closure, which I thought was very apt considering it's the Go Noosa report. Have fun bringing in new staff members if we can't pick on them. So again, Stephanie's prepared this presentation with Bernadette, so I'll just go through it. But Go Noosa is about innovating the way we move and this highlights some of the key wins. In particular, the significant increase in the number of staff members who have been patronage on the 065 Go Noosa loop free bus, which shows that people are increasingly wishing to use alternative forms of transport versus using a car, which means a lot less

00:35:00 cars on the road contributing to congestion. So that represents a 65% increase with 24-25 and a 76% increase between 19-20. So it's actually seems that it has a high use of mobility. The survey also indicated 21 per cent of responses are using public transport and 30 per cent expressed interest in using park and ride services in the future to actually assist their mobility, particularly around those peak periods. But it's heartening to hear that the service is servicing residents, not just visitors. So I'll go on to the next slide. These are some of the relevant Easter 26 survey findings about strong support for free bus and park and ride facilities, council making decisions in the best interest of the community, such as pedestrian priority areas, reduced

00:36:00 physical access and permit based access arrangements, road maintenance and conditions. So there's ongoing concerns from community engagement about our road maintenance and congestion and the need for continued investment in transport infrastructure, the need for planning for future community needs, including alternative transport options. And also parking demand remained one of the most significant issues identified by residents with pressures on available parking affecting visitor experience. And that visitor could be a resident as well as a visitor from elsewhere in Australia or overseas. And actually tackling that issue head on. Next slide please. We note that council has kindly increased the transport levy in this year's budget, and that's very welcome to actually focus on investment. And when you look at the report, the focus on additional investment is actually on the school programs more than anything. We know that our congestion on a daily basis outside peak periods is around our schools, particularly Cooroy, Noosaville on Beckmans Road, Good Shepard on New Munday Noosa Road, as well as the schools of Lexham Drive and Sunshine Beach.

00:37:00 And the more we actually focus on getting students out of their parents' cars into more alternative transport modes will actually free up congestion on a daily basis. And we see that at the moment on school holidays, when Beckmans Road generally travels really fast. really well. Whereas during school holidays, we have sorry, during school term, we have significant congestion. So just want to note that the major focus of that new transport levy budget is on the day to day residents and their movement around the Shire with focusing on school programs. The next slide. And that outlines the key focus on School Travel Behaviour Change Program Safety, Education and Awareness, which is also about use of shared paths from all the different people.

00:38:00 We know that a key part of the report which will be of interest to councillors is the use of Noosa Heads Lions Park for overflow parking which is a legacy arrangement that's been going on for some time with up to 250 cars parked in that space. The report recommends that we don't continue that arrangement on the basis that it's contributing to congestion and may be seen as being contrary to the use of the land for reserve park status and the like. And I suppose the key point in the video is about the congestion. If you could bring that link up, thanks Vicky. So this is a 3D visualisation of what's happening from our traffic consultants and what's happening now and this is the entry into the Lions Park on Noosa Parade and you can see the bus there going into the bus station, the pedestrian crossing and into the bus stop and you can see vehicles to the left heading to Hastings Street.

00:39:00 But what seems to be happening from the modelling is it's the queuing actually trying to get into a car park at the Noosa Heads Lions Park overflow. Which is now causing some of the most significant congestion in that precinct. And the report just notes that we've put all this effort into managing the arrangements around the overflow precinct of Noosa Heads Lions Park, which has a capacity of 250. But the report also notes that we've got significant underutilisation of our satellite car parks and other locations in the Shire. And with our limited resources, the report just notes that we would prefer to actually put that same amount of effort into really making our satellite parking work, such as the AFL grounds and other locations in the Shire, to actually free up the congestion in this location.

00:40:00 We also note that the vast majority of users of Noosa Heads Lions Park are also there for a long term, so they're actually there who are ideal candidates to actually park in Noosaville or Tewantin and get a bus into the area, rather than a short trip to Noosa Heads Lions Park. Now, we know that this will be subject to significant Council interest, and I also just want to acknowledge the community contribution of the Lions Club and the way that they distribute their funds to the community, and that's also acknowledged in the report, and we have a very good working relationship with the Lions Club as we work through management of that space, so I'm sure this topic will have significant interest in discussion with Council. Thank you. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Do we have any questions? Councillor Lorentson: I might just take the band-aid off and start with an amendment. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We haven't got a motion as yet. Oh, excuse me. Mayor Wilkie: I'll move the motion, Mr Chairman. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'll move Councillor Wilkie.

00:41:00 A seconder? Councillor Finzel. Councillor Wilkie, you have the floor. Mayor Wilkie: Great. Look, there's been some great comments around this table about leadership, about not doing business as usual. Not just supporting the status quo when there are better methods ahead of us, and always making evidence-based decisions in the best long-term interests of our community, and today we get to do that again. So today's decision is not really about a temporary car park, it's about fairness, equity, access, future, and our responsibility to make evidence-based decisions in the best long-term interests of the Noosa Shire. It's about moving people, not cars, as we just heard before. We faced exactly the same fears before, councillors. We made the decision to honour our commitment to discontinue parking in the Lions Park on long weekends and school holidays once COVID ended in the face of many objections, the same objections, and the results after we did that honoured our commitment have been positive.

00:42:00 Temporary parking was there to encourage day-drive visitors, which it did successfully during COVID. That was over now, so despite warnings it would kill prosperity. Removing car parking in Lions Park did not reduce numbers of people visiting, but it actually reduced congestion at a couple of roundabouts, returned a green space to families, the number of people visiting did not drop because more and more are getting there by alternate means and demand to visit is so strong. Now when people drive down Noosa Hill during school holidays and long weekends, instead of a sea of cars parked side-by-side in Lions Park, they see families and their families and their families. Playing in open parklands. It's a much more relaxing sight, which adds enormously towards making Noosa a more enjoyable experience for everyone. And did people stop coming? No. Evidence, experience and observations suggest there are just as many people as ever, perhaps even more in Noosa during school holidays and long weekends, while respecting our rare parklands.

00:43:00 Imagine that all year round. That's what we're being asked to do today, councillors. The evidence before us is compelling. The transport modelling, which we've just seen, demonstrates that Lions Park overflow parking does not solve. It adds to congestion, something we're all dedicated to reducing. It shows that Lions Park is not needed as car parking to enable what seems like record numbers of people accessing Main Beach. Remembering, cars do not go to the beach, buy ice creams, visit shops and go to restaurants. People do. This is about valuing people over cars. About freedom of choice to drive and park. Using the hundreds of appropriately marked on-road car parks, or catch a bus, cycle or walk. It's about choice. The evidence also tells us that overflow parking reduces community access to valuable open space during the busiest periods of the year, when its demand is at its highest. And that the operation of the temporary car park comes with ongoing maintenance, operational and governance costs.

00:44:00 For many years, the temporary use of Lions Park as overflow parking has delivered positive fundraising outcomes. Fundraising outcomes for one very worthy organisation. The Tewantin Noosa Lions Club should be recognised, and thanks for its extraordinary contribution to our community. However, we must also acknowledge a simple question of equity. Noosa is home to hundreds of sporting, cultural and environmental service and community organisations that could do a lot of good, community good, with such funds also. The report proposes a fairer and more transparent approach where charitable and community organisations can participate through open procurement and expression of interest processes, creating opportunities for many groups rather than just one, and providing perhaps recreational activities better suited to this parkland. As councillors, we have also faced similar decisions before. We've already supported the temporary removal of car parking at Main Beach during peak holiday periods and long weekends, replacing it with a managed drop-off zone focused on safety, accessibility and improved traffic flow.

00:45:00 There's less congestion at the Hastings Street roundabout. As a result, and greater access for more people in that precinct. The report notes the growing use of the facility improved operational outcomes, increased disability access and better visitor management. The feared negative consequences simply did not occur. Our duty as councillors is not to make decisions based on anecdotes, sentiment or fear of change. Our duty is to make fact-based, evidence-driven decisions that serve the best long-term interests of the entire Shire, and I've heard that said by many councillors, so I wholeheartedly agree. So let us be guided by the evidence and past experience. Let's be fair to all community organisations. Let us protect public space for public use. Let's reduce congestion, value people over cars, support the long-term prosperity of Noosa businesses by preserving the quality of the Noosa experience, protect parks for recreation, and let's have the courage to make a decision that future generations will thank us for,

00:46:00 and Noosa certainly deserves that future. Thank you. Councillor Phillips: Can I have a few questions? Sure. I'll start with Shaun. I thank you for responding to my emails as well, but I think just for community watching, I might just rehash some of those. Can we talk about the survey results and just unpack sort of what specific information that you got from the surveys? Director Walsh: Which set can you just reference? And you have to assist me, Councillor. Councillor Phillips: For the Lyons Park, there was a going back and forth around the 237 survey people. And I asked whether the interpretation around whether resident, visitor, how that was established. Director Walsh: Yeah. So basically, and Damian might be able to assist me with this, there was face-to-face surveys at key locations,

00:47:00 such as at the bus stops on the street. And the car park. And it is a sample. We fully respect that. And that indicated a higher prevalence of day visitors. So in the precinct on those particular survey dates. Councillor Phillips: A couple more questions after the Mayor's talking to it. With the open procurement consideration, was that ever considered that it would just go out to procurement if there's a conversation about equity? Was it reported to us that we could consider going out to community and seeing what other volunteer groups would be considered? Director Walsh: So my understanding in terms of procurement of the existing arrangements, it's actually covered under specialist procurement arrangements, which is presented to Council on an annual basis. So Council is meeting its procurement obligations under the Act. But you do sign off that on an annual basis.

00:48:00 And I'm happy for the procurement team and the relevant director to provide any further information in that regard. But that's my understanding. But Council always has an opportunity to go broader and to actually achieve the fairest and most transparent way possible. So that's why we're sort of recommending a pivot point to actually not necessarily continue to accept those specialist arrangements with the Lions Club, but put it out to other community groups who may have a similar interest in the arrangements. Councillor Phillips: Okay, sorry. One more question and then I'll think about the next one. It was just on page 12, there's the recommendations for the 15-minute drop-off parking trial, which is along Noosa Parade there. Could you talk me through that? Because if there's recommendations for not having the Lions Club car park,

00:49:00 but there's also car parks being lost here at Noosa Parade for the drop-off zone. I guess back to the Mayor's point was like there's plenty of parking, but there's also consideration in this report to taking away more parking. Director Walsh: Yeah. So firstly, the idea of this and noting that we've been testing and trialling every year, some different arrangements and seeing what's worked. So we've had great success with some and some are lessons to be learned for next time. So again, we're wanting to continue that journey. It's about providing a facility so that people who want to drop someone off and those people might be able to walk, you know, walk to the beach. They actually don't have to drive down to Hastings Street. They'll actually be dropped off here. And I can actually relate that I actually regularly drop people off here regularly, but I'm lawfully double parked when I do it because I don't actually need the time or want the time to drop people off. So and I'll probably get a fine from a local laws as a consequence.

00:50:00 But so it's about responding to where people would actually like to drop off and pick people up. Now, we'd have to monitor the traffic arrangements around this. If Council did decide to proceed with the overflow car park in this location, we'd need to re-evaluate the emphasis of this drop-off zone because I get the point that if we're operating the overflow car park and it's adding to congestion, then this might also contribute to it as well. And noting that it's recommended for further assessment. Councillor Phillips: Okay. My question was around just back to the procurement part. E in the report says do not proceed with ongoing use of the Nurse Alliance Park for overflow parking for reasons outlined in the report. So there's not a recommendation that we would go back out to procurement through this report? Director Walsh: So the report says that staff will investigate alternative charitable arrangements. For other locations around the Shire that support the Go Noosa program. And draft the appropriate procurement arrangements in accordance with Council policies and seek, you know, the relevant expression of interest for those alternative ones.

00:51:00 So if Council wish to proceed with a procurement process for overflow on the Noosa Headlines Park, that would require an amendment to one of those resolutions. Okay. Councillor Lomerton. Councillor Lorentson: Just some further questions. The report references legislative and policy context of the Land Act and that Lyons Park is public land held in trust for parks and recreational purposes. So the report also referenced that ongoing use for overflow car parking may be considered acceptable, but would require an approved management plan. My question is in reference to that, does the words would require, mean that it hasn't been confirmed with the department,

00:52:00 that you would have to go back to the department and confirm? Director Walsh: So we have had discussions with the department and their view is that they would recommend that we prepare a land management plan. And I note that Council similarly has a land management plan under the Land Act for the Lucifer foreshore. Now that land management act, land management plan predated the infrastructure plan. And it's under that land management plan that allows us to have commercial activity on the Lucifer foreshore. And it really clarifies how we use the space. And it also went through a community consultation process. So it's a fairly formal process that takes a long period of time. So there is a, you know, a mechanical process for us to pursue an alternative use of the park. But as trustee, we're obliged to follow the terms of the Land Management Act. And, you know, I think staff fear that what's, you know, it's an occasional, you know, peripheral thing has now become embedded and ongoing. And I think it's time to really think seriously about what our obligations are as trustee under the Land Management Act

00:53:00 and the management of the reserve for its dedicated purpose, which is park. We also note that the park already contains within the park reserve 130 car parking spaces. So we're more than amply providing sufficient car parking for the adjacent park, which also provides valuable parking for the adjacent precinct as well. Councillor Lorentson: Just a follow up question. So in terms of the overflow parking, given that the site's already been operating for many, many, many years, 21 years, I think, as overflow parking in peak period. It's under the existing trust arrangement. Does that already establish that temporary peak use is already considered acceptable? And have we written to, again, the department to ask whether we actually would require an approved management plan?

00:54:00 Director Walsh: The mechanism for the officers to respond to the actual query is for us to prepare a Land Management Plan. So they will not provide from discussions. We haven't formally written to them. But from discussions, they've indicated the way to respond to this issue is to actually prepare a Land Management Plan. That's what the Act mechanisms have been set up for. Now, Council, as part of its decision, of course, on the contents of the Land Management Plan, could, of course, consider the historical use of overflow parking on the site and the community expectations. But it hasn't been tested under the relevant instrument. Councillor Lorentson: So would that require a letter then to the department? Or, again, I'm just trying to understand, is it necessary to actually go through an approved management plan? Is it just simpler to write to the department and ask, does existing historic approval establish that overflow parking is an acceptable use?

00:55:00 Director Walsh: So from officers' verbal advice, if we did write a letter, they would actually write back to us and say, the mechanism for you to actually explore this further is preparing a Land Management Plan under the Land Management. So I would be happy to prepare a letter. But I'm being also predictive of what the response we would get from the officers. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Nicola, got a question? Councillor Wilson: Yes, please. It's in relation to part F of the recommendation. Staff will investigate alternative tariff. Charitable arrangements. What we would envisage those arrangements to be. And just thinking about the constraints on resources. That's where the sustainable transport team should be spending their time. Or, yeah, just how we think this would play out. We're not using the Lions Park anymore. This is a strategy about moving people.

00:56:00 Should it be focused on investigating alternative charitable arrangements? Director Walsh: Yeah. Thank you, Councillor, for the question. One that springs to mind. We actually pay staff overtime rates to actually attend the roundabout on Hastings Street and also the main beach drop-off zone. Now, over time, over the last few years, we've changed those arrangements from a control service to a concierge service. We were actually assisting people to actually move around the precinct, get out of the car, direct them to the right place to cross on the roundabout and the lot. And so there's not a need for a technical skill set. There's a need for a community-based, you know, communication set. And we think that that's one service that a group, a charitable group such as the Tewantin Noosa Lions Club could fulfil really well under briefing. And that would actually free up, you know, basically we would need to be a funding source for that. But rather than actually using staff, we would actually be using charitable groups to provide that service. So we've also looked at arrangements about how we set up the satellite parking.

00:57:00 Now, the satellite parking needs to be free at other locations to encourage people to get on the bus. But the way people arrive at that site, greeting them, assisting them to get onto the bus, you know, giving them directions is also another service that we could conceivably also pay a charitable group to do for us. There's also the ability to actually expand the satellite parking to other locations. At the moment, we pay a fee to the AFL grounds for use of that. And that model could be explored for other sporting grounds around the Shire as well. So by dispersing the model and putting effort into those other locations, we think we can come up with a pitch. There's also some discussion, and this would need to be further engaged with Hastings Street Association and other traders, about whether we contribute to sort of the atmosphere of the main beach drop-off zone with some additional catering offer or some additional services. But we'd need to explore that further. Councillor Wilson: Thank you.

00:58:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: That's your question. Councillor Wilson: Can I have a follow-up on that, please? Sure. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah. Councillor Wilson: So on that basis, does that mean that payments to those charities would come from ratepayer funds rather than a visitor contribution that there's currently? Director Walsh: At the moment, the staff are paid from the Go Noosa program, which is funded by the transport levy. So we would suggest that those funds would be rediverted to AFL. So we would actually pay a charitable organisation to undertake the same service. Does that answer the question, Councillor Wilson? Councillor Wilson: Yes, thanks. Director Walsh: Councillor Phillips. Councillor Phillips: Thank you. Just in relation to that follow-up, with the recommendation to expand or look at expanding the satellite parking, was it considered that potentially that would be better to do before the reduction or not proceeding with the Lions Club car park? Director Walsh: It really gets back to available parking. We do have available resources within our team, Councillor.

00:59:00 The Lions Club are great to deal with, as any charitable organisation is, and we're really proud of that relationship. But it takes a lot of effort. And if we're able to actually deploy that same officer and officers into other locations, then that would actually give a different outcome. So it's about being realistic with what resources we've got. And also, if you're actually not using the overflow parking at Loosehead Lions Park, then the only other alternative is these other satellites. And really promoting the use of the buses to actually get into Hastings Street. And as part of that, they'd also envisage a good communication program for Hastings Street and all their traders, about encouraging all of their visitors and patrons to actually use the satellite parking and the bus services available. So it would be a different mindset about how we approach it. And at the moment, we're providing 250 additional car parking spaces. Imagine we're able to provide 2,000 additional car parking spaces and satellite parking. So that's responding to need, to actually encourage visitation for businesses.

01:00:00 So it is a different mindset, and it's about using available resources to try to shift towards that goal. Councillor Phillips: Just one last question then on that. Where does Hastings Street Association currently sit with the recommendation? Director Walsh: So as a courtesy, we reached out to all our stakeholders, such as the Tewantin Loose Alliance Club, the Hastings Street Association, and other stakeholders to advise them of the report. And noted that, you know, of course, they would make their own representations to councillors on the thing. So I can't speak for the Hastings Street Association, but I can say that we have transparently shared with them the report recommendations. Councillor Lorentson: Okay. Councillor Lorentson. I actually thought the report, and I'll try to find the page, actually references Hastings Street Association and their position. And my understanding is they supported the overflow. I could be incorrect, but Hastings Street, and I'll just try to find it.

01:01:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So, Councillor, are you talking to the motion now? Councillor Lorentson: Oh, yeah. Just asking local business support in Hastings Street. The report actually states. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Once again, question. You appear to be countering a response to the staff question. Councillor Lorentson: So my question is, is there reference in the report to Hastings Street Association position? My understanding from reading the report is there is. Yeah. Director Walsh: So Hastings Street Association are in support of the overflow parking at Lyons Park. Thank you. The question I was responding to from Councillor Phillips is about whether Hastings Street is an association that's in support of creation of satellite parking in other locations. So that's what I thought I was responding to. Okay. Thank you very much. Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson: In terms of cost, what is the cost to council of operating Lyons Park overflow parking compared with the cost and timeframe of delivering, say, equivalent additional car parking capacity through the park and ride, for example? Director Walsh: I have to take that question on notice, Councillor.

