MCU15/0095 & REC15/0022 PM Submission Object- Linda Suter

wellbeing.     It is not compatible    with    surrounding     uses in terms of amenity,    the environment         or
economics.


There is no economic need for a convenience shop or indeed for a service station in the location. The
area is well serviced given the proximity to Noosa Civic and other adjoining retail facilities. The recent
approval of a convenience shop and service station nearby at 139 Eumundi-Noosa Road provides for an
additional retail outlet a few hundred meters from the Property. Further addition of retail facilities is not
needed, and certainly not in such close proximity to the sensitive School area.


The Applicant     has not demonstrated        a need for the inconsistent      use within the subject zone. The
Applicant provides no grounds that would justify the granting of an exception and indeed in this specific
case there are no grounds on which approval of this type of Development on the Property could be
justified by the Assessment Manager and/or Council's elected representatives.            Furthermore,      in conflict
with Division 17 of the Noosaville        Locality Plan, the New Use is located and designed whereby its
operation will cause significant adverse impact on the School.


A development      may be said to be needed if, on balance, it improves community wellbeing. Wellbeing
may be improved by access to new services or facilities or a range of other ways. However, any new
uses must be compatible with surrounding uses in terms of amenity, the environment               and economics.
Furthermore in assessing the public interest the Assessment manager may give weight to the negative
impacts of a proposed Development on the community and neighbourhood.


The Applicant provides no substantive data or justification         based on community need or anything else to
substantiate    why the School's children should be exposed to inappropriate             and significant     adverse
impacts on, and compromises to, the amenity they should be allowed to enjoy unhindered                      by retail
intrusion into the school environment.        The applicant indicates the service station and the convenience
shop would operate 24 hours, given that it is primarily proximate, not to other industrial uses, but to the
School and nearby residential         use this raises real concerns for parents, children        and the entire
surrounding neighbourhood.


Furthermore the proposed Shop has not been objectively demonstrated                by any credible analysis to be
ancillary to the service station. The Application is deliberately misleading in attempting       to minimise the
true area allocated to retail floor space and hence to hide the fact that the Shop is a significant part of
the   Development        and supporting   business model.        The Applicant    acknowledges   that   the     Shop
component      is in total 197m', the majority, if not all of which is available for retail use, and not the
100m' mentioned by the Applicant, an assertion simply designed to play down and hide the true nature
of this venture as a retail development.       Industry data shows that a service station without a significant
retail component is an unviable business model. The retail component is therefore not ancillary to, but a
major component          of the proposed Development.        It has as an target market, not the servicing of the
refuelling   motorist