01:02:00 So we have one resource, you know, and over that period of that Christmas, New Year, in the lead up to it, for about two months, they're full time almost working on setting up the Lyons Park. So if we think about diverting that resource to other locations, that gives you an indication of the amount of effort and time just taken for one site. Councillor Lorentson: Question. Just in terms of Tourism Noosa, given that their new role is an evolution into management, destination management, have they provided their position to council on the decision to close the overflow car parking? Director Walsh: Not that I'm aware of, Councillor. Councillor Lorentson: I'm happy to move an amendment. Thank you. That item E be amended to read, approve the continued use of Lyons Park as overflow paid

01:03:00 parking during the 2026-27 Christmas and New Year period. Operated by the Council. We also have the Lines Club with the club to invite and coordinate volunteer involvement from other interested community groups in operating the parking. Any future use of Lines Park for overflow parking will be subject to separate consideration and approval by Council. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Do we have a seconder? I have a seconder. Councillor Phillips? Councillor Lorentson? Councillor Lorentson: So the amendment in front of us is simply about balance. To me supporting this amendment is the balanced choice. Ending the arrangement outright is in my opinion not a balanced choice. It's going to hurt the people that we represent, our residents, our kids and the small businesses that employ them and keep this town running.

01:04:00 Tourism only works for Noosa if our residents share in the benefit. This amendment puts our local businesses, our workers and residents at the centre of the decision. What is being asked for in this amendment is really, really modest. We're asking for three weeks a year, 21 days. I think I calculated that at less than 6%. And it's a request that's been made on a needs basis. So again, 21 days a year, not 365 days a year and not even every day of that period either. This argument comes up every year. But this time I think it's important that we understand that the context is a little bit different. Local businesses are genuinely struggling.

01:05:00 And I have emails from local business owners in Hastings Street. They're bleeding money. And it's not just one thing hitting them. We've also got to put in context what else is happening around Noosa at the moment. It's the Doonella Bridge Works. It's the new e-bike laws that are keeping kids off their bikes. It's the future development of the surf club. It's the future seawall development. All that's going to be landing on Hastings Street. And we have to understand that in context of the amendment in front of us. Business Association represents, and I don't have that number, but I'll find that out before the ordinary meetings, but thousands of workers, our residents, our kids, and they're asking us for help. The alternatives are not working, or at least not yet.

01:06:00 I love data also. And data was mentioned by the Mayor just recently. Love data. So the data in the report says 54% of visitors still drive. Only 21.9% use public transport. The park and ride sits below 10% capacity. And it has done so for years and years, despite being part of our transport strategy for some time now. If people still aren't using it after all this time, maybe the answer isn't to take away an option that people are actually using. Maybe it's to ask whether park and ride is in the right place or frequent enough and whether another site should be looked at. And it's the families with surfboards, prams, beach gear, and residents and visitors with mobility impairments or wheelchairs who feel this the most. For them, park and ride and shuttles are not yet yet. A real substitute. The community benefit is real and it's direct.

01:07:00 Every dollar raised at the Lions Park is run by the Tewantin Noosa Lions Club, a not-for-profit. It's been run by the Lions for 21 years. Every cent they make goes straight back into this community, not to a private operator. It costs Council, from my recollection, nothing. That I don't believe we have ever lost money on it. And in most years, it's actually returned a modest profit. And we've been here before. Twice. The 19th of March, 2026 and the 21st of August in 2025. Council held off on a final decision on Lions Park, pending further consultation, rather than cutting it off outright. This amendment continues that same approach. It doesn't reverse it. This recommendation is also consistent with those previous recommendations. It continues a measured, considered approach, rather than departing from it.

01:08:00 And locals, we get to hear about this big open space that locals are going to use. Locals barely get to use the Lions Park as a green space at Christmas. The kids' playground, that gets used a lot, but the green space doesn't. It's too busy and access is too hard. So what we gain by closing it now, is limited. What we lose is immediate and real. The call to shut down the overflow car parking is also made on thin evidence. A handful of weekends, 237 survey responses, with the report itself noting that the sample, specifically about Lions Park, is even smaller than that. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor, you've exceeded your five minutes. Would you like to continue or are you about to wrap up? Councillor Lorentson: Can I ask for just a few more minutes through the chair and just a little bit of leaning seat?

01:09:00 Yep, have it. Speaker 9: Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: So back to a handful of weekends, 230 survey responses, with the report noting that the sample specifically about Lions Park is even smaller than that. Again, that's not enough to justify locking in a decision this permanent. This is a decision with winners and losers. And I think, you know, if we're going to shut down the overflow car parking, we should be really clear about who they are before locking one in. Removing Lions Park might ease some pressure on the surrounding roads. It also takes away parking that local businesses, residents, visitors and the Lions Club currently rely on. Before we make that trade, we should understand its full cost. To small businesses already under cost of living pressure, to the charitable funding the Lions Club provides, and to the residents and visitors who use this car park to support those businesses. A broader, more direct conversation with the people most affected would give Council real confidence that the change is the right one

01:10:00 and would help identify whether a middle ground approach, shorter for removal, again, 21 days out of 365 days, better balances transport outcomes with community and business needs. Council should also be clear about what the community and stakeholder consultation on this question will always produce. We've been down this road year after year after year. The result's always the same. It's a divided result. Visitors who choose to pay for parking, local businesses who depend on the foot traffic it generates, the Lion Clubs and other community groups who direct every dollar back into the community, residents who surf and drive with families and beach gears, and those in our community who face mobility challenges, including people with wheelchairs, they will always support the overflow. And others will always oppose it. Consultation alone is never going to resolve this issue. It will always return a split decision.

01:11:00 What resolves this is a viable alternative that is actually ready, actually accessible, and actually being used. Until that alternative exists and is demonstrably absorbing this demand, removing Lion's Park does not solve a transport problem. It creates a community and business one. The responsible path is to maintain the current arrangement, 21 days out of 365 days, while that alternative is, I won't be much longer, while the alternative is properly developed and tested, not to remove what is working before what replaces what's actually working. I'm going to just quickly go a bit of history. Tewantin Noosa Lion's Club. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I think we've got eight minutes now, Councillor. I think that's okay. Councillor Lorentson: So again, the question is, if we stop this today, what's the alternative? Not the one we've already tried and already know is sitting at under 10% capacity. A real viable alternative is needed to resolve this demand for Christmas.

01:12:00 If no one at the table can answer the question today, again, I think the responsible approach is the balanced approach, which is 21 out of 365 days to help support our local businesses, residents and families. Speaker 8: Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you, Mr Chair. Mayor Wilkie: Look, I'd like to speak against the amendment. There were some pretty, in my view, interesting claims made that there is no alternative available. The alternative, as clearly articulated in the resolution, in the report is the loop bus, which wasn't available in the past when the Tewantin Noosa Lion's Park was issued the right to use it as temporary car parking 21 years ago. It's almost a quarter of a century ago. Times have changed. Things have evolved. People are voting with their feet, Mr Chair. They're pouring onto these buses in record numbers to get down there.

01:13:00 And again, as we heard in the previous item, we support moving people, not cars. The argument we just heard is all about moving cars, not people. People get down there by alternative means. We also just heard that this decision will hurt residents, kids and businesses. Councillors, we've heard the same arguments once before when we removed car parking from the Lion's Park after COVID. We heard exactly the same arguments. What happened? Residents weren't hurt. Kids were not hurt. Businesses were not hurt. These are fear-based anecdotes that have no basis whatsoever, that fly in the face of the data. What we did experience after removing car parking from the Lion's Park was when visitors and residents drive down to that Hastings Street precinct, instead of seeing a sea of cars on their left, they see green open space and people enjoying themselves.

01:14:00 They see less congestion down there. It resulted in a better experience for residents and visitors when they attended the precinct. And what does that mean? A better quality of experience does not dissuade visitors from coming. What dissuades visitors from coming is traffic congestion. How many times have you heard people saying, we're never going back there, it's too crowded? When you remove congestion, return open space, you make it a more enjoyable experience for visitors. And therefore, a more prosperous future for our businesses. Everyone wins. The Councillor also said, residents don't use the Lion's Park as green space at Christmas. That is absolutely true. And the reason why is because it is full of cars. When it is not full of cars, during school holidays and long weekends, then we do see it used by families, kicking footballs, kicking soccer balls, having barbecues.

01:15:00 Used as it should. The alternatives are there. And we should be careful not to confuse today's convenience with tomorrow's vision. Look, we're not taking away the choice for people to drive down there. Families, mums, children, dads, people on mobility, wheelchairs are catching the buses, the free buses. They're also driving down. We're not taking away. It's not a binary choice here. It's not you either catch the bus or nothing. You can still choose to drive down there and use one of the many of the hundreds of on-road, properly designated car parks that are on the road network or use the drop-off zones, which increases access for everyone. And remember, it is, we're talking about increasing access for people, not cars. The benefit in terms of 240 car parks don't make that much of a difference

01:16:00 in terms of the network, but they do congest the network. We've seen the traffic modelling. We've also heard a lot of talk about data-based decisions. The recommendation to remove car parking is based on data. And it's based on experience. It improves the experience for everyone, helps support businesses, long-term prosperity of the precinct. And it's the right thing to do, councillors. And as you say, we're not here just to support the status quo, whether a viable alternative is available. We're not here just to warm chairs or not make difficult decisions. And in fact, we've done it before, councillors. Businesses, residents weren't hurt. Children certainly weren't hurt. Businesses certainly weren't hurt. And it was an improved experience for everyone. So let's be...

01:17:00 We often hear about bold leadership. We're being asked to do that today, councillors. Let's give it a try and see what happens. We've done it before and the sky didn't fall in. Now's the time. Please be bold, councillors. Councillor Phillips: Councillor Phillips. Thank you. I just realised what happens at the table is we focus on the 2% of things that we don't agree on and we argue about the things that we don't agree on instead of looking at what we actually probably all agree at the table with. And that is if we look at the report and all the information, there's probably a fair bit that we can all sit around and agree on. But then we talked about the movement and connection report and said they needed resources to deliver those outcomes. But then in the budget, we don't approve the resource. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor, we have an amendment you need to focus on. Councillor Phillips: I'm just painting the picture as to why I get frustrated in this position where I've heard now times where councillors

01:18:00 could have pushed for the ferry when that hasn't come to us. Like we're putting the cart before the horse. Mayor Wilkie: Point of order, Mr Chairman. Relevance. Councillor Phillips: I'll get to my relevance. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: You are straying quite a long way from the amendment. So it's about the change to overflow car parking in the Twenton Noose Alliance. Okay. Councillor Phillips: Well, my point is we can probably all agree that eventually the park needs to be a green space. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. But we still haven't got enough for the community to actually see this through yet. We haven't got, we've heard it, we haven't got the satellite parking yet. We haven't explored the options for that. We haven't explored the ferry enough to actually deliver it. We don't have the one-way bus lane only. So we're putting restrictions on something

01:19:00 before we've got an outcome. And that's why we end up losing our community. If this is what we eventually want to do, we should do all the things first. We're not ready for this. Like I'll support the amendment because we do not have the ability to turn around to business owners yet and say, here is our solution. We are going to do this. Here's the solution for the Lions Club. This is how you're going to get your volunteers money. We've got all these other alternates for you. We haven't done that work to actually agree to take it away yet. We're saying, oh, let's take it away and then we'll do all this work. It makes no sense to me. I feel like we should be really clear with the business community that come to us, have a business roundtable and actually say, right, in two years' time, this is our decision at the table. We're going to do this. What are we going to do to achieve it together?

01:20:00 But this approach where we say, oh, we're taking it away, without the broader picture and all of the other alternative measures to actually deliver it, we end up losing trust with our community because we push something that's not ready yet. There will be a day where I hope that's green space. I'll be very, very clear from today so it never looks like I'm just going to keep pushing cars because this approach has to happen. But we, as a Council, we've heard there's no resource, there's not enough resources, there's not enough funding. Let's provide the operational staff the resources to deliver satellite parking, more bus loops, do all of that. The ferry, let's proceed with that. Let's do all the work. Deliver that to the community and go, this is what we did. We did all of this. Now we're taking the Linus Club car park away because we can demonstrate all of the alternative things

01:21:00 that we have gone and done. So I will continue to support this because I feel that we have not done the work before getting to this position. And a plan and a strategy and every other piece of paper that says this is what we're going to do is just not enough. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. I'll just wait to talk to Councillor Finzel. Councillor Finzel: Yeah, I have a question. Coming back to Councillor Lorentson's point about the State Land Management Plan. Just wondering, was a Land Management Plan undertaken back in the day when the decision was undertaken to make this a overflow parking on open space land? Or, you know, how did we arrive here? I guess when we're talking about balance and legacy, I know we've had letters sent to us

01:22:00 and we liaise with the letters. When I came into Council in 2020, there was that, you know, it came to us for decision. We paused it because it was a decision. It was a COVID. Where actually have we addressed that gap in this, the Land Management Plan Act? And I guess to help inform this decision, I mean, we're talking about money, staff... Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We can just do that one question. I think the first question you asked was at the time of instigating this, Councillor Lorentson said 21 years ago, was there a Land Management Plan done at that time? Councillor Finzel: Yeah, how did we arrive here? Director Walsh: Not to our understanding, Councillor. No, there's no Land Management Plan in place over that trustee land. Councillor Finzel: Okay, so how has that been managed for all these years? Director Walsh: Can I answer that, yes? We've raised the same issue in the Council reports since I've been here. Yeah. And Council have resolved to proceed with the status quo

01:23:00 rather than undertake the Land Management Plan. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: If I can add to that, we did, I think it's the letter you're referring to, got a letter clearly stating that it was contrary to the Act, and we, at that stage, had to apply to the Minister for special approval, which I think we did on two or three occasions. The Act has now changed where it comes back to Council requiring us to do the Land Management Plan. Councillor Finzel: Okay, so I guess for me to, when we talk about then data and, you know, following process and what we've got to do to inform our decision making, I guess we have to know, well, if the State says they prefer we have the Land Management Plan undertaken, my cost to the CEO through the Chair is then, what are the dollars to do this and how long is that going to take?

01:24:00 Speaker 1: I'd have to take that on notice. Sorry, Councillor. I don't know the cost. I imagine it's a... Councillor Finzel: A roundabout. Speaker 1: It's a process and I don't have an answer to that. Councillor Finzel: Sorry, through the whole of Council, no one today could answer me a roundabout cost. Speaker 1: You've asked me to, Councillor. Councillor Finzel: Oh, sorry. My apologies. Through the Chair is the... Deputy Mayor Stockwell: The Director's put his hand up... Oh, thank you. ...to give a response in some form. Director Walsh: Councillor has a benchmark, which is the Land Management Plan for the Noosaville foreshore, which was prepared before my time. So it's a separate plan, the Infrastructure Master Plan. That was prepared by our property section. I understand that process was in excess of 12 to 18 months because it did involve community engagement. I'm unsure of the actual fee, but there were consultants involved and a significant community engagement program. The Director for property is here. Speaker 3: Happy to chime in and assist. So the role of the Land Management Plan is essentially up to Council in terms of how much detail is involved and whether or not Council wants to undertake public consultation. Essentially, the plan is really outlining

01:25:00 how Council is maintaining the intent of the designation, which is for parking recreation, and that it must demonstrate that it does not diminish the primary use of that land. Council has flexibility of how it demonstrates those benefits to not diminish, but it needs to satisfy itself and obviously the community Speaker 3: that undertakes the benefits from that designation as well. Thank you. So it can have flexibility in terms of the level and degree of information that Consultation Council wants to undertake to inform itself and satisfy itself as required under the Land Act to undertake that process and ensure it's got a robust mechanism and certainty around how that use is going to be established and maintained. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Mr. Wagner, you want to talk to the motion? Councillor Wegener: No alternative to the Lyons Park.

01:26:00 Well, that's not my experience. I take the Loop Bus, and to be honest, I wouldn't dream of trying to drive down there, down in front of the Lyons Park during congestion periods, because it's just not worth it. My only concern is with the Loop Bus is, is there going to be enough Loop Buses, because I've found them already to be very busy, there are obviously, as the report says, there's a need to educate visitors because they're not taking the Loop Bus. So that's, that's our, our issue is to keep, is to get more visitors on that Loop Bus. And what my other worry is, is that the congestion, you know, the Loop Bus would be a lot more efficient if there wasn't all that congestion there by the Lyons Park in the first place, is what the Loop Bus is working and driving. It's, it's a reinforcing loop to less congestion, more Loop Bus. That's what I'm all about. That's my experience. And as far as, some people say, well, you know, you wouldn't be able to take your surfboard

01:27:00 on the Loop Bus. Well, I'm not about to hop on the Loop Bus with my surfboard during congested time anyways. If I'm gonna go surfing, I'm gonna get there at 4.30 in the morning like every other good surfer does. So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm totally in support of, of the Loop Bus and, and the, and we don't need the Lyons Park. That's, that's a green space and I'm sure that during Christmas eventually there'll be wonderful little festivals there as there are other times of the year during, during the, during the peak season. Anyone else? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'll talk to the motion. Um, we're in a bit of a catch 22 at a sense. The catch 22 is, we know where we wanna be. We know that one of the, this incentive for more people to park and ride is congestion. And the staff recommendation is that the current arrangements for the, the, the overflow parking in this Lyons Park is adding to congestion. So it's taking us further away from our goal.

01:28:00 So that's a decision. If you support this amendment, you're supporting a decision that takes us further away rather than one step towards the goal. And there's been a number of suggestions as to we're not ready. So councillors, we're in the, we have had briefings on the parking management plan. Now, yes, it's always an issue when car parking comes up that businesses have concerns about the potential impact on their trade. And the advice over and over again, not just from our own staff, from others in the Australian Parking Association is, it's not the number of car parks. It's the number of the cars being cycled through the car parks. So the parking management plan is about how do we get more turnover in the street parking and the woods parking. And that's what leads to increased footfall. And that's what increases the trade for businesses. And if you look at the data in this report, you'll see that actually 183 of the vehicles

01:29:00 stay for three hours or longer. Whereas only 87 are two hours and less. And we know that the economics is getting that turnover every two hours. So the data shows us that the majority of the people using the overflow parking are the ideal candidates for park and ride. That you move the ones that want to stay longer to the satellites. And we have had other locations investigated way back to the 2016-2020 council. It wasn't just the AFL grounds. It was around the Sunshine Beach Primary School and the Bicentennial Centre. There's a range of different other car parks that with an increase in the park and ride facility could be activated by the next Christmas holidays with no problems. It wouldn't take a great deal of energy to do that.

01:30:00 We also look at the need for why there isn't a great uptake of AFL. And one of the things we found is that the loop bus is quite a long route. And there's a whole lot of diffuse parking around that loop. So just because you're not using the park and ride facility doesn't mean you're not parking somewhere and catching that loop bus. Okay. You'll probably park it somewhere where it's the most reasonable for you where you're coming from. And I think one of the issues is we have to take the next step to progressively reduce congestion, progressively move to a people-centric focus. And there was one suggestion that we make during those really peak Christmas and Easter time is we treat Hastings Street as if it's having an event. Just like the Tri has buses coming in for it to help its participants,

01:31:00 we treat that event. And can you imagine that instead of coming down into the Hastings Street precinct and seeing 250 car parks in a green space, that you see a whole lot of activities, that you see increase in shade there so that people can come off the beach during the hottest part and have picnics with their kids, that you can have a whole lot of different activities, both permanent and temporary, that's activated, that brings the place alive rather than just a station where cars park. To me, that's where we're heading is we teach that. And finally, I think in terms of making brave decisions, I was around when we stopped camping at the end of Hastings Street. It was hugely controversial. We stopped at Noosa Woods car park and we had street marches. Remember, we had people camping in for weeks. And now we think about how that space is such a benefit to our local community. And that was a brave decision. It was about saying, yes, that that caravan park

01:32:00 played a really important role in the past, but now looking to the future, this space has to be taken over. So it's people focused. So it's there for the residents so that everyone gets to benefit. I know my kids were there all the time. And this, that's the analogy I make is that brave decisions to return green space to the community have in the past resulted in the great outcomes that we see in the woods. Mayor Wilkie: Can I ask a question? You can. Councillor Wilson's had a hand up. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Oh, sure. Councillor Wilson? You asked a question or you wish to talk to the motion? Councillor Wilson: No, I was going to talk to the motion, to the amendment. It's been interesting hearing the debate today because I agree with lots of what has been said on both sides. On some level, I think we've been kicking the can down the road for some time on the Lions Park decision. We keep kind of deferring it to the next year to get more data or to get more information or community consultation. And I'm not sure that that's really happened yet, the community consultation part. However, I do agree that this park parking

01:33:00 does impact congestion, does increase congestion. So I can see the reasoning for that. Ironically, staff recommendation is to take away ROV paid parking. So that's interesting in the broader discussion around that. But I agree that the alternatives maybe just aren't at the level that we need them to be at. I don't think we've done enough of a feasibility study to work out if we will impact businesses. I think we can say that businesses won't be hurt. I don't think we've got any evidence of that at all. And we are hearing from business owners and business associations asking us to keep this car park open over that peak period because they really, really need that income. And this maybe isn't the right year to experiment before we've got a full plan in place. We've got the parking management plan coming to us soon, I hope. And this should be considered as part of that parking management plan. I don't think we should be making decisions on individual parking facilities without having that parking management plan in place

01:34:00 and full consultation with our business owners and community. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Councillor Phillips, you had a question. Councillor Phillips: It was good. Thank you, Councillor Wilson. Of course, my question was around to staff. When would we see the car park management plan come to council? Director Walsh: So we're scheduling workshops at the moment with councillors and separating parking management plan from paid parking, as we've discussed, because they're two co-joined but almost separate issues. Because parking management is about turnover of spaces and most efficient use of existing spaces. So I don't know what date it's being scheduled. But I'd say that the workshop, initial workshop with council is within the next six weeks. And then there'll need to be a report tabled to council to endorse the plans to go out for community consultation. Councillor Phillips: And then one more question around, because I wasn't here for it. You mentioned investigating the bicentennial places.

01:35:00 That might be a question to you. If they were investigated, Councillor Stockwell, why, could you tell me why they, why we don't have satellite at the locations that were investigated, unless it is for the director, but I just wanted to know why we've investigated it. And then you mentioned that it could be done easily, but why isn't it then, I guess. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So my recollection is that there was a suggestion of staged. I think that the year that that was brought up, we decided to use the, to focus on the parking around the bus station at the junction, plus the other car park near the street near landing underway. Sorry. And that was from memory, quite successful at the time. So yeah, it was a, it was part of a, these would be how we, we keep progressing. And the, the concept was, we start with satellite parking. That's quite close. And then progressively move further away. Hence why council did the deal to acquire the potential transit center

01:36:00 out at the civic. Councillor Phillips: So then one more question then to director Walsh, if by the end of this year, could there be alternate satellite car parking delivered for the community? And which, how many, where are we at with that? Director Walsh: Well, I think historically that there has been reports identifying a number of different locations, whether it's the new city sports complexes is one idea, even parking locations in Coroy, and also parking around the bicentennial hall using underutilized car parking spaces during the school holidays on street. So it's to do with logistically arranging those spaces. So they're known to be park and ride and also the promotion of them. And it gets back to using available resources to, you know, you know, replace the lions park with other locations under the same model, but spreading over a broader area. Councillor Phillips: Sorry, one more follow up then, cause I'm a bit confused. Cause this, when this has come up in workshops, we, I was under the,

01:37:00 under the impression we're not ready, resources and everything else to have any more satellite car parks quickly. Like it's been investigated, but I just need clarity around, cause other reports say we don't have resources. And so I'm just really wanting to know whether it can be actually delivered. Yeah. Director Walsh: So probably need to distinguish park and ride from satellite parking. So park and ride is available on street parking. It's already available. And some of the streets around the central state schools and the like fit that bill. So you promote them as a park and ride and where proximity to the nearest bus station is, and the frequency of buses, which can be any of the transit services. So satellite parking is more associated with locations like AFL. So which is actually onboarding a new satellite parking location with a dedicated service. So, so I think in terms of the quick wins, we have many locations where we could promote park and ride across the Shire. And that would be very quick wins. And then we could explore one or more additional satellites.

01:38:00 But I think that the point is that the first satellite we wanted to promote is the AFL grounds that we've actually got one that's already ready to go, but we don't have the resources to actually adequately promote it and manage it to its best effect. Mayor Wilkie: Councillor Wilkie. Just to clarify, if you did say that if we wanted to, you could have these satellite car parks and park and rides up by Christmas. Director Walsh: That would be our intent at this time of year that we now have time to redirect our efforts instead of the Moosehead Lions Park into realisation of dedicated sites with promotion for park and ride and satellite. Mayor Wilkie: So in answer, just to clarify, the resource would become available if we discontinued parking in the Lions Park. The reason, the time and effort that the staff spend in organising this would go towards setting up these park and rides and satellite car parking by Christmas. So it could be in place if the council wanted to go that way. Director Walsh: Yes, I agree with that.

01:39:00 And also that would allow us to do a very good communication program with the Hachette Creek Prison. Councillor Lorentson: Question through the chair. Mayor Wilkie mentioned enormous time and effort taken to put together the Lions Park. Can I understand, um, what the resourcing is like? I've always understood the Tewantin Noosa Lions Club. Other than the survey, um, the Easter period, the Tewantin Noosa Lions Club carry, um, the weight, um, and the workload of the Lions Park, not council. Director Walsh: There's an awful lot of, so it's one officer that we're talking about. So I don't think it's a team of people. And that officer also runs the, uh, program and the school program. So let, let's not think that there's massive resources. So, um, but in terms of arranging the contractual obligations with the Noosa Head Lions Park requires a bit of negotiation, undertaking their relevant training to ensure they're operating the site safely, undertaking the relevant comms around the, um, use of that site. So there is a, you know, the available resource we've got is spent full time in the lead up to that crew to make

01:40:00 all those arrangements. Councillor Lorentson: Given that they've been operating the site for 21 years, I'm, my question to you is, um, is that process pretty streamlined and efficient? Director Walsh: So, uh, every year they have new volunteers supporting them from different community groups, uh, and new, um, and, and, uh, the Tewantin Noosa Lions Park are impeccable travel organisation to deal with, but every year presents new challenges. So in terms of the arrangements and the like, so. Councillor Phillips. Councillor Phillips: One, just one more question in terms of the satellite parking. Councillor Lorentson: Um, has that ever been presented to the business community in Hastings Street? Um, has there been a feasibility done in terms of costs, benefits, pros and cons, and whether that poses its own, um, problems in terms of pinch points and traffic congestion? Director Walsh: So the Noosa transport strategy always envisaged more satellite and park and ride locations

01:41:00 across the Shire. So, uh, and it's a model that's used in many other tourism precincts about separating the car parks from the actual destination. Um, of course, you know, as we move into a new realm, if that's the direction of council, we'll have to continue to monitor and improve it. This is never going to be a, a set and forget. It's always about, um, uh, using the best skills around the table to come up with the best solutions. But, but, you know, in these various locations, we have vacant car parking spaces, which are adjacent to bus routes. So it's not about creating anything new. It's about promoting the existing locations. Councillor Lorentson: My last question, in terms of the park and ride at the AFL grounds, um, how long have we been trialling the park and ride at that location? So, Director Walsh: we'll probably use that as a satellite park versus park and ride. Sure. Because it's a, it's a, I can't answer that question, uh, counsellor. That'd be a question unnoticed. But, my understanding, it came on board sometime after 2017 as a strategy. Councillor Lorentson: So it's been operating roughly nine years.

01:42:00 And at the moment, it's currently, I, I, I, I, I, Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I, Councillor Phillips: If we were to proceed with not having the car park and then they have a terrible Christmas and they can like is it can it come back on council that there's a contributing factor has it ever been checked with you know legals or I just start thinking risks to us. Speaker 1: I'm happy to take that on notice but my personal opinion is I think that this is your decision. This is our area in terms of making a decision whether we use it or don't use it.

01:43:00 It's not an obligation for us to use it in terms of the businesses so it really is our decision and again the evidence is put forward today is to say that by closing it not using it is is potentially going to increase or decrease the congestion and maybe support businesses. We don't know so that's not necessarily that's our assumption that's our that's our position and that's our staff recommendation but ultimately it's council's decision as to whether you want to go forward with that recommendation or not and it's a risk but it's not you know in terms of we don't know if it's going to affect it but this is a whole range of things that will go and affect businesses across the Shire. Councillor Phillips: And sorry just a follow up to that then would it be we've got City Wall, Surf Club all these things coming was it ever considered that maybe the time to do this

01:44:00 is actually when there's disruptions already to Hastings Street like I just feel like is it given that this might be the year that they can try and produce more like what are we there's probably no perfect time but was that ever considered that it should align Speaker 1: with other things that are happening in that precinct? I think that we we are we are looking at it as a whole and again there is no perfect time I think this is something that comes up in my time being here it's come up every year and it's for discussion and for decisions so it's it's really just come up again in the position the recommendation from the staff is this if you want to accept that position that's your call. Mayor Wilkie: I'll ask the same question in a different way Mr. Chair Mr. CEO several years back Council made an even bolder decision to discontinue car parking in the Lions Park during all school holidays I

01:45:00 think it's at least two two-week periods and every long weekend which there of which there are many did Council receive any indication that they had from the business community that they had damaged business as a result? Speaker 1: Again I can't answer that because I wasn't here I don't believe during that during that period but I haven't heard anything on that personally. Councillor Lorentson: Councillor Lorentson. Just in terms of you know duty of care or legal risk etc. Council and I can't recall the year probably question to the CEO Council signed with the Queensland Small Business Commissioner some time ago a Council signed with the Queensland Small Business Commissioner some time ago a MOU, my understanding, in terms of supporting small businesses and I can't, Kim, can I ask the question to you? Can you just give me some context? What was signed with the Queensland Commissioner and what commitment did we make as a council to our small businesses because of that commitment?

01:46:00 Director Rawlings: Thanks, Councillor Lorentson and through the Chair. Yes, Council are signatories to the Small Business Friendly Charter and we signed that, I think, probably around four years ago now. It was an initiative kind of post-COVID and you will recall that this Small Business Commissioner was part of our business roundtable and a lot of these initiatives. They were very complimentary of that business roundtable process, particularly through COVID. And yes, so we are signatories to the Small Business Friendly Charter and that program is focused on supporting small businesses in a variety of ways in terms of reducing red tape, customer service approaches, concierge, you know, a raft of small business support programs, which we have embedded right through our economic development.

01:47:00 So we are still currently part of... Councillor Lorentson: Yes, we are. We are. Director Rawlings: Yes, we are. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Finzel. Councillor Finzel: Yes, thank you. Just coming back to the before us, through the Chair to the CEO, I understand you've been meeting with the Tewantin Noosa Lions Club. Did you discuss the idea that they would be happy to provide the concierge? They helped facilitate information to visitors and residents alike to move around the site and things like that. Is that something they're happy to engage in? Speaker 1: Yes, I specifically haven't met with the Lions Club, but I know our staff. Councillor Finzel: Oh, so you've met with them. Speaker 1: My apologies. No, I've met with them in the past. Councillor Finzel: Yes. Speaker 1: Various pieces of this, but not in the recent one.

01:48:00 This is more being with the Lions Club. Okay, my apologies. Thank you. Question to the staff. Director Walsh: There's two aspects to that. Firstly, we have just used this or advised the Lions Club that this report's being distributed that forecasts that direction. But we also need to not be pre-emptive because the report recommends we go through an EOI process to choose the relevant, appropriate body. So it might be one or more different charitable organisations benefiting from the arrangements rather than exclusive arrangements. And we didn't want to pre-empt a council decision either. So the Lions Club... We're very well aware of the content of this report, but we haven't pursued any further discussions with them. But the report says that we should pursue a more transparent process for other groups as well. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Through the Chair, can I also add to that? Just a response to Councillor Finzel. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Finzel, did you wish a response from Councillor Lorentson? Councillor Finzel: With regards to engaging with the Lions? Councillor Lorentson: With the Lions, yes. Councillor Finzel: Via the CEO or through the staff?

01:49:00 Councillor Lorentson: Just in terms... Just in terms of that they are very willing to work with other community groups and have been doing so for many years. They actually welcome volunteers from other community groups to partake and get involved with the car parking. They are really shortly resourced and have no issues with, you know, sharing distribution of funds with other community groups. And that's... Councillor Phillips had the hand up. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Phillips: Thank you. Director Walsh, this will be my last question. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to ask about the traffic network currently in other parts of our Shire. The unintended consequences of other alternate satellite or park and ride. Has there been enough done on what that will put on the network in those other areas?

01:50:00 Has there been enough done on what that will put on the network in those other areas that would outweigh the pinch point that is being the purpose of this recommendation to take away the pinch point at Hastings Street? I'll get to my question. Sorry, I'm just trying to... But has there also then been consideration to unintended consequences of those other spots? Is there going to be likely other traffic congestion in other parts of the Shire because of it? Director Walsh: So, during the school holiday periods, we have traffic capacity and car parking capacity in locations like Sunshine Beach and also Tewantin, so we know that we can fill up those car parks at those locations, and it's like a normal non-school holiday day, so we know that they have capacity. The area that we do have concerns for satellite parking is actually Noosa Junction, because that's already a destination in its own right, and we shouldn't replace satellite parking for people going to Noosa Junction instead of going to Noosa Heads.

01:51:00 So, that's the only location that we'd be very, very wary about promoting an additional park and ride or satellite parking facility. But we have capacity at those peripheral areas such as Sunshine Beach, Noosaville, AFL Grounds, and also Tewantin. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you, Councillor Hawkins. Do you have your hand up? Mayor Wilkie: Yeah, you mentioned that satellite parking and parking ride alternatives could be in place by Christmas. Do you also envisage, if Minister Council decided to go that way and discontinue parking along this park, that this alternative concierge service could be in place by that time as well and a proper EII process conducted? Director Walsh: Yes, we'd have to, and we'd want to go through the appropriate procurement process, which may not be a public process, but it might be we go to selected partners, you know, because of the amount spent, you know, let's say less than six or something like that. We'd need to be guided by our market testing, the market awareness, but that would be the thought process.

01:52:00 I also don't want to presume that they're interested in it either. So, we need to test the market for that as well. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah. Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: Is there a question? Just a follow-up from Director King-Rawlings' reference to the Small Business Friendly Program Charter. I actually have the signed... Deputy Mayor Stockwell: That's not a question. Councillor Lorentson: Not a question, no. You've got an opportunity to close. I will, yeah. You can raise it there. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I believe Councillor Finzel is the only one. Did you wish to talk to the Member of Councillor Finzel? She's spoken. Councillor Finzel: Can I speak to that? I second the whole motion. Can I speak to that? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: You've seconded it, but you haven't spoken to it yet. Councillor Finzel: Just the amendment here. It's in front of us. Look, it's... The intent, you know, presents itself as, you know, okay in the space.

01:53:00 I come back to go, is Council satisfied with the intent of the designation as open space? And is that... Is that diminished? It seems like we've operated in that space for a very long time. So that in itself would tell us that Council's satisfied in terms of operating as an open space. I think we've got to think more broadly around the whole of Shire. We've gone out to community engagement on so many surveys that can inform this decision today. We've looked at, like, our economics, diversification, innovation. Economy and tourism dispersed throughout the hinterland. I think congestion, you know, is one of the big things playing into that. And the congestion is not just about the Lions Park, as we've heard today around the table. We're looking at health and wellbeing.

01:54:00 We're looking at all accessibilities to everyone across the Shire. It's looking at, you know, our efforts to monitor and prove, you know, that we're not just looking at the Lions Park. You know, solutions to move people around the Shire. We've talked about connectivity across the Shire. We've talked about our young people and how we educate them and the impacts for them. I think sometimes we have that call to leadership that is being robust and rigorous to understand that change, is constant. And then how do we facilitate that change and timing. Timing is always critical. You know, is it time to go, we've got sufficient data. We've got enough engagement for our community, especially when we hear over and over again, call for action.

01:55:00 Is this going to disadvantage the Lions Club? I don't feel it. It's going to disadvantage the Lions Club. I feel we've created, based on answers to my questions, a space for them to still participate along with other community groups to provide, you know, just a different service. I think what is before us is, do we balance up like risk or opportunity? So in terms of opportunity for bold action and leadership. That predominantly, in my opinion, has been provided through meaningful and community engagement, that time and time again, and those touch points, the pain points, the small progressive steps towards where we're heading.

01:56:00 I feel that we've satisfied that. And then if we look at like the risk of not moving forward today. With the change, do we then prohibit change and we put another condition up? I think the amendment before us provides its challenges, but it also provides some answers on the flip side and causes us as councillors to question our leadership role. And look at the impact that that has had on our community. And ask the question, is councillors satisfied? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Councillor Lorentson, you get to close. Councillor Lorentson: First of all, respect and acknowledge all the different opinions around the table.

01:57:00 And I think that's critical. It's good that we don't all agree, but I do think we have shared goals and shared common goals. And I'll reiterate, the goal is to make Lyons Park a green space. So the question for us today, to me, it's not about car park versus no car park. It's about whether we make a permanent call today. That's the question before us. Or whether we hold the line for one more season and keep supporting the people that really depend on this. Thank you. I'm going to talk quickly, just, you know, a few words that have popped up. Brave, right decision, bold leadership. We need to take the next steps. Councillors, we've already taken that next steps. Years ago, when I first started in council, the Lyons Park overflowing was at every holiday period.

01:58:00 And I'm talking Christmas holidays, Easter, June, July, September holidays. We have been gradually, over time, respecting the diversity. Of opinion and community. The community is split on this. And I think the position we're at the moment, which is 21 days, less than 6%, not 365 days, not every school holiday, not the Easter holiday, not the September. We're talking three weeks a year. I think that is the transition and how we've respected the diversity in opinion. Again, I reiterate, we, the goal is to keep Lyons Park as an open space. We're not going to have a new location. But until a viable option is presented and tested, we can't cut off what's actually already working. More importantly, and I am going to reference the small charter, friendly business charter that you can just bear with me.

01:59:00 Mr Chair, the question is, is this new information point of order? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: No, it's already been raised. No, because it relates to the previous question. Councillor Lorentson: So, in 2023, the then Mayor, Stuart, and the Small Business Commissioner, Dominique Lamb, and we all attended the lunch, we signed a small business friendly program charter. It's in front of me. The wording is, the small business friendly program brings people together around a common goal to enhance the operating environment for small businesses and provide the opportunities they need to thrive. So today, guys, what I'm asking is we provide our small businesses an opportunity they need to thrive. You know, there's an expression, let's make sun, let's make hay when the sun shines. And that's what I'm asking today. Let's allow our business community to make hay when the sun shines.

02:00:00 We know what's ahead. We know there's going to be lots of hurdles in front of this business precinct. The sea wall development that I raised, the development of the surf club. Again, Doonella Bridge Works, which is already starting, changes in e-bike legislation. We've all received the emails from our business community asking us to listen to them and help support them at a time where they need our help right now. They are struggling. And it's our role as counsellors and also as signatories to our small business friendly program charter to provide them with the opportunities they need to thrive. 21 days out of 365 days is respecting all the positions and the diversity of positions around this table. Those in the community that don't want to see overflow car parking and those that do.

02:01:00 21 days, I think, is measured, considered and balanced. And it's the right decision to make. And it is a brave decision. And it is a bold decision. But leadership requires us to understand all positions and then come to a middle ground. I believe this is the middle ground. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'll put the members, those in favour. That's Councillor Phillips, Lorentson and Wilson. Those against. That's Councillor Finzel. Wilkie, Wagner and Stockwell. The amendment is lost. We go back to the substantive motion. And only Councillor Wilkie has talked to that. Councillor Phillips: I have an amendment. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Phillips has an amendment which will be up on the screen shortly. Councillor Phillips: It'll be G.

02:02:00 Request that staff investigate and deliver the alternate transit. Transport management options. I.e. The satellite and park and ride. I think it's second. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I think it's second. Second Councillor. Oh, sorry. Councillor Finzel: Yes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I think it's your second. Councillor Lorentson and. Councillor Russell. Councillor Russell. Just before you do. Staff are. Invest. Invest out and deliver alternative transport management options. Are you happy that's something that's. I'm comfortable. I think that's consistent with the intent of the body of the report. Yeah, yeah. And deliver. Yeah. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah. Mayor Wilkie: Question for Councillor Phillips. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We should. We should. We've said the motion's accepted. So we'll let Councillor Phillips talk. Councillor Phillips: I think it's pretty straightforward just from the feedback from the questions from Director Walsh that we can actually deliver alternate methods by Christmas.

02:03:00 I would almost even include if I'm allowed to make a change to my wording by this Christmas because we've heard that that can be done. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Is everyone happy with your words by December 2026? Councillor Phillips: Vicky, I just sent it to you for apologies. Councillor Wilson: I said this one. Oh. Sorry. Councillor Phillips: Just use that wording, please. And it gets rid of investigate because I assume that work's been done as well. If we can produce it by the end of the year, then I'm going to say request that staff deliver alternate transport management by December 26, including the satellite parking and parking ride service. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Happy with that change to the wording, everyone? Yes. I would just.

02:04:00 Mayor Wilkie: Yes. Just a question. Is it by saying deliver alternate transport management, are you talking about something more than just satellite parking and parking ride? What do you mean specifically satellite parking and parking ride? Councillor Phillips: By December 26, I would say it's the work that's been investigated that Director Walsh spoke about in the question time. I would be asking. Mayor Wilkie: Specifically satellite parking and parking ride. Yes. Okay. So you're not talking about anything broader than that. You're talking specifically satellite parking and parking ride service. Yeah. Councillor Phillips: If it helps. Communications around it. The conversations that we've had that Director Walsh said can be delivered by this year. I would just like it in the report. Mayor Wilkie: Okay. WordSmith, Councillor Wilson has a hand up. Councillor Wilson. Councillor Wilson: Would that also include the Carcio's facilities potentially? Councillor Phillips: Yes. That was something. Councillor Wilson: Yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah. Would you like to include that in the motion? Mayor Wilkie: We'll have a separate one.

02:05:00 Councillor Phillips: Yeah, I would. I'm happy to add that to that if it includes. I would just add it. Yeah. Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: And concierge service. And community concierge service, is that what you're referring to? Yes, councillors. Yeah. Councillor Phillips: Just a question around that. Councillor Finzel: Park and ride service and concierge. Just a question around the concierge, given it's a new process through procurement then. A question that staff would give us enough time to also have that procurement process in place. Director Walsh: Yeah. So I'm confident the service is actually fairly simple, what we need them to do. So it's not that much different to the disaster management. We ran out of a sandbag deployment, interestingly enough, with very similar stakeholders. So yeah. In a funny way. Similar locations. We're just thinking. Yeah. That's how it works. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: And there's particular procurement processes available to not-for-profits. So we're all happy that the wordsmith amendment up there.

02:06:00 And so Councillor Phillips, you can talk to that. Councillor Phillips: Thank you. I think one of my aim with this was listening to all the conversation. It would probably assist the business owners and hearing that we have made a commitment by Christmas. Because this car park's been taken away. Then I think it's really important that we deliver and actually demonstrate that this will be done. I don't think it will satisfy everything. But I am trying to find maybe some confidence in the community that are sending emails through that would be disappointed that we are actually going to deliver alternate procurement. Yeah. Methods. Given that Director Walsh has said that this could be done. I think that it can just be included in the report.

02:07:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Others wish to talk to the amendment? Councillor Finzel. Yeah. Councillor Finzel: Look. I'd like to commend Councillor Phillips for bringing this forward. I think it is really, you know, sound leadership. And also that gives a line in the sand and a surety to it's not down the never-never. It's not kicking the can down the road. That we actually are going to take some action. It won't address everything along the way. But I think it keeps the flow. It then helps progress where we want to be. Giving that insurance not only to the business people but the broader community. So yeah. I support this. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Anyone else? Would you like to close, Councillor Phillips? I'll put the motion. Those in favour? So moved. Thank you. And Councillor Wilson? Yes. That's unanimous. That becomes part of the motion. Councillor Lorentson? Councillor Lorentson: I'm going to try an amendment.

02:08:00 Delete C of item 7.2. That's it. And insert C. Endorse a hybrid of C. And public car parking until 9 a.m. each day before converting to the main beach drop-off zone for the remainder of the day. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Do we have a seconder for that amendment? Councillor Finzel: I have a question before we get a seconder. Mayor Wilkie: Councillor Lorentson, is it your intention to exclude people who live outside the Shire from that car park before 9 a.m.? Because you've got available for resident and public. Councillor Lorentson: And public parking, so it's just open as normal until 9 a.m. So not just specifically for residents?

02:09:00 No, we can't manage that. If we could manage that, I would say yes, but no, we can't manage that. Mayor Wilkie: So is it more accurate to say for public parking? Councillor Lorentson: Yep, for public parking until 9 a.m. if I can make that adjustment, thanks. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay, so a seconder? Councillor Lorentson: I'll take a second. Councillor Phillips, Councillor Lorentson. I think I raise this every year. For six years. And it's something I hear every year for six years. I spend a lot of time over the Christmas and New Year period at the surf club, either surfing or patrolling as a member of the Surf Life Saving Club. For 11 years, I also lived in that precinct. So I'm going to again put it back on the table. And what I hear all the time is it would be great to have that available. Car parking for residents, early mornings at Main Beach belong to our community, swimmers doing their laps, runners along the point, surfers checking the break and families carrying boards, paddle boards and skis and elderly people that I know from the surf club who every morning carry skis to Noosa Main Beach.

02:10:00 These residents, these are our residents who use the beach every day of the year, not just over the holidays. So the amendment in front of us is just requesting that we convert the car park to a drop-off zone rather than just converting it from first light and removing that option from our residents to me is, again, I go back to my favourite saying that residents should be beneficiaries of tourism. And this is one way of giving them back a bit of space during a period that's very congested. So the hybrid model in front of us, again, gives that early window back to our community, still delivers the safety and traffic benefits the drop-off zone provides once the beach and precinct get busy later in the day.

02:11:00 It doesn't undo the drop-off zone. It simply recognises that the people who use this beach every morning, all year round, deserve to be part of how this precinct works during its busiest weeks. Not like this. It's locked out of it before the first bus even arrives. To me, it's a low cost, common sense change and uses the same car park, same signage and monitoring arrangements already proposed for the drop-off zone and simply applies a time basis rather than for a whole day. Again, it's important that we give back to our community first, put our residents first before the precinct opens up to the visitors. Again, I ask consideration. That this amendment gets supported. Mayor Wilkie: There's a question from Councillor Wilson.

02:12:00 Councillor Lorentson: Councillor Wilson. To the Chair. Councillor Wilson: Thank you. Question for the Chair, to the Chief Director Walsh, please. I appreciate the intent of this amendment, but I just wanted to get your thoughts on the practicality of it, of whether there is equipment and things that would need to be moved each day to be able to facilitate this. Director Walsh: Thank you, Councillor. The only way I could see this working is if we had a dedicated team down there for the full day, and that time of day between 6am and 10am is when we're responding to issues across the Shire with our limited staff. So the availability of staff to affect this would actually have significant impact upon responding to other issues across the whole of the Shire. I also note that we know this from when we do empty the car park is that we have people who do overstay the car park, and we have to tow the car park. So I can see, unfortunately, whether it's through disobedience or just confusion, people actually leaving their cars there, which would render the drop-off zone ineffective. And then we'd have to call tow trucks to actually remove the vehicles, which would add to traffic confusion and also bring us into disrepute.

02:13:00 So I don't see how we can feasibly implement this on a daily basis without a significant change to our overall resourcing model and or impact upon resource and service delivery across the balance areas of the Shire. Councillor Lorentson: Question to the Director. What time do the staff start in that precinct? I've been down there very early mornings, and staff are already in attendance very early morning during that period. Director Walsh: So there's some staff who start at 5.30, you know, so doing things. We've got to remember that the staff or the volunteers or whoever we use to staff the Concierge area are very different to the staff who have qualified to move equipment around, such as traffic barriers and markings. And they're the same staff that we use to actually respond to issues across the Shire. So it's a question about what staff are available and trained and equipped to actually move equipment around, such as traffic barriers and signs and all of those sorts of things.

02:14:00 And it's fair to say that we've put a lot of effort over the years of trying to make the drop-off zone as comfortable as possible. So there's marquees and seats and the like. To have that area available for car parking, we'd have to restore those and re-design them. Councillor Lorentson: Can I also, just through the Chair, just make a correction. The amendment only wants the area available for public car parking until 9am, not 10am. Director Walsh: So I was just reflecting that the peak period for our staff to actually respond to, you know, issues that arise overnight and in the morning tends to be that period from 6am to 10am when we get overnight requests. Like let's say we have a storm or we have a storm. Signalling a party event in an area of the park or the beach that needs cleaning up. That's the time that we're called to action to get the, you know, relevant areas safe and operational for the rest of the Shire.

02:15:00 Councillor Phillips. Councillor Phillips: Could I, like, what sort of investigations going through to sort of deliver? Like I quite, I sort of understand Councillor Lorentson's amendment here, but also being part of Towing Pass before the triathlon. As a police officer. So I know people will sometimes not do what they have been asked. So I'm trying to find the middle part here. Is there, when you're looking at the arrangement that's being done there, are you almost at a point where the set up and pack down is quite efficient? Like is there, it's being tested, but what I'm thinking is like, is there a chance in a year's time or that it is working to a point where it's not? I'm not sure it is quite efficient and that there is a chance that it can go back to residents because I sit really uncomfortable here because I really do think that this is an important part, but I just want to know operationally how that can be achieved.

02:16:00 Director Walsh: We would need to redesign the whole facility and we'd probably have to have bespoke furniture that could be easily deployed and then a dedicated team that was available every morning and budgeted to actually, you know, deploy. You have to really think through your towing arrangements because tow trucks are quite large. And if you think about at that critical entry time into this precinct at 9am, you've got tow trucks moving two or three cars as well. So it's like trying to resolve it actually might create more congestion. Director Rawlings: Okay. Councillor Lorentson: Just a question through the Chair. In terms of loss of car parks. So now that there's been a majority vote to end the overflow car parking at Lyons Park, the report also notes a new drop off zone, which theoretically I think removes I'm guessing about 15 car parks.

02:17:00 I'm not quite sure. Can we have a total number of loss of car parks for this precinct over this period? Director Walsh: So I recollect there's 42 car parking spaces in the main beach reserve. We still provide disabled car parking spaces in that location and car parking spaces for and emergency vehicles. I think it's about four from what I remember. It's more in the restroom. Yeah. Yeah. The 15 minute drop off area only consumed two car parking spaces. Two car parking spaces. Okay. Mayor Wilkie: Follow up question. The drop off zone. Drop off zones are intended not for parking, but to increase access. We have numbers on how many people, how many vehicles pass through and drop passengers off on a daily basis in return for the 42 car parks. Director Walsh: I don't have that at my fingertips, Council. I'd have to take that notice. Mayor Wilkie: Will it be at its hundreds? Director Walsh: I presume so, but just to be honest, I don't have that at my fingertips.

02:18:00 Mayor Wilkie: Can I have that question taken on notice please? Yes, I can. Estimate supply. Yeah. That's good. Councillor Lorentson: Can I ask another question through the chair? Is there opportunity to provide some car parking as opposed to all car parking? Again, I acknowledge the work that it takes to set up the drop off zone and most of the work is in the centre. So is there an opportunity to provide some car parking to residents before, up until 9am? Not all the people. Is that a better middle ground? Director Walsh: I think we still end up with the same issues of people overstaying their welcome and needing to be moved to make the drop off zone functional. And I do note that we do provide parking for key staff with surplus saving and also disabled parking. So that is part and parcel of the precinct. And we also need to remember that at that early time of the day is that the maze car park across the street is also available.

02:19:00 And it doesn't fill up until a bit later. So there is resident parking or people who want to come to the beach early, either in the woods or the adjacent maze car park. And one of the reasons for the main beach drop off zone is about traffic congestion as a result of people queuing up the ramp early in the morning. And also safety associated with the access in and out of the public toilet and accessibility for emergency vehicles to access the beach. So there's a whole raft of reasons that the main beach drop off zone is really well regarded. Councillor Lorentson: In terms of data that you're going to be providing for the ordinary meeting, can I also request data understanding when that traffic happens? Again, I over that three week period, I think I'm there a lot, very early mornings and it seems like it doesn't really get that busy until 10, 11, 12 o'clock. So that period beforehand, my observations.

02:20:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Cancel. Okay. The question is, can you provide an ordinary meeting, can you provide any traffic flow data? Councillor Lorentson: That would be excellent. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Phillips. Councillor Phillips: Thanks. Just in relation to that, the recommendation about 15 minute drop off parking area on Noosa Parade. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We can't deal with that just at the moment as we're dealing with the amendment. Councillor Phillips: It's still quite kind of tied into that though. Let me think. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Phillips, has anyone else got any other questions or want to talk to the amendment? Mayor Wilkie: Just in terms of the logistics, again, can you quantify the number of pieces of furniture and marquees? And I think you've got public temporary toilets set up in them. Does all have to be moved in time taken to do that and where would you have to take this gear to store it? Director Walsh: You can either set up a compound within, you know, which would lose car parking spaces,

02:21:00 or we'd have to set up a compound elsewhere in the precinct. Mayor Wilkie: And how long would it take to actually dismantle and set up this stuff every day? Director Walsh: I recollect that we arrive on site at about 3am to set it up for each day. And we've usually got it functioning by about 10am, so six to seven hours when we deploy the equipment. Mayor Wilkie: Okay. And this would, you mentioned this could involve extra hours of work. Is there an estimated cost to that extra work? Director Walsh: If I had to think about the staff being deployed on a daily basis, and then the contractors that might also be required in terms of packing up tents, because they're often on hire and that, we're easily talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mayor Wilkie: You've also mentioned that clear messaging and understanding of the community is very important, that PAP systems work well. Do you think this chopping and changing would, how do you think that would impact on the way people use the space? Director Walsh: I think it would be very confusing. And I think there'd be people who, and I think it would put us into further dispute

02:22:00 in the community because, you know, we're not really clear on what we want the precinct to be. Is it for safety? Or is it for parking? Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Phillips, did you? Councillor Phillips: No, but I will speak to it if there's no more questions. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: At the floor. Councillor Phillips: I like the amendment because it's putting the focus on residents, and I think that, what I would have loved, hypothetically, is that this would have been considered before the drop off zone was even established, because I do think it's a really important part of delivering to our community that people that want to go before peak, I think Tom even mentioned it before around going out for a surf early on.

02:23:00 So I like the intent behind it because I can see you trying to prioritise residents, which we hear all the time would be great. I also hear the operational impact. So I think for me, the reason why I'm going to support it is because I would have loved this to be done as part of the work initially. So. Councillor Lorentson: I asked. Yeah. Councillor Phillips: Yeah. Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Others wish to talk to the amendment? Councillor Lorentson, do you wish to close? Councillor Lorentson: I will. And I think I want to just put the focus on this is an opportunity for us to trial. I think it's important. It's a hybrid version. I think every year I put this request forward to council for consideration. So it's not a new concept. It's something I bring up and every year I get community asking me to relitigate it.

02:24:00 The issue is once again, it's the most we're in a space of destination management and tourism only works. If it's embraced by our communities. And that's why, you know, when we talk about our destination management plan, the number one thing that came out of that consultation process was that we are a resident town first, not a tourist town first. And that we should put our residents first and foremost in every decision. Every decision we make around this council, we've got to ask two questions. Is it good for our community? And is it good for our environment? And I think this speaks directly at it. It may not work. The feasibility, operational, we can call it quits after one week if it doesn't work. But I think this at least at a minimum acknowledges what the community had repeatedly told us.

02:25:00 Put them first. Put people before our visitors, our residents before our visitors. So again, and every year I'll probably, you know, and, and I might make a mistake, but I'm going to make a little bit of a tweet to this, but I just think it's really important to acknowledge that our residents, this is our backyard. And again, someone who goes down to the beach every morning, early morning, I'm not a great surfer. So I go surfing in the middle of the day as do a lot of kids that I know. But it's just a really good position statement made by this council that we are putting in before our visitors. So I hope you support a trial, understanding that it may not be operationally sound, but allowing council to have the agility and flexibility to call it quits if it doesn't work.

02:26:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: The debate's closed, so now all we can do is vote on it. So those in favour of the amendment? That's Councillor Lorentson and Councillor Phillips. Those opposed? Councillor Finzel. Yes. Wilkie, Wilson, Wagner and Stockwell. The amendment is lost. Councillor Lorentson: Can I move another amendment, please? Oh, excuse me. Why don't we have a break, please, Mr Chair? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: If you would like to break me, I was hoping we'd get to the end of this, but it looks like it might go on for a little bit longer. So, yes, I believe in half past 12, I'd say we'd have at least another 15, 20. So we'll have a, how long are we having for lunch? Half an hour? 30 minutes? Yeah. Speaker 8: Yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. So we'll adjourn the meeting for 30 minutes to allow our councillors and staff to have Mayor Wilkie: a comfort break. Speaker 8: Thank you, Mr Chair. Thank you, Mr Chair.

03:02:00 Thank you. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So, welcome back, Councillors. We're still on item 2. We are back to the substantive motion that currently includes an additional clause as a result of an amendment. And for recollection, we only had Councillor Wilkie, who has spoken. Councillor Laur renton. Councillor Lorentson: I'd like to try an amendment please as a follow-up to the last amendment that just fell through and that's insert C, explore the feasibility of a hybrid arrangement for the 2027 Main Beach parking during the peak Christmas and New Year period to allow for public parking each day before converting to the Main Beach drop-off zone for the remainder of the day.

03:03:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So Councillor I can't accept that because it's almost identical to the one that was just lost. Councillor Lorentson: No the other one was indoors a hybrid. This one's explore the feasibility not for this year for next year. Ah okay it's a different year. Yep. Okay. So you mean 27-28? 27-28. Speaker 5: Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson: Just a follow-up from the amendment that just failed before. I accept the diverse of pins around the table and took from it that there may be some operational issues. We've actually putting together a hybrid arrangement so this amendment simply requests that part of the next upcoming Go Noosa program is part of the council investigation of new initiatives that this one gets

03:04:00 included. So straightforward it's not onerous. It doesn't require any resourcing or cost and it's not an immediate issue. It's just allowing enough time for some consideration of a hybrid model that addresses the ongoing issue that community bringing forward to me that allows them to some public parking before. Councillor Phillips: I know you've got a lot of experience before you came to this council in probably similar things. Now we sort of have established this. Is it possible to sort of re-look at how, is there a middle ground? And because I quite like the thought of seeing if there is alternate options for us.

03:05:00 Director Walsh: Thank you for the chair. So from my experience at South Bank and Romer Street, you know, deploying events and lightweight infrastructure and changing things really regularly. It's possible, but it requires significant budget and resourcing because it's like setting up a stage every day to acknowledge it. So we can certainly explore the feasibility, but you need to be prepared for a budget proposal in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. So because I would not want to use our existing staff who need to be deployed to other situations around the whole of the Shire. So I think it's really up to councillors to decide whether they want to explore the feasibility, noting it will come with significant budget implications. It's definitely possible, but significant budget implications to achieve. Mayor Wilkie: So you're saying it's possible to move to this model if we're prepared to dedicate hundreds of thousands of dollars to doing it? That's correct.

03:06:00 Councillor Phillips: That's what the amendment is asking for is for you to come back and tell us so we can actually see and then we can have a really good conversation about is it worth that? Director Walsh: Before we're committing ourselves to the check, but I also note that in the, you know, we do have limited resources and we've already decided on a movement and action plan and what staff we use for what purposes, you know, so this will, you know, with our existing staff will diminish their capacity to deliver other programs and our overall movement and connection action plan. And I go in this report, it has, it has, you know, consequences. So, and I just want to give you a hint from my previous experience that. It is feasible to change a space like that on a daily basis, but it is at cost. Mayor Wilkie: I think this is asking the same thing. Like we've already received advice, good advice that the logistics involved is extremely onerous and costly. Also, do we need a feasibility study to understand something that we've already got a good grasp on?

03:07:00 We're here to make decisions. We've already heard and had good. Advice that it's not possible. Sure, it would be showing good faith to the residents to explore this, this avenue. But we have, we don't want to give false hope or we heard it's going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to do it. So we know the likelihood of moving towards that is not very high. And also we know that there's likely to be great disruption if you move to that, because the purpose of having the drop offs in there was to reduce congestion at the Hastings Street roundabout and ramping on the entry to the car park. You go back to creating more congestion, there'll be confusion, as we heard that when you want to make changes to parking arrangements, you need to be very clear in your messaging and having a hybrid model where sometimes you can park there, sometimes you can't, is likely to create more congestion. So we know that there's likely to be great confusion, more congestion and also daily cost and there's resources that we're told are better used elsewhere and if we wanted to move that way, there are other elements of the Go Noosa program that would not receive the resourcing to do endorsed programs.

03:08:00 This is working well already, as we heard, there's ample parking in the Mays car park for that period of the year for us. We're on down there. We're on down there. It's going down a path where we know the answer already and it's pointing towards cost and doing the feasibility takes staff away from the many initiatives that we've already committed staff to doing and budget to doing. Councillor Lorentson: Question through the chair. Director Walsh, the amendment doesn't actually request a feasibility study, it's more a report.

03:09:00 The question is how onerous is it to report back as part of the next 2027-28 GONUSA program whether this has been considered and a recommendation put through, added to the report. How onerous and resourcing is an assessment, not a study, just an assessment? Director Walsh: It is a little bit onerous because I'd also would like the staff to actually implement the previous recommendation, which is about establishing new satellite parks. This is the same group of people, the same small team that actually have to solve these issues. So noting that this could be put into next calendar year, so versus this program. But, you know, it's not just the preparation of the report, it's participation in debates like this and participation in questionnaires and the like. So it just takes away from me. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Would anyone else like to talk to the amendment?

03:10:00 Councillor Lorentson, would you like to close? Councillor Lorentson: I think we've just heard a lot of assumptions and the amendment in front of us is. Requesting perhaps a little bit more than an assumption, a little bit more data in terms of what is actually involved in putting together a hybrid version. I'm, you know, we're now month July, the next report won't be coming to us for another 12 months. So the request in front of us, I think with respect to great conversation around the table, I would like it informed with data and not assumptions. So. Again, this is just addressing an ongoing request by community to allow during the most highly frequented holiday peak season, just something to be given back to the residents.

03:11:00 It's a resident first request, and I respect the decision of the table. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay, I put the amendment, those in favour, that's Councillor Phillips and Lorentson, those against, that's Councillor Finzel, Wilkie. Wegener, Stockwell and Wilson, the amendment has not succeeded. So we move back to the substantive motion as amended. Would anyone else like to talk to that motion? Councillor Lorentson: Can I ask some questions, please? Sure. Council cabs, that sort of stood out to me, the average cost of a council cab is $92.86, I think, according to the report, with average passenger costs. An average cost of $92.86 per trip, my question is, has council benchmarked this again, say a taxi voucher alternative or a ride share? It just seems quite expensive.

03:12:00 Director Walsh: Council, we've had to take some basic assessment of this program. So the basic assessment is about, are there alternative services available for the people who use it? And the first assessment is no. They're actually not eligible for other services, this particular cohort. These areas are quite remote and they take, actually, there's a return journey from, you know, remote areas like Katharrava or Boring Point, you know, into service centres. So, and then the discussions we've had previously in the news reports, we've talked about not wanting to withdraw this service until we'd figure out a way forward. Now, we haven't figured out a way forward yet. So we would like to continue to investigate it in future years, as outlined in the report, but we don't want to withdraw this service unless we know what we want to do to replace it. Councillor Lorentson: My request was not to withdraw, I understand the absolute value of it. My question was more in terms of the flexi link cost, the report notes at $32.40 on average versus the council cab at $92.86.

03:13:00 So just really. Can any lessons learnt from the flexi links model, can that be applied to reduce the council cabs? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Can I just, I'm not sure where you're getting your data, because I'm looking at the table on council cab, and the average cost is from $11.30 to $15.89 per person. Councillor Lorentson: I'm going to Program Performance Act Months Metrics. Average cost per trips, council cabs $92.86, flexi link $39.00. Director Walsh: Maybe it's because it's multiple people in the cab, I take it. Yeah, so the flexi link service has multiple passengers, whereas the council cab is just usually one passenger. That's the main difference. So that's the difference in terms of the cost per passenger, so yeah.

03:14:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Questions or someone wishing to talk to the motion? I'll speak. I think there's some interesting data there. The small sample size, the graph that talks about how people got there was quite interesting in terms of the differences between the residents and the visitors. And it showed, for example, that 28% of residents used the public transport system, where only 18, 19% of visitors. So once again, while a very small sample size. Just about three times as many people using park and ride were residents. So it's an interesting sample. I'd also note whether it's that they didn't get anyone, or the question was no, because there's no one there that says they arrived by bike. So that was also an interesting one. But other than that, yeah, it was a useful report.

03:15:00 And I think the overarching outcome of what we're seeing is that we're seeing that they're seeing progressive improvement in the Go Noosa program and achieving its objectives. But there's more to be done to make it as effective as we would like. Anyone else? Councillor Phillips: I have a question. Sure. Just in relation, because I've tried to ask it before, but it was the wrong time. So back to that, the 15 minute drop off on Noosa Parade. The recommendation for 2026, is there a recommendation for 2027? Is that there's a 15 minute drop off parking area trial along that Noosa Parade area. I'm just wondering how many car parks do you envision are going to be lost from there? We don't have the Lions Club either. Director Walsh: There's two car parking spaces. Okay.

03:16:00 Councillor Wegener: Okay. Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. Okay. Okay. Councillor Wegener: Okay. And are we closing soon? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We're debating them. As much as, as much as possible. Speaker 9: The substance of motion now. Yeah. Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So would you like to talk or you? Councillor Wegener: Um, I love the Go Noosa Program. I see it as being enormously successful. I'd like to thank Sean and all the teams that contribute to this. I love that. We've asked for evidence for decisions. And these is what has been recommended are evidence based decisions now as evidence based information. And so I'm very pleased with this and I'm very pleased that we're moving forward with the whole strategy, the walk and cycling strategy, the whole thing because on the big picture populations coming here and we need to act now to not act is the most radical thing of all because we know exactly what's going to happen.

03:17:00 It's going to be gridlocked if we don't act. So acting through the Go Noosa program is incredibly important and more so keeping the status quo of Noosa being maintaining a paradise instead of standing back and letting the tsunami of development and population overrun us. So it's in our DNA to continue this. So thank you staff. Fully support that Noosa report.

03:18:00 Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. And the feel of the hosting suite precinct this Christmas. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay, I'll put the motion. Those in favour? That's Councillor Finzel, Wilkie, Wilson, Wegener and Stockwell. Those opposed is Phillips and Councillor Lorentson. The motion is carried. We then move on to item three and invite. Thank you. Thank you. And item three is the is the draft Burgess Creek Integrated Catchment Management Plan. Director Kim, Manager Ben to the table. And we have some conflicts of interest to declare

7.3 DRAFT BURGESS CREEK INTEGRATED CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN (ICMP) ¶

▶ 03:18:43

03:19:00 on the first one. So I wish to inform the meeting that I have a conflict of interest for item 7.3 draft Burgess Creek Integrated Catchment Management Plan. On this agenda, due to my role as President Noosa Lions Football Club, which has fields in the catchment, I do not believe a reasonable person could have a perception of bias because the club does not profit from or suffer a loss as a result of the plan and while larger area than most allotments has no significant greater interest than the many people who lived in the catchment. As I have specialist expertise and significant experience in the subject matter, I choose to remain in the room and vote on the matter. And for those listening, today's meeting is the first meeting under the new legislative requirements that allows the councillor to make the decision about whether to stay in the room on a conflict of interest declaration. Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson: I, Councillor Amelia Lorentson, inform the meeting that I have a conflict of interest for item 7.3 draft Burgess Creek Integrated Catchment Plan ICMP on this agenda.

03:20:00 My brother lives approximately 550 metres from the mouth of the Burgess Creek and I have recently purchased a property in Sunrise Beach approximately 550 metres from the mouth of Burgess Creek. This distance has been checked and confirmed by the Governance Team. Any previous statements I made on this were estimates. In an abundance of caution and consistent with advice from the Office of the Independent Assessor, I believe it is prudent to declare this as an independent assessment. Consistent also with recent legal advice previously considered by this Council on the question of proximity. Proximity alone gives rise to a conflict of interest only, not a material personal interest. My position falls within that same characterisation. The Integrated Catchment Management Plan for Burgess Creek is a Shire-wide body of work.

03:21:00 It forms part of a broader noose of catchment strategy for waterways, and the decisions before this meeting affect the entire community. It is in that community interest that I wish to contribute. I've consistently declared this interest and believe I am able to consider this matter impartially and in the public interest. I choose to remain in the meeting room and vote on the issue. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. So do we have any time for, we need to hear from the staff with their executive summary. Speaker 9: Thank you, Mr Chair. Before introducing the I, this I, I'd like to acknowledge the advocacy and support from councillors that we have worked through the process of identifying community environmental issues to be able to present this draft plan. The development of the Burgess Creek Integrated Management Plan has been a significant undertaking and a commitment to long-term evidence-based approach to managing this catchment is important. I note that the project has been funded by Queensland State Government through their budgeting process,

03:22:00 and without that support, we would not have been able to produce it. We would not be able to progress this plan to this time. I'll also acknowledge the passion and dedication of the Burgess Creek community. Throughout this process, we've heard from residents, environmental groups, recreational users, agencies and other stakeholders who care deeply about the future of their local community. Through their knowledge, lived experience and constructive input, they have made valuable contributions to the development of the draft plan. Through the development of this project, we have enjoyed or we have continued to enjoy a close working relationship with Unity Water as one of the prominent stakeholders in the catchment. I make a final acknowledgement for the catchments and coasts team from council and in particular our principal environment officer for their work on this project. While the generous support from the Queensland state government has been critical, it has only been able to stretch so far. And we value the interdepartmental collaboration that allows us to produce this plan today, which is largely being developed internally by council.

03:23:00 The Burgess Creek catchment is a small, comparatively complex system that has undergone significant modification, but nonetheless retains strong environmental processes and strong community and strong connections to the community. The draft plan provides a whole catchment framework for managing Burgess Creek over the long term, which brings together technical evidence and community input to ensure that the catchment is a success. The plan also establishes a shared vision for the catchment and identifies practical actions to improve water quality, strengthen ecosystem health, manage stormwater and erosion impacts, protect recreational and amenity values and improve governance and coordination between council agencies and the communities. The plan also establishes a monitoring and adaptive management framework, ensuring that future decisions continue to be guided by evidence and ongoing learning. I would also like to note that the draft plan has not been fully costed at this stage. This reflects the time and resource constraints of the project and the fact that the plan is intended to establish a strategic framework and agreed direction before detailed business cases and funding decisions are developed.

03:24:00 Importantly, not all actions represent new expenditure. Some actions are already being delivered through business as usual operations. Some are identified within council's forward planning and infrastructure projects. Other actions are intended to be progressed through grant opportunities, some of which are already in train. At this stage of the development, we are seeking council endorsement of the draft plan for public consultation, which will provide the broader community with an opportunity to review the plan and help shape the final version before it is brought back to council for consideration. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Do we have any questions? Councillor Wegener. Councillor Wegener: With a plan like this, one of the reasons we're creating this plan is to get grant funding, to put a formality to our ideas that are peer-reviewed.

03:25:00 Is that correct? Director Rawlings: Yes, through the Chair. One of the things that having plans, frameworks, strategies in place does allow us to then access grants for implementation of these plans. Absolutely. That is one of the things that we use these plans for. Councillor Wegener: It is an expensive plan. I mean, when you look at it with the desires. And then we have got the project, steering committee, technical working group, stakeholder, community input group, and phase three of, gosh, I would throw it down here. Just on my dark paper, of peer review. So, just those things, as we learned from the Oyster Reef project, the peer review itself, I think we went through two of them, it cost about $40,000 back then.

03:26:00 So, what I'm concerned about is funding this, you know, thinking past that once this is endorsed, it goes to the community. Question. Yeah. Long question. It is an expensive plan, and we have high aspirations. Is that right? Director Rawlings: I'm happy to start, but. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So, if I, the question I see from Councillor Wegener, sorry, I should have been more on top of that, is it appears to be an expensive plan, that is it pitched to getting grants, and does it have high aspirations? Are the expectations of the plan considered to be high aspirations? Director Rawlings: We'll both comment. There are, there are costs involved with implementation. Each of these actions have costs involved in it. As, as Ben mentioned, that we have not yet costed the implementation and the actions.

03:27:00 That is a, that is a limitation of this plan. That is a limitation of the constrained budget to develop this plan. It is at a strategic framework level. We've been very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very clear in both the Council report and in the plan that the prioritisation and costing process is still, is still to happen. It's, it wasn't within the original scope. So, yes, there are cost implications. We'll be also clear in the plan that any implementation of this plan, it will be subject to future Council budgets. There is no commitment to its implementation. We'll be subject to us accessing future grants. We'll be subject to us accessing future grants. We'll be subject to us to working with partner agencies and subject to community action. So, it's all, its implementation is very much reliant on, on future decisions and future collaborations. And there are definitely costs involved in it.

03:28:00 What those costs are in total, we can't answer that at, at this stage. It's a strategic framework. It's draft. We are hoping through this next phase of the process, we'll get a better sense from the community about prioritisation. But yeah, there are absolutely costs involved in implementing this, this plan. What would you like to add? Speaker 9: Do you want to go? Director Rawlings: Of course. Speaker 9: Look, catchment management plans are not light-touch environmental plans. They're, they're holistic. They're intended to be holistic. And they need to consider all of the elements to be able to create a strategic framework so that that catchment will be able to continue to deliver the services for, for generations to come. And so, through the development of this plan, we haven't bought that identifying what those actions will be. Like with all of our environment program, we lean heavily on external funding to be

03:29:00 able to deliver what we need to deliver. And I think there's some key elements within this plan that we can look at, such as fish barrier removal, which we've identified already as a iconic project within Resilient River 's SEQ framework, where we're looking at where can we align projects with potential sources of future funding and having a strategic approach where we can say this is an integrated plan. So it considers, you know, everything from the pure environmental ecological processes through to amenity and recreation. Where does everything fit strategically so that we can then say, these are the priorities for external funding. Yeah. Councillor Wegener: And then the last question, like, I'm always worried about the plan stalling, collecting dust. What about a levy? It would seem that this is a very popular plan and from the community. Could there be like a levy to say we want this levy to just continue kickstarting, manifesting

03:30:00 this plan? Because we've got lots of different local levy. Is that an option to talk about in public consultation? Director Rawlings: Mechanisms exist to put in place special area levies or benefited area levies. That is a mechanism that councils can do. We have those. We have a Noosa Waters levy. We have a Hastings Street levy. We have various levies. So that is a mechanism that does exist for council. It's not something we've considered for Burgess Creek. It would, yeah, it would, you know, be some subject to discussion. Council's consideration, whether that was something you wanted to investigate or pursue. Councillor Wegener. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Phillips. Councillor Phillips: Following on from that, could it fall in the environmental levy? Does that mean? Director Rawlings: Yeah. So some aspects of this plan and its implementation could actually absolutely be funded by the

03:31:00 environment levy. Some of it could not be. Okay. So we might not need a new levy. We could. For some aspects of it. Okay. Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: So given the catchment area, I think, is 545 hectares, who pays? If Council Wigner's idea in terms of a levy, who pays? People from Noosa Heads, Noosa Junction, is it the entire catchment area? Is that the way that the levy works? Director Rawlings: Are you asking us who pays the levy? Which I've just advised we haven't looked at the levy. Councillor Lorentson: No. Director Rawlings: So I can't answer that question because we've had no investigation of a levy. So I can't answer that question at this point. We would have to look into that structure and how you would, you know, levies, if they're administered, there has to be a direct nexus to who pays and who benefits.

03:32:00 So, you know, the assumption would be you would have to be within that catchment. But again, you know, this, I haven't looked into this. We haven't looked into this as a concept for this. Councillor Lorentson. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Mr Chairman. Councillor Phillips. Thank you. Councillor Phillips: And it'll be on notice, so it's fine. But I had raised in a workshop at some point about revising or having a look at the environment levy. Could I just maybe put it on notice that to ask what's missing from this could potentially be included? And then I have a follow-up question around the Eastern Beaches Horseshaw Management Plan. Is there likely to be any crossovers in that plan in this? Yeah. Do you want me to do that? Speaker 9: Thanks to the Chair, Councillor, good question. Yes, there's a strong crossover between the two, given the geographical overlap. There's the Eastern Beaches, obviously predated the Burgess Creek

03:33:00 Catchment Plan. So we're heavily focused on reserve areas and beach accesses for the upcoming program. Within the Eastern Beaches, the Burgess Creek extends beyond where the Eastern Beaches are, but definitely at that in place, there's some of those programs around, particularly around access through the, through the general system, as well as managing vegetation and erosion that will be picked up. And this area has already been identified to be picked up under the Eastern Beaches Horseshaw Reserves Management Plan. Mayor Wilkie: Councillor Wilkie. Mr Chairman, in the interest of moving along to the next question, given that we're only on item three, on the 10 item agenda, and we're already in the afternoon, and we've got a hard meeting at five o'clock with community members, I'm happy to move this. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Moved by Councillor Wilkie, seconded by Councillor Finzel. Mayor Wilkie: What we've been asked to do here today, councillors, is endorse this catchment management plan to go out for a community consultation. It'd be very interesting to hear what the community has to say about it and take all

03:34:00 that information on board to come up with the final catchment management plan later on. And I do commend it to the community, for anyone who wants to understand that the forces at play shaping the quality of the water that's coming out of that catchment and the forces at play in that catchment on impacts on flora and fauna, please read that report. It's excellent. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: Councillor Lorentson. I have a couple of questions that I would like to ask and I've pulled out the key uncertainties and knowledge gap in section 3.3 of the plan. Probably the question I want to ask is, there's an old night soil depot, landfills, waste pits in the kitchen in the catchment that are known contaminant risk. The plan itself admits that we don't know actually how much they're contributing to water quality problems compared to ageing stormwater pipes or unity waters treated wastewater. How serious is this problem, how are we going to find out how much they're contributing

03:35:00 to water quality problems, and given that some of these sites are 50 years old and more, has this actually been measured or done before? Speaker 9: Councillor, through the chair. Through the development of this plan, we did interrogate the previous work that has been done, particularly around the water quality problem. And we found that the former landfills in there, or the former night soil areas in there, which are known, locations are known to council, those locations have been capped in terms of having an acceptable barrier put over the top, and the leachate from those are analysed every year. And they sit within the permissible levels of leachate going into a public cannery. So that's what we've already, that's what we already know and what we already do for those existing legacy landfills.

03:36:00 If the leachate extended beyond what the permissible levels were for leachate going into the environment, then we'd need to be able to address that as a priority, because that would be a contaminant going into the going into the environment. But at this point in time, and for the last look, I'm not sure, but for the last series of years, they've been within acceptable levels going in. In terms of, more broadly, in terms of unknowns around contaminants going in from storm water is always surprisingly, notoriously tricky to monitor, what we really need to be able to analyse that is the first flush monitor, where the collecting catchment may have been sitting there for several months, collecting pollutants, and then a new storm will go through

03:37:00 and it's that first flush, which is introducing a lot of contaminants into the system rather than just setting up a, you know, regular monitoring where we go and monitor once every month, which we do at the moment. We do have a stormwater monitoring program, which is looking at event monitoring, and we're getting some potential loggers through our monitoring program to be able to address that. But it's a gap that's unknown at the moment. And until we can have that level of detail sitting within our program, we can't identify where those key contaminants are coming from, from the stormwater system. We can have an idea without quantifying. Councillor Lorentson: So that sort of brings me to my next question, rather than monitoring in terms of some ageing infrastructure, failing pipes. Should we be actually sort of creating our own risk category and it should it be sort of treated a little bit separately and more seriously, or not?

03:38:00 Sorry, risk category? Director Rawlings: Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Like, at the moment, the plan talks about monitoring. Director Rawlings: Yeah. And I think the monitoring, what the monitoring will do is, as Ben's just talked about, what the monitoring will do. Consistent monitoring will allow us to understand trigger points or when there's higher levels of contamination or, you know, beyond, leachate beyond standards. I think at that point, it's when, you know, there are certain interventions that might need to happen. So I think, you know, the monitoring programs are a really important element of the plan. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I can add, the state sets in what we're doing. We'll call them objectives, and Burgess Creek would have different settings to what would be in the Noosa River and to the other streams down there, because of nature. So they're what actually establishes, if you like, a sort of environmental risk category.

03:39:00 Sure. They're acknowledged as being a disturbed catchment. Disturbed catchment. Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Okay. We're going to go to, again, the plan Appendix B. There's a storm water map, and there's Two areas that are shown rated red for active erosion damage at Tarina Street, Cooroy Street and Ben Lixon Drive, Willamia Way, Twilight Street, Hillside Court. Is there any money in the current budget that addresses or fixes those two red zone areas? Or is that, again, something to be investigated, not serious at this level? Just the red really was a red flag, excuse the pun, when I went through it. Or have I misread the plan when I opened it up? This is Appendix B. Director Rawlings: Yep.

03:40:00 Through the Chair, Councillor Lorentson, both of those projects are identified in our long-term capital program. With a buy version. Also in our legit. Whether or not there is money in the existing budget, I might ask Director Walsh just to comment on Appendix B, stormwater outlet condition evaluation, that map showing the two projects at Tarina Street and Ben Lixon Drive. Director Walsh: Thank you. So there's no current no budget allocation of the new facilities in those locations. So the budgets have got extraordinary yields. These residential developments are mega-simple arrangements and require significant redesign or retrofit of gross water traps and stormwater devices to bring them up to a reasonable speed limit. So it's a significant investment and that's the sort of project we are dealing with that we'll have to grant funding to assist.

03:41:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Can I follow up on that one? I'm just trying to find the Tarina one. Okay. So is there's been previous water quality. Data that highlighted that area as a risk, but it was assessing it as if that was a waterway and it's not, so it's a wetland. So the high organics, et cetera, is likely because it's being compared against the long water quality objective. Did that get analyzed as part of your system? Because it's not a flowing water system there, it's actually a wetland. Director Rawlings: You might need to take that one on notice. Speaker 9: I'd look to our principal environment officer. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Tarina Street, and I don't think the previous data that I'm thinking about was public, is that a result of historic water quality analysis that highlighted that area? Because I recall when I saw that data, they were comparing it against the values as if it was a flowing stream, where in fact, that's a wetland, it's highly intermittent in its flow.

03:42:00 And the long water quality, it's highly intermittent in its flow. So it's likely high readings as just a result of high organics, because it's in its nature. Director Walsh: Okay, I have to confirm that with our senior environmental officer, Shirea Sullivan, she did this prioritization based on criteria that she used, so I can't really confirm with you at the moment. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay, it wasn't our data, but I was thinking it was. Director Rawlings: Yeah, we'll take that on notice, yeah. Councillor Lorentson: I'll speak to the motion. So firstly, I want to start by acknowledging the former mayor and ex-state candidate for Noosa, Clay Stewart, for securing the $100,000 in funding that made this plan possible. Without that funding, we would not have the evidence base in front of us tonight.

03:43:00 I also want to really make a strong acknowledgement to the staff for how this process was run. I attended one of the community shops. It was well facilitated. Staff answered difficult questions directly, reasonably, and the concerns raised in that room have been reflected accurately in this report. That's a really important signal to the community that input into these processes actually shows up in the outcome. So I really want to acknowledge and thank the staff for that. Turning to the draft plan itself. This report actually shows up in the outcome. As I read it, it is essentially council's own report card on this catchment, and it asks us to look closely at our own backyard. Unity Water is a contributor, mainly through the treated wastewater discharge, and that's acknowledged in the report. But on the evidence, Noosa Council is the main contributor within this catchment through our stormwater network and legacy sites on our own land.

03:44:00 That's not a criticism of the plan. It's just the plan doing its job. I want to set out some risks, and Council Wigner raised them too. I think they're worth restating because, to me, it explains why this plan needs proper follow through rather than just adoption and moving forward to the second consultation phase. Governance and coordination, one of the risks. Responsibilities are split across council, Unity Water and state agencies. We need clear coordination. And responses to problems can't be delayed. Climate external drivers. This is a low-lying wetland system with a dynamic beach outlet. Conditions may change faster than the plan's current assumptions. So, again, that's been identified as a risk. Funding and resourcing, main risk.

03:45:00 A plan of this scope is only useful if it's actually funded and delivered. So that is a risk. And I hope there will be state funding coming our way. Stakeholder and community expectation. Again, another risk. There is strong community concern that's shaped this plan. And I think there's a risk if this delivery doesn't match what the community's been asked. Finally, I also want to welcome the next phase of consultation. And I encourage all the residents to take part of this plan. The draft plan will only be as good as the input that shapes it. And again, I commend staff. The draft integrated catchment plan in front of us is excellent. And I look forward to the community having their say so that a final draft can be adopted and we can do the hard parts, which is the strategy to execution and trying to secure some funding to deliver what potentially can be a really good environmental outcome for our community.

03:46:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I might try an amendment. Can you just bring that up? It's the one that I circulated last night, councillors. And so the amendment, and I'll read it out, is that item B amended to read that approve the draft Burgess Creek integrated catchment plan provided as attachment one with the following amendment to Appendix G S2 Action 4 and that to read Action 4 continues to encourage the adoption of best practice catchment management by residents through the delivery of targeted behaviour change initiatives and compliance. And then in that table below, define target practices and pathways. For example, diffuse sources, source nutrients, dumping, pool overflows, grass clippings, and then the change in key enabler to add identification of diffuse sources, urban nutrients and contaminants. And in the deliverable to add urban catchment management education.

03:47:00 And then down in S2. It's to add what was in the original top is an example to reduce illegal connections to stormwater. Can you just flip back up? Yeah, there we go. Yeah. So you can see that it was just taken and there. So that's my amendment. Director Rawlings: Can you just go down? Councillor Finzel: It's not very tall. Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Do we have a seconder? Councillor Wegener: Councillor Phillips. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So I'll explain, Councillors. As written, the action referred to illegal stormwater connections up top being the only thing to be addressed by that action. And then in Section 2, 4.1, it talked about dumping, pool overflows and grass clippings. And what I couldn't see in anywhere else in the action plan was just what is probably the standard starting point for any action plan.

03:48:00 And that's integrated catchment management. And that's improved land practice by all those in the catchment. And so what this amendment does is just broaden that action out to look at adoption of best practice. And that in urban catchment is things like where you wash your car. What sort of fertiliser do you do? Or do you actually not need fertiliser? You put a native garden in. And what are the things that you can do to reduce the amount of nutrients, contaminants? What a lot of people don't understand in urban and peri-urban catchments, actually pet droppings is a very large source of nutrients into the waterways. So that time when we have the first flush stormwater going down through the pipes and getting into the wetlands, that can all be ameliorated by just adoption of best practice. So this amendment just talks about bottom up processes that when people get the knowledge or awareness of what the issue is, they have an understanding of the skills needed or the practices needed.

03:49:00 And sometimes there's a little bit of incentive provided if change in practice requires money, then that's the way you get that broad adoption of commitment to good catchment management and that you see the result in better water quality. And it also obviously just keeps in the compliance angle, which was obviously put in in regard to if we do have illegal stormwater connections into stormwater, that means why that is an issue. The other issue is that when we do have storm events, that the sewage treatment plant gets overloaded by water. A significant increase in volumes because of illegal connections, because they're funneling all the water from the roof into the sewage treatment plant where it should be to the gutters or into the gardens. Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson: I'm happy to support the amendment. I think what I like most about it is when I read the draft. It's very compliance driven.

03:50:00 So the idea that a shift to more behavioural changes rather than compliance allows community to not just read it, but to be able to apply just simple everyday things. You know, I look at pest weight, first fertilisers, rainwater tanks, composting. They're everything. They're everyday things that everyone can do. And given that, you know, we all have to play our role in this and that there are thousands and thousands of properties and people in this community that can individually play a small part in, you know, doing what's right for our environment. So I commend the amendment, given that it's also going to be going out for further community consultation. So it gives community again opportunity to further refine water. And we can capture that information as part of the second phase of the consultation.

03:51:00 So happy to support. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Wegener. Councillor Wegener: I support the amendment as well. These are prickly issues that you bring up when it comes to pet contaminants and things like that. And from my my history as a surfer, especially growing up in Southern California, where there is a line between contaminants upstream and downstream. Year eights downstream. And so it's fantastic that we're actually addressing this now and having the community behind looking at these things that may be some uncomfortable truths, but we'll end up with a better situation in the end. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Anyone else wish to talk? I don't need to close. I put the amendment those in favour. Councillor Wilson. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Wilson: All right.

03:52:00 Thank you very much. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: That's unanimous. Okay. Councillor Phillips: I'll just send an amendment please. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Another amendment, sure. Councillor Phillips: I'll just send it. Okay. Thank you, thank you. Director Rawlings: It's supposed to be an F, it's placed, okay. Councillor Phillips: The Council investigate opportunities to utilise the environmental levy, including future environmental levy program allocations to support the stage implementation of priority actions identified in the Burgess Creek Integrated Catchment Management Plan, then a report to Council

03:53:00 on funding options, project prioritisation and delivery timeframes. Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Do we have a seconder? Happy to second. Councillor Lorentson? Councillor Phillips: So, I was just listening to, I know Councillor Finzel doesn't like public amendments on the fly, but something that I started thinking about when Tom was talking and just around that is like, how do we fund it? And I think it would be really great to start at this process to, and it may not end up being this because I'm asking it to investigate it, but I do think part of reports like this now would help community and certainly from my decision making to know where we're actually looking at funding. I'm happy to take advice on the wording because I haven't locked it into the environmental

03:54:00 levy. But I just think that it would be really important that we look at how we're going to fund things like this. So, I was just looking at putting something together to recommend that the environmental levy is considered to see these, the priorities that came from this that are actually followed through back to Tom's point around not just having a plan, well, this is kind of how I see us determining how we're going to fund it. I'm not locking us in. I'm just asking that during the investigation of the environmental levy that this is considered to fund it. Councillor Lorentson: Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson. Can I ask just a question? So, I've got the environment levy in front of us and the purposes and objectives seem to match perfectly with the amendment that we've got in front of us. So, the environment levy is designed to raise funds. Funds to conserve and improve biodiversity in the Noosa Shire aims to include protecting

03:55:00 environmentally significant land. Question to the staff, have I interpreted that correctly and it's a perfect fit? Director Rawlings: Yes. So, through the chair. As mentioned before, there would be some aspects of the actions in this catchment management plan that would align directly with the environment levy. Absolutely. There are some that don't. So, there are some that don't. There are some that don't. Yes. There could be a process. The only suggestion, taking up Councillor Phillips's offer on the wording, would be that as part, rather than a separate report, as part of the finalisation of the plan. Yes. So, that we could do it as part of, you know, having community consultation, understand where the actions fall, then prioritise and do costings as part of the finalisation of this plan. I'm really happy with that. If we could do that, rather than a separate report, please. Councillor Phillips: That's okay. I would much rather that. Yes. I was trying to do it on a flywheel.

03:56:00 All the actions. But that would be much better if it came with the report. Yes. Yes. I'm with you on that. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So, the suggested wording I've got there is just after catchment management plan. Yes. As part of the final report to Council. That would be the final one, wouldn't it? Director Rawlings: Yes. Final. Yes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Question. No, no, no. Director Rawlings: And then. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Include. The Council investigate opportunities to utilise and maybe take that as part of the final report. Include funding options, take out as part of the final report to Council and put that right at the end. Speaker 8: Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So. So, and include funding options. So, after catchment management plan. And. Sorry.

03:57:00 Mayor Wilkie: And. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Include. Funding options, project prioritising. In the final report, take it as part of, say, in the final report of Council to Council. Councillor Phillips: Words against, got our hands up anyway. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Sorry, taking your job away. Council Wilson, have you got an improvement on that? Councillor Wilson: We don't need that council at the beginning. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. Councillor Wilson: Oh, yeah, I hope it's for that. Councillor Phillips: Thank you. Mayor Wilkie: Can I have you see the wording, please? Environment levy could, of course, be used for some of the outcomes, to live in some of the outcomes, but it also could be very heavily dependent on grant funding and general revenue.

03:58:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So, Council, are you talking, we're just looking at the wordsmithing of an amendment. That sounds like you want to talk to it. Mayor Wilkie: Well, that's a question about the wording. Oh, you want to, whether it's that. Is this to preclude? Consideration of grant funding and general revenue to deliver this plan? Councillor Phillips: I'm trying to be really, my aim was to be very transparent with community about who is going to fund it. And I have raised multiple times now about the environmental levy and if we can review it. These sort of projects, to me, align perfectly with the environment levy. I think community would see it a direct line. I don't know if it should come out of general rates. If it does, it should be part of a consideration through a budget. So, it's transparent. So, no, I'm being really clear on. I think that if there's opportunity, whether, I'm not saying no to grants at all, because it says include funding options, which would be grants. Mayor Wilkie: Okay. Councillor Phillips: Absolutely. But I'm suggesting that. Mayor Wilkie: Environment levy also be considered. Councillor Phillips: Or is it? Yeah.

03:59:00 Mayor Wilkie: Okay. No, that's fine. We good? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Everyone happy with the amended wording? Yes. And we've talked to it. We've had one question. And Councillor Wegener. Councillor Wegener: Quickly, I'll support this. Just a note with the environment levy. When we, in our term before, we started, I think it was at $82 or $82.50 per year. Then during COVID, it went down. It never has made it back up again. But it's at $75 now. And we can definitely increase it because people complained when it went down, but Deputy Mayor Stockwell: they'd never complained when it went up. Councillor, I think the figure you quoted was incorrect. Oh. I think it went from 70 down to 60 and it's back up. But that's it. Yeah. Mayor Wilkie: I'd like to support the amendment. I just want to make it clear. I think it was Councillor Phillips' intent not to exclude other funding options like grants and general revenue, because as we just heard, some aspects of this plan will

04:00:00 be very well suited to the environment levy. But other aspects, such as provision of infrastructure, may not be. And external grant funding may be more appropriate, as is general revenue. So this is not to link, I'm supporting this on the proviso, it doesn't link all outcomes of the Burgess Creek Catchment Action Plan to being funded by the environment levy, because that would not be appropriate. Some certainly would be, and all funding options will be considered, and environment levy opportunities will be considered as part of the final report. Councillor Finzel: Just wondering for clarification around the environment levy, because not all things in the policy will support this. Do we need to be more prescribed around the components of the environmental levy, or we're just going to leave it at that? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I think it says investigate the opportunities out of the environment levy. It doesn't say that this thing. Councillor Lorentson: I'm happy to support it.

04:01:00 I think the wording is clear. It's basically to come back to council, not exclusive of other funding opportunities, but is there an opportunity through our environmental levy to help progress some of the initiatives that are going to come out of the catchment plan? And I think it's a great option. I think it fits perfectly. Some of the strategies and initiatives will fit perfectly with the criteria and intent of our environment levy. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I too support it. Actually, I actually think there's a couple of words in there that no one's mentioned that are particularly important. I was going to raise it later, and that's this project prioritisation. Is that one thing the draft hasn't done that I can see is prioritise. And that's one thing I'd like to see the community have significant input into. What are your priorities? Because it is a big agenda. It is a strategic framework, which means we could be allocating the whole of the environment

04:02:00 living for the next 10 years and we might not get finished. So we have to have an understanding of priorities. And we have to put the priorities of this catchment across other catchments. We know that there's issues here. We've used this as a demonstration. But yeah, it's important that we do prioritise it and look at the realistic delivery timeframes and what needs to be done first. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wish to talk? Councillor Phillips, you wish to close? Councillor Phillips: No, I think it's all been said. Thank you for everyone's help around the table. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: All those in favour? Yes. That's unanimous. It becomes part of the motion. Speaker 7: Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So we've had Councillor Wilkie and Councillor Wegener. In memory. I'll have to write those two down. Councillor Lorentson: Cool. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Anyone else wish to talk?

04:03:00 Councillor Lorentson: I've spoken. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. I will. We need to understand where this particular plan's come out of. What a lot of people might realise is actually community started asking for this sort of plan back 2018, 2019. One of the local Sunrise Beach residents who was involved in the Australian Water Association was trying to get up a Birch Creek catchment thing to run STEM education for the girls at the Sunshine Beach High. And that was probably the first time that I raised it. It's a good catchment to demonstrate urban catchment management. And the drafter, as it's put in front of us, has done a lot of what could be considered good integrated catchment management. One area I'd like to see come out of the consultation is a key aspect of integrated catchment management is the fact that you aim to get these processes to be collaborative with Shire. They're decision making and community ownership.

04:04:00 So when I look at the governance structure in the draft and you see community input off the two angles from the technical advisory group and the project coordination group, that's not quite what integrated catchment management says. Integrated catchment management says they're all combined together. So you've got the various knowledge that's coming together and that the community's got that opportunity at a strategic level to guide it. And, you know, we just had the 250th meeting of the Mayor of the Catchment Coordinating Committee. And that committee has been operating for 30 years and attracted probably hundreds of millions of dollars into the catchment for good work. And it is a really good example of true integrated catchment management. And so I think during the consultation process, we should aim to just test that commitment. Does the council, does the community happy? Does the community happy? Does the community happy? Do we sit with the council project control group and just community input, or do we want to make it such that the community actually is the drivers so that we can ensure that

04:05:00 we do get the right balancing decision and the priorities? And it would just be interesting to see at this scale if that would be successful. And I suppose the other thing is part of integrated catchment management is not just all about environmental issues. So part of this catchment is the recreational values. And how do we balance the investment when we lose access to the beach? Is that a higher priority than the water quality? Or is it just another priority that we have to find different funding sources for? So to me, it's a good basis to go out to the community, but we can probably think about the sort of questions we ask. And we probably also, and I believe it's happening, it is written by people with technical specialties. So I'm guessing that a lot of people wouldn't read through, say, that Appendix G that I've met there and be able to interpret. So it's important that we do have that layman's executive summary.

04:06:00 These are the key issues. This is what we want to do about it. What do you think? Councillor Wegener: That's all. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Anyone else wish to talk? Councillor Wilkie, would you like to close? Mayor Wilkie: Yeah, look, commend this report to go out for public consultation. Very interested to hear what comes back. I would like to take the opportunity just to stress that it's important we don't create the impression that all this work is going to be funded by the very constrained environment levy because very little will get done unless there's drastic increase in the levy that we charge our residents. We have to, as we heard, the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee has attracted tens of millions over many, many years. We want to be open to the opportunity to attract external funding to get this work done. The environment levy is very constrained, but it would certainly be one of the sources of revenue that we'll consider in delivering these initiatives once we get the final report.

04:07:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I put the motion. Those in favour? And Councillor Wilson? Yes. That's unanimous. Thank you. And thank you for all the work going into it. Thank you, Ben. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you, Kim. Thank you. Thank you, Ben. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Miley. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We then move on to the next item on the agenda, which I'm guessing, since the planning staff are coming up, is the, oh, no, it wasn't what I was going to say, it's the MTU250119 Application for Material Change and Use of Premises to Establish Indoor Sport and Recreation at 26 Eany Creek Road, Noosaville. And we have the director, the manager, and the person who does the work. Beautiful. Speaker 6: Good afternoon. I'm Georgina. I'm one of the senior planners. So the application that we have in front of us today is for a material change of use to establish indoor sport and recreation uses within the existing building at 25 Eany Creek

7.4 MCU25/0119 - APPLICATION FOR MATERIAL CHANGE OF USE OF PREMISES TO ESTABLISH INDOOR SPORT AND RECREATION AT 26 EENIE CREEK ROAD, NOOSAVILLE ¶

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04:08:00 Road. So this is probably more commonly known as the MediHub building. So we're looking at an existing two-storey building, and they're looking at locating, sorry, they're looking at gaining approval within the upper-level tenancies there. So this application has followed an impact inconsistent application pathway, and I suppose this is why we are here today. Through that public notification period of three weeks, no submissions were received during that time. By way of background, the site has already been developed. Under an existing approval for a material change of use. That was approved under a previous scheme, being the 2006 planning scheme. And that was for the purpose of medical and office space. So the application here is seeking to retain the existing built form while changing the use of five existing tenancies on the upper level.

04:09:00 So the intent of this is because the applicant, I suppose, is looking for increased leasing opportunities for those upper-level tenancies. And I suppose it's also for the purpose of complementing the existing established uses of the building, being primarily for medical purposes. Each tenancy was originally developed in accordance with this approval, which was assessed under the 2006 planning scheme. So this allowed for tenancies to have an area less than 400 square metres, which was in accordance with the scheme at the time. Whereas the current scheme in and of itself is less than 400 square metres. I suppose seeking indoor sport and recreation uses within the zone, within this precinct of 400 square metres, well, greater than 400 square metres, so that's larger format sort of buildings. This is larger format buildings.

04:10:00 Importantly, again, just reiterating, these smaller tenancies form part of an already approved and established development. So the configuration of this existing building is quite limited, and it's very unlikely that it will ever be used for showroom purposes, all those large format sort of purposes, like not going to get a beacon lighting here, I suppose, in terms of like servicing constraints to the site in an upper level, and I suppose limited to stairs and a lift, as well as the floor to ceiling heights. So I suppose it was never... The large format retail outcomes were, sorry, never, I'm not quite envisioned under the Noosa plan within this building, sorry. So through the application process, I've done an assessment against the scheme, and economic needs analysis has also been provided in support of the application. We've all reviewed that, and I'm quite comfortable that it's meeting the strategic framework of the Noosa plan and has been recommended for approval.

04:11:00 Subject to conditions. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Do we have questions? Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson: So the economic needs assessment that was prepared by the applicant's own consultant, you just mentioned it was reviewed by Council. Was that independent review, peer review, or was it just done internally, Georgina? Speaker 6: So it was a combination. So part of the process, once we've received it, was to review it. When we received that provided by the applicant, we did seek independent review of that as well. And I suppose the information that we came back from the peer review, I suppose it was essentially saying that if we would have an opportunity in Council's position to request further information, and that was in relation to, is there a lack of showrooms on the side? Sorry, let me read it for what it says.

04:12:00 If Council has specific concerns relating to the loss of floor space for a code accessible uses at the subject site, for example, showrooms, there would be the opportunity for us to, I suppose, request for them to provide this supporting information. At officer level and our assessment of this, that was going to, I suppose, not necessarily be meaningful requests as we're looking at an existing building. So it's been approved. The tenancies are life for life. There's no structural changes as a result. Speaker 4: So that consultant was generally supportive of the proposal, but just had it like an annotation or note at the end of their report stating, yes, Council may want to consider the impact on the loss of showroom. But seeing the size of the tenancies and the previous approval, we considered that would have been onerous to us to have requested further economic needs on that basis, on that issue. Okay. Councillor Lorentson: I was sort of, when I read the economic needs assessment, I looked at it from probably a different lens.

04:13:00 So what I've took from it is that when you look at the trade area, the area already has 17 gyms, 24 Pilates studios, 19 yoga studios, and four recovery centres with more coming. So my, when I was reading and I kept going, what basis have we determined that there's a genuine unmet demand for a gym, a Pilates studio? Speaker 4: Because that report also identifies there's opportunity and a need for more. So each of those uses that you've mentioned, that report identifies a particular number of those facilities, but it also identifies that there's a shortfall for each of those. There's an unmet need. So it goes through, it mentions every one of those, every one of those uses that you've identified. And it does mention the numbers. It does. But it does say there's an unmet need. There's an opportunity to say five more or three more.

04:14:00 So it's not saying that the need has been met at this point in time. It's identifying future needs. That's right. Councillor Lorentson: So in terms of, and probably a question as part of your assessment process, do you then consider what sort of impact this may have on existing or on smaller locally owned, say Pilates studios and gym operators? Is that part of the assessment? Speaker 4: Well, in light of the fact that the report says there's a need for more, it would show that there's not going to be too many that are being provided. But it's like with a lot of uses that occur, it's not for us to look at that aspect. If someone wants to open up a cafe and there's 10 cafes in a main street, then that's the business risk that they would seek to take. In terms of your comment about being local. It certainly does provide an opportunity for local business operators or new local business operators to move into this premise as well.

04:15:00 Councillor Lorentson: And my last question in terms of public notification. Georgina, you mentioned that there was a public notification and no responses were received. How was public notification undertaken? Speaker 6: Sure. So that's 15 business days. They have to have quite a large sign on each frontage of the property, as well as quite a number of business days. Councillor Phillips: Okay, I've got a couple of questions. Patrick, can I understand a little bit better how, when you get requests through your office or potential sites, maybe people looking, where do you capture that data to also feed like the planning need or deficiencies? Speaker 4: Does that make sense? So you're saying people that want to, you know, find a premise to operate an activity?

04:16:00 Speaker 8: Yeah. Speaker 4: Well, the team have a spreadsheet that they collate their inquiries on. So that would be the extent of our data collection. Councillor Phillips: Okay. So then my next question is like, with that, because I only have anecdotal conversation that I would say there's definitely people that have needed a larger space, maybe not showroom, but certainly. Okay. The only thing I looked at with this was chopping it up into little pieces. And I started thinking, okay, well, is that the best outcome? Is there any way when you look at it and it's probably getting right into the detail and that's not your, but. Speaker 4: So just on your point, these are not being chopped up. These are existing tenancies. They're already small. They're already small. And that's the reason why we're here. Because. Because if this was one tenancy, it would be a code accessible application.

04:17:00 So the use is envisaged in this locality, but the scheme is seeking when you develop a new building, you develop large tenancies because it's a showroom precinct. So it's not only seeking showrooms in the precinct, it's allowing other uses, but it wants those buildings to be able to accommodate showrooms. Speaker 3: And currently a number of those tenancies are all sitting vacant and have been since the building was developed two years ago. So the applicant is seeking to cast a wider net of use types to occupy those facilities. Speaker 4: And if I could just go back maybe to where you're going, we do have regular catch ups with our strategic planning team every fortnight, myself and the coordinator have a meeting with, with Anita and generally Tara, and we talk through the planning issues that we're encountering, where we're seeing the pushes and the pulls within the scheme and those sort of, you know, those demands of businesses are coming through and what they're looking for. So there's a lot of open dialogue between the two teams around that and trying to.

04:18:00 You know, enable the strategic team to accommodate as much as they can, that in the future planning. Councillor Phillips: Apologies for misreading that, but it was, I thought it was going from a large showroom to a little one, so thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I might be able to use any recommendations. Okay, one more question. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. So, so we're approving a use that's inconsistent with the precinct intent under the 2006 NUSA plan, are we setting a precedent? In terms of, you know, future medical centres, can they come back to us and do this same, and is that considered as part of the assessment process? Speaker 4: A big driver for us in terms of the uses, the fact it would be code accessible consistent, if it was a 400 square metre or greater tenancy. So the scheme is envisaging this use in this locality. We're supportive of it in this instance because we do see a nexus with some of the uses and the medical services that will be provided on site in terms of enabling people that are in some form of rehabilitation for greater movement in developing strength and also the well-being that comes from sport and recreation as part of people's daily lifestyle.

04:19:00 Speaker 3: And just to add to that, the strategic framework in the planning scheme, which is a key part of your assessment of impact accessible applications, does make a strong linkage to these types of uses being important as part of Council's strategy around wellness and lifestyle and obviously trying to accommodate for those particular uses and needs across the Shire. So, yeah, so the team have obviously drawn some of those nexus as part of their assessment, which has led to their recommendation. So we're very happy to have them in this particular instance. Speaker 4: Okay. Speaker 3: For the question, I'll move to staff recommendation. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So without repeating too much of what was said, this is to me a fairly logical level of flexibility for the centre.

04:20:00 I can perhaps reiterate from personal experience in another medical centre at Goodchap Street where many years ago I went to six months worth of preventative cardiology where you'd go up the front and see the specialist. And you'd be there with your little things on, and they'd be measuring your heart, and I seem to recall that the supervising doctor got on the bike beside me and over the six months lost more weight than me that I wasn't impressed with. But I also still go to the Goodchap Medical Centre for my physio, and what do they got at the back of the Pilates studio? And so the whole concept of preventative medicine is hand-in-glove with the fact of treating ill people. And what this obviously... Well, one option would be is that each individual medical practitioner may not have to do their own rehab or recovery centre if there's a standalone business.

04:21:00 And it might just actually for a sole trader or a new professional in the field who may be able to make their business grow by having the proximity to the downstairs medical practitioners. So I think it's a good level of flexibility. I also think one thing I haven't heard is... This site was identified for showroom, and there was meant to be a medical precinct up the other end of the street, and we actually, in approving that site here, we sort of made that trade-off already about the loss of showroom space, and it's already been constructed. So, yes, we're not going to get these small tenancies with any sort of showroom in. So I think it's worth supporting. Anyone else wish to talk to motion? No? I put the motion... Councillor Lorentson: Sorry, one more question. So this application has challenged me a little bit, and maybe it's a question to our strategic planner, but should council consider the consequences of approving, like I keep going back to additional supply, whether it is a coffee shop that you mentioned before, Patrick, or whether it's more Pilates studios and gyms and yoga studios, should we be considering

04:22:00 the... Potential impact it's going to have on what even the report itself refers to as a volatile sector. Is that a consideration for council, or am I stepping outside the assessment process, which is an acceptable outcome? You know, we don't stop a cafe, another cafe from being built on a street, but should we? My question is, should we? Are we creating... I don't know, unnecessary competition and disadvantaging businesses that are putting families, you know, a lot of families put a lot of sacrifice and a lot at stake when they open up a small business.

04:23:00 Should that be a consideration? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Probably not for the strategic planner, because it's a legislative selecting, so I'll let the... Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'm happy to add on that. I mean, obviously, in this particular case, and obviously each application gets assessed on its merits and is required to. I think that... As the team have pointed out, the use is actually a consistent use, so indoor sport and rec is, it comes down to the floor plate, and so I think when the scheme was drafted, it was envisaging maybe larger floor plate format type uses. We're dealing with a situation where we've got an established use and business that has those established tendencies. At the moment, the applicant is unable to fulfill those tendencies with their current traditional uses and identifies there's potentially some other synergies. With these uses that are consistent, but at a smaller floor plate, so the team have sort of looked at that and understood in these particular circumstances, that warrants some consideration, does it really align with the Council's strategic intent, and is it, you know, as you said, is it displacing those uses elsewhere in the centre, but the reality is the use is consistent, it's just, it's because of the size of those tendencies, it doesn't meet the scheme requirements, and that was generally designed around new development.

04:24:00 When we do want those larger floor plates, particularly in a showroom context, this is already an established, existing, built environment, so we have to assess the context of the application material before us, and I think that's what the team have done, and understand that it does still meet the strategic intent and the framework that's outlined around these particular uses, so they've given really good consideration to that, but I acknowledge your point around creating a framework that's consistent with the strategic intent and the framework that's outlined around these particular uses, so they've given really good consideration to that, but I acknowledge your The piece of work to evaluate that they're not drawing away this demand from maybe other established areas because there is a need that's established and it's unmet at the moment.

04:25:00 If that need assessment said, no, there's an oversupply and there's no need and this is unnecessary, then that would have come out in the report. But what it's saying is there is an unmet need. This is not going to deter and distract away from those existing businesses that provide those services across the Shire. Thank you. Speaker 7: Anyone else wish to talk? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'll close here. I think the key thing that I'd take away is we can't look at the impact on individual businesses. We can only look at the planning need. And what staff has established is that there is an overriding planning or economic need being established. So in terms of the development control process, the impact on any individual business is something that they're not allowed to consider. So I do think it's worthwhile and as I said, the market will probably determine how many of these will be converted into sport and recreation and how many will go to medical.

04:26:00 So I put the motion. Those in favour? And Councillor Wilson? Councillor Wilson: Yes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: That's because you've got a cat in the house. Where's your cat? No, he's not here. That's unanimous. Thank you. We then move on to the next item, which is the decisions made by Delegated Authority, if I remember right. Yes, planning application signed by Delegated Authority made 2026. Thank you. And Manager Patrick? Speaker 4: Thank you, Councillor Stockwell. As you said before, Regina's one of the, she's someone doing the work and this report is certainly a reflection of the great work and the volume of work that the team did in the month of May with 36 applications approved under delegation and one refusal under delegation.

7.5 PLANNING APPLICATIONS DECIDED BY DELEGATED AUTHORITY – MAY 2026 ¶

▶ 04:26:37

04:27:00 There were no matters that were considered by Council during the month of May. And yet again, another broad range of applications that were determined. Thank you. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Any questions? Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson: The supply and delivery of 13 four-wheel drive utilities at a cost of $622,531.53. Are we looking at the right report, Councillor? Speaker 3: Delegations. Councillor Lorentson: Oh, we're under delegations, excuse me. I was worried there. I know. It was a long day. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: That's the plan of recreational use. Apologies. Councillor Lorentson: We're at four and a half hours. Sweating. Sorry, Patrick. That's into the detail. Just testing you.

04:28:00 Councillor Wegener: Councillor Wegener. I'm happy to see that on Rupert Street in Peregian Beach, there's an addition of a new composting hub. Did that have to come before council? Speaker 9: Yeah. Speaker 4: I don't know the ins and outs of that one, but it might have been because there was building works involved in the particular zone. Our scheme does call up building works, particularly out of non-residential zones historically. So I would say that that would be the case. Councillor Wegener: That would be at the Peregian Beach Community Garden there. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. That's right. Councillor Phillips: Question. Do you ever keep data around trends in localities? Like is there all of a sudden an increase in one suburb over somewhere else? Speaker 4: Well, we do have data around the applications and sometimes we just suppose we see where it happens.

04:29:00 And, you know, there's some areas, I could give you a bit more information offline if you like, where, you know, certainly over on the, you know, from Cooroy towards the coast is, you know, the primary bulk of it. And we certainly see it, you know, different types of development occurring in different areas. And so it might be reconfigurations and duplexes and multiple dwellings are probably having more in areas like Cooroy over the past few years than they had before that. Councillor Phillips: Yeah. Speaker 4: So, yeah. Again, I could give you more information. Yeah, off-dose. Councillor Phillips: But how does it feed, say, infrastructure? Like if there's all of a sudden a trend in an area with planning, do they then know, oh, stormwater might need to be done or the roads or like, I don't know, how does it paint, does it feed into a broader picture or what? Speaker 4: Well, it's a bit more of a strategic question, I suppose, but the scheme is going to be changed and to allow development on the basis of that infrastructure being available to support it

04:30:00 in the first place. So the growth should occur in the areas and be planned to occur in the areas that, again, has got the infrastructure to enable it. Speaker 3: And that's the work of the LGIF and things like that, where it's sort of forecasting and planning on where the growth, where do we want the growth to occur and then how do we ensure that the infrastructure is set up to support that growth? So that's that strategic work that the team are doing with you and have been working on for some time is setting up what do we want, where do we want those future activities and growth fronts to occur to ensure that the infrastructure is there to support that to be delivered, as opposed to sort of ad hoc, which is where you get yourself unstuck and you haven't planned for those future infrastructure upgrades in water and sewer and power and all those aspects as well. So that's the key work that this team does beside us to sort of set that footprint. And Patrick and the team are really there to enable that. That plans development to occur in line with that.

04:31:00 Speaker 5: Thanks. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson: Question. I note there's not many applications for secondary dwellings. When is the, maybe question to Kim, when are we getting a report back to Council in terms with our housing strategy and how we're going? I think I've asked in the past when I was chairing the Planning Environment Committee whether we could have that sort of identified under the delegations to get sort of like a real life or real time assessment. How many secondary dwellings or affordable or additional housing and how have our amendments to our planning scheme amendments, are they working in providing diversification and supply and affordable housing? Director Rawlings: Yeah, sure. Through the chair. You might want to comment on this question. I don't have the stats, but I can just mention that the housing monitoring report is being reported to Council next month.

04:32:00 Councillor Lorentson: Excellent. Director Rawlings: Yeah. So you'll have a full snapshot picture of all of those things that you've just outlined Councillor Lorentson: in August. So question to Patrick. There's an absence of secondary dwelling this month. Speaker 4: It's because the scheme is enabling the secondary dwellings to occur without an approval. So by not seeing them doesn't mean that they're not being developed. No. The pathway is a lot easier for people to do that nowadays. And therefore they just go straight to getting a building approval to do that. So that'll come forward. Councillor Lorentson: But there's one. Yep. So dual occupancy. I note there's one approval here in this report. In terms of medium density where the plan had been changed to allow for multiple smaller units, have you noticed through just delegations that that opportunity being taken up by residents? Probably not. Speaker 4: We've not really seen that so much. And we've had a couple of actual superseded planning scheme requests for properties which

04:33:00 are just over by one or two square metres over what the limit was that the state ended up requiring us. I think the 600 square metres. 600. So we've actually allowed those for superseded planning scheme requests to go through as a dual occupancy. Excellent. But probably no. I haven't really seen a flow through of multiple dwellings where maybe otherwise they wouldn't have occurred. Councillor Phillips: Thank you. I'm happy to move. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We've got Councillor Phillips. Do we have a seconder? I bet you second. Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Phillips, you have the floor. Councillor Phillips: I thank you, Patrick, for explaining my questions as I'm trying to put all of the pieces together and putting the report together. Yeah. And for not knowing the answer about the trucks. Thank you very much. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. I appreciate it. Sorry. Other people want to talk. Oh, look. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you for the report. 36, 37 applications decided under delegated authority seems to be as many as ever.

04:34:00 So it seems to indicate that the DA Department is humming along quite nicely. And the purpose for reporting this to Council is to indicate to those who are interested in the community that there's a lot that goes on in delegated authority and that Noosa Council, rather than the Mayor Council, that always says no. About 96%, it's equivalent to the percentages in here, consistently, of applications are approved according to the Noosa Planning Scheme. And it is a council that says yes to compliant applications. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Very good. Does anyone else wish to talk? No? Councillor Phillips, do you wish to close? Councillor Phillips: No, thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I put the motion. Those in favour? Councillor Wilson: Yes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: And that's carried unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, Patrick. Patrick said he'd like to stay along and answer questions about procurement. Councillor Wilson: Thank you, Patrick. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So our next item is item 7.6, which is Procurement Contracts Assessment Working Team, contracts

7.6 PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS ASSESSMENT WORKING TEAM - CONTRACT AWARDS UNDER CEO DELEGATION ¶

▶ 04:34:59

04:35:00 awarded under CEO delegation. And we have Director Margo and our Procurement Manager. Speaker 5: Yes. Yes. Afternoon, Councillors. I'll just hand straight over to Scott to take us through the report. Speaker 7: Thank you. Thanks, Councillors. This report outlines those contracts that are awarded under CEO delegation by the Procurement Contracts Assessment Working Team for the period 1 January to June 30, 2026. So in accordance with our procurement policy, the Procurement Contracts Assessment Working Team, or PCORT, may be convened to review contract awards under CEO delegation, that delegation being up to $1 million GST exclusive. The PCORT may undertake an independent review of the procurement contract assessment working procurement process before recommendation is made to the CEO for those awards. The members of the PCORT team include the Director of Corporate Services, the Executive Officer of the Office of the CEO and Mayor, and the Procurement Manager.

04:36:00 And in accordance with our policy, the Director of Corporate Services is required to report the CEO delegated awards to Council bi-annually. So for the period 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2026, four relevant contracts were awarded under PCORT review and CEO delegated approval. They include the Noosa Depot Main Electrical Switchboard Replacement, the Pathway Renewal and Widening at Osprey Avenue, Supply and Delivery of the 13 Forward Drive Utilities, and the Resource Recovery Crushed Concrete Pad Construction out at Noosa Landfill. And the report is submitted for noting by the Council. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Well, thank you. And my psychic ability says Councilor Lawrence may have a question. Councillor Lorentson: Where's Patrick? Sorry. So 13 four-wheel drive utilities, one of the largest contracts, and it was valued at over $622,000. A couple of questions. Were electric hybrid vehicle options considered?

04:37:00 It's 13 vehicles. It's a significant fleet purchase. Should the purchase have been considered as part of, say, our budget process rather than under a delegation given? I understand that the CEO has this delegation, but it's such a significant purchase. Was that an option? And I've got a couple more, but if we can start with those ones. Speaker 5: Through the Chair, Councilor Lawrence, can I just break up that question into a couple of bits? Sure. Scott may also be able to provide information around whether we considered hybrid or electric vehicles and insurance in the area as well. In terms of the budget, it's pretty customary practice for plant replacement budgets to be just adopted as part of your ordinary budget and not come as a separate line item through the year process. There's also timing of replacement of vehicles can be quite tricky and problematic and need

04:38:00 a long lead time because often they come from overseas and come in parts and need to be assembled once they get to our Australian shores. So this is customary practice in all the councils I've worked at that your plant and vehicle replacement budget doesn't come up as a separate item for approval. It's just part of your normal budget process. In terms of the environmental or in terms of hybrid and EV vehicles, my understanding is, again, normal practices, business cases are developed in deep consultation with various areas of the organisation. In terms of what the requirements are for their particular areas of business and my assumption is that electrical vehicles or hybrid vehicles would be part of that assessment in terms of is that fit for requirement for the particular area of the business or not

04:39:00 fit for purpose. So we can come back to you with specifics on that to give very definitive answers to your question there. But that's my point. I think that's a broad response to that. Did you want to? Speaker 7: Yeah, my understanding is that the electric utility haven't necessarily advanced to a point where they're voting for money. But I'd preface that with probably either Director Walsh or our fleet manager better place to answer that. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Director Shaw is coming to the table. Director Walsh: One of the new initiatives rolled out by Cooper Service is to build a new vehicle. We've actually reformed our fleet and our advisory committee so we actually have representatives on the climate change team so that as part of the assessment of any new fleet, we've actually got experts in emissions actually as part of the decision making. We do have challenges in deployment of electric vehicles. It's actually quite difficult to find an electric vehicle that's actually suitable for operational

04:40:00 purposes. The only vehicle that's available is a Hilux which actually has a range of less than 200 kilometres and is prohibitively expensive at the moment. We've also got electrical supply issues at our depots to allow fast charging. Whilst we're upgrading our switchboard at the depot to receive power for fast charging, the transformer actually on the road is actually unable to actually discharge electricity. So it can't actually do fast charging. So when we look at deployment of fleet, these are key considerations. And you'll note also some of the fleet considerations we've got coming up is also the new landfill. And you may be aware part of the provisions of the capital works program is the landfill. It's actually provisional electricity to allow recharging of vehicles whilst electricity supply is insufficient. So these are complex issues. But when we look overseas, electrical fleet is the way to go, both in terms of reliability, but we've got some on site restraints that we need to work through. In particular, right up to the waste fleet, we're really interested in the contract process of our electrical garbage trucks, for instance, because they're quiet and compared to the

04:41:00 noisy trucks that we've got. So we're open to every opportunity, but we also need to be respectful to some of the constraints we've got at the moment in both fleet selection and recharging. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'd just like to add that there is a benefit of noisy garbage trucks. It's when you've forgotten to put out the bin and you remember. Mayor Wilkie: Just another question. These procurement contracts, these awarded contracts, are they already displayed in the foyer downstairs? Or are you awaiting approval before you've done that? Speaker 7: No, no, they would be displayed in the foyer as well as our website. They're already on there? Yep. Great. Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: I'm happy to move the report in front of us. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Moved. Councillor Lorentson: Councillor Lorentson. Do we have a seconder? Councillor Wilkie. Councillor Lorentson, you have the floor. I think the report is very clear, well written. Don't really need to make any decisions except that there is probity involved.

04:42:00 The process is robust and we have very able staff that make, I think, really good decisions in this space and respect the delegations given to the CEO to make these decisions. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Okay, anyone else who wish to talk to the motion? I'll put the motion those in favour? Councillor Wilson: Yes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: And that's unanimous, so, Councillors, I'm just saying it's been a little over two hours since the last break. Do we need a short break? Yes please. You know that'd be great. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor Wilkie: Ten minutes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Ten minutes? We'll have a ten-minute break. It's really a break. So that's back at 2.55.

7.7 2026 LGAQ CONFERENCE MOTIONS & COUNCILLOR ATTENDANCE ¶

▶ 04:53:41

04:55:00 All right. Okay. Welcome back. So we're now up to item seven, which is 2026 LGA conference motions and councilor attendance. And I take it.

04:56:00 Are you handling this item, Mr. CEO? Speaker 1: Yes, I am. I haven't thought about it. These items have been weak. For those unaware, at each LGAQ conference in September, October each year, councils are requested or asked or allowed to provide notices of motion which go through a vetting process with LGAQ and then those that go through that process are then presented on the floor with all councils at the conference and either supported or not supported. If they're supported, then the LGAQ will take them further and take them to the various state government, federal government or other agencies, whatever the motion requests.

04:57:00 So we have 11 motions that have been put forward by councillors. So today's... ...is to go through those and to approve them so that they can then go forward to the vetting process of the LGAQ. So it doesn't mean that they will actually be presented at the conference. They will be vetted first by their committee and then if they get through that, then they will go to the conference. So that's what this is today. It's 11 that we've had put forward and we've discussed in a workshop. So they have been... ...had a level of scrutiny. We've talked through them in terms of the councillors. So I'm open to either way we can take them as read or we can discuss each one individually with each councillor, providing a little bit of a background of each one.

04:58:00 I'm happy. Mr Chair. Councillor Lorentson: Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I was about to say I'm happy to move the recommendation and maybe we can speak to our motions as part of our speech given we're already clocked up five hours in this room. Mayor Wilkie: Well, I was going to say, councillor, perhaps we could defer this to the forum first because we've yet to decide on which councillors are to go and we can go through them next. And there are some, some of the motions have changed slightly and I would like, rather than debate each one, I'd like to have, get together to discuss internally the councillors that would like to go and also some of the wording of the motions, the process of some of the motions. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So, are you foreshadowing a deferral motion? Mayor Wilkie: Yes, a procedural motion, a deferral motion, yes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So to defer the matter to the ordinary meeting on Thursday the 14th of July?

04:59:00 Mayor Wilkie: Yeah, to allow time for councillors. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Ah, you don't need to. Mayor Wilkie: For further consideration. Councillor Finzel: Yeah, I'm happy to second. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Second. I think you've explained. I'm happy to just put the motion. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: All in favour? Yes. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: That's unanimous. Okay. So we move on to item eight, which we could invite the Executive Officer, Yonji, to discuss the Operational Plan 2627. Speaker 2: Good afternoon, councillors. Afternoon. So this report presents a draft Moves at Council Operational Plan 2627 for council's consideration. Council is required to adopt an operational plan each financial year that aligns with the annual budget and supports the delivery of the corporate plan. The draft plan outlines 76 initiatives across five corporate plans, themes, and to progress the strategic priorities within that corporate plan.

7.8 OPERATIONAL PLAN 2026-2027 ¶

▶ 04:59:44

05:00:00 The initiatives have been developed with consideration of organisational priorities and available resources to ensure an achievable programme of work. The draft plan, as circulated yesterday, has been changed to attachment one of the report, which is the draft operational plan. The change has been implemented following the adoption of the 2627 annual budget on 23 June. Specifically on page 13 of the amended draft operational plan under initiative 1.3.1. Relating to the Eastern Beaches Foreshore Reserves Management Plan, the following actions have been added. The first, undertake pendulous inspections and management to conserve the foreshore tree population. Second, undertake environmental beach access renewal and upgrades to protect

05:01:00 dunes and vegetation. Third, implement ecological restoration activities to protect dunes and bushland. And lastly, support bush care and community volunteer programs to rehabilitate reserves. The report is unchanged. This is basically just a change to the attachment. It is therefore recommended that Council A, note the report and B, adopt the operational plan 2026-2027 as provided in attachment one to the minutes. Just another clarifying question. Yes, Mayor Wilkie: please. We do this every year after adopting the budget because the operational plan reflects the decisions made in the budget and all the initiatives that have been funded as per the budget. Speaker 2: That is, for the Chair, that is correct. There must be, basically, be aligned the annual budget and the operational plan. It does not specifically say which one comes first. Oftentimes they come also at the same time, but this is, for example, an example where

05:02:00 it pays off that it comes after the annual budget because these actions could then still be added. Yeah, every item in there is budgeted for. That's correct. Yes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Any other questions? I'm happy to move it. I'm happy to second. I think Council Finzel got in second. Council Wilkie moved. Council Wilkie. Yes, as we said, Mayor Wilkie: this is standard procedure. After we adopt a budget, we adopt the operational plan which outlines all the funded and resourced initiatives that the Council intends to deliver or initiate in the next financial year and they are tracked by the CEO according to the quarterly and reported quarterly to the Council as to their progress. Anyone else wish to talk? Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson: Just a couple of questions and this is only being raised given just

05:03:00 recent events with illegal camping, I note that the plan includes a mobile licence plate recognition camera trial targeting people camping illegally. Again, just a general question and I'm assuming this is going to happen, but are we going to ensure that there's a human rights overlay or scrutiny over that process? Just ensuring Speaker 3: Thank you for the question, councillors. Through the chair, absolutely, councillor. Yeah, so there's a range of steps. It's early days in terms of the project that we wanted to explore a trial. We'll need to do a range of examinations around the human rights aspect in terms of where it's deployed and how it works.

05:04:00 Also, we'll need to develop what we call a privacy impact segment to ensure that the information and the privacy of people is adequately assessed and evaluated. Yeah, so there's a range of tools, particularly from those aspects that need to be considered. We also need to explore potential locations where we could deploy the technology. But we want to ensure that there's good governance and good framework and good education and awareness in place for the community to understand what it's designed to do in terms of how to deter illegal camping instances. Particularly where the community has been very clear with us that they've got major impacts and concerns with people congregating in particular areas or along our sensitive environmental areas where there's impacts from excessive camping occurring. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'll ask a question. I'm not sure if it was in there last year, but I noticed that we've got the corporate plan performance measures in the plan for each relevant theme. And they.

05:05:00 Are largely outcome oriented is the suggestion that then at the annual report, we'll report against those performance measures. Speaker 1: Yes, simple answers. Yes, that's good. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Lodgerton. Councillor Lorentson: So when I went through the operational budget, I noted $56 million capital works figure is quoted. Do we have a figure in terms? In terms of the 76 initiative initiatives, do we, is this whole plan fully funded is probably the question I want to ask for the chair there. Speaker 2: So the operation plan is fully funded, but there's no figure available to determine the value of these initiatives that is unfortunately not available. That is not something that was requested or that was put together. But obviously, I'm there. The teams have a lot of work to do.

05:06:00 They have a look at their available resources and budgets and see what they can achieve, what is funded, and put these things forward to for inclusion in the operational plan. Speaker 1: I can add to that as well that it's reasonably easy to quantify the projects, the capital works projects, because they're discrete projects and they have a bigger cost to them. It's the programs that often are bits of different people's time. It's the programs that often are bits of different people's time. There's other allocations of funding. So it's very difficult to try to draw that in into a final figure. We can say they are fully funded because they're part of their overall programs. The other piece that this program or this project does is it's an annual operational plan, but it's part of a five year corporate plan. So there's a number of projects in here that are for 12 months, but they're actually a two or three year or five year plan or an ongoing program and plan. So it's very difficult again. But so we're trying to what we're trying to do with this report now is to be better at reporting those multi-year programs and projects as well as the ones that will definitely be delivered within the 12 month period.

05:07:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Anyone else wish to talk to the motion? Councillor Wilkie, do you wish to close? Mayor Wilkie: Nothing. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'll put the motion. All those in favour? Aye. Thank you. That's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So we then move on to item nine to select the most important day in the Pomona calendar. Councillor Finzel: Yay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: The annual show holiday. Councillor Finzel is showing up. Yeah, I better move up. Mayor Wilkie: Kept the best alive. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Do we need an introduction by the? Mayor Wilkie: Yes, I'm happy to do that. Every year it was seconded by Councillor Lorentson.

7.9 APPOINTMENT OF 2027 SHOW HOLIDAY ¶

▶ 05:07:39

05:08:00 Thank you. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Who moved it? Mayor Wilkie: Councillor Finzel. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Oh, okay. Councillor Finzel moved it. Councillor Lorentson seconded it, but we will have the summary from the staff member for the CEO. Speaker 1: Each year the Queensland Government Office of Industrial Relations writes to us as the CEO inviting us to request a special sort of holidays for the following year. So we have done that or we proposed to do that after today. Each year we do our show day. Which is generally in the first or second week of September. In 2027. So we already have the one lined up for this year. This is for 2027. And I'm proposing that we have show day holiday on Friday, the 10th of September, 2027 for New South Shire. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Would you like to talk to the Councillor Finzel? Speaker 1: Yeah, of course. Councillor Finzel: This is fantastic. It is the highlight of the Shire events. It's 65 days, 16 hours and 48 minutes. Until the event arrives, according to their website.

05:09:00 So, yeah, we're looking forward to that. And the committee has been working really hard this year to, you know, get some extra interest in the show through the Showgirl component of that for fundraising and engaging the community at all different levels. So, and it's very important also for those people that do use it as part of their agricultural development and training and engagement with the broader community. And their practices. Noting it's not only the Noosaville Shire show. That is a big, you know, agricultural shows across Queensland. And for our counterparts out west, it is a real priority for people that are doing animal husbandry and having opportunities to show their horses. And yeah, look at their rural aspects of life. So, yeah, happy to support it. I'll speak to it. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson: Hi. Hi. Thank you. I love Pomona.

05:10:00 And I love actually watching this show get better and better every year. And that's what exactly what it does. To me, you know, I keep going. Not every road leads to Hastings Street. We have a spectacular hinterland. And I think the Pomona Showground, Country Showground, and I love using the word Country Showground, is a real demonstration of how spectacular the Shire is. And an opportunity to, you know, get kids out of the beach and understand, again, there's more to the Shire than just our beautiful oceans. Our rural areas should be celebrated. And this is a really great way to celebrate it. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yes. Chook Pavilion is obviously the best. But the serious aspect of this is, and it was raised in the beginning of the show, that we were raised by the community this year when I went to the show, we probably should also, every time we set this as a show holiday, also communicate to Economic Development that we don't allow any other events on that weekend.

05:11:00 So we make sure that the priority for that weekend is encouraging people to enjoy the hinterland and the rural way of life that's still enjoyed by a number of people in our community. Councillor Phillips: And their dog dogs. Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Anyone else wish to talk? Councillor Finzel. Councillor Finzel: I think it's all been said. I'd like to just also highlight their Rural Ambassadors Program, which is really important. These categories are for junior and senior, so 16 up to 30 years. And I think that's really important, as we can bring young people along to represent and promote agriculture, build confidence as a community. We're looking at both the rural and senior leadership skills, connect with like-minded people across the industry, and have the opportunity to progress all the way to state and national level.

05:12:00 So, you know, the Dodgems are great, we love it, all the other elements that go with the show. But there is that side of it that really supports agricultural practices. So in closing, looking forward to seeing you all at the Dodgem Cars and out at Pomona enjoying everything we have to offer. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We'll put the motion. Okay, so I believe our next item is then item 8.1, which is a confidential session. It's confidential. Would someone like to move the recommendation?

05:13:00 It gives the reasons why we are going into confidentiality. That's Councillor Wilson. Councillor Phillips: You're all married. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Just to prove that she did attend. Councillor Phillips: All those in favour? Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you, Councillor. And we'll just wait for the recording to be turned off. Move Councillor Harkin, second Councillor Wilson.

8 CONFIDENTIAL SESSION ¶

▶ 05:13:04

Nothing was transcribed under this heading — a stretch of the recording with no speech the model could make out.

8.1 CONFIDENTIAL - NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE - NOOSA PLAN 2020 DRAFT AMENDMENT 4 - EMPLOYMENT LAND ¶

▶ 05:15:10

05:44:00 Speaker 6: Okay, we're back on Brian. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay, councillors, we're back in open session. Would someone like to move the procedural motion?

05:45:00 Councillor Lorentson, and the seconded was Councillor Wilkie. Yes. I don't think we need to talk to it. Those in favour? Yes. And I'd better read it out at the General Committee agenda. Too late. Be referred to the ordinary meeting on the 8th. 16th of July. Yeah, that date. 16th of July. And we just passed it. It was unanimous. Thank you, everyone. We have finished at 3.48. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you, Mr Chair. Thank you. Thank you, councillors. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Thank you. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you, Mr Chair. Thank you, sir.

9 MEETING CLOSURE ¶

▶ 05:45:37

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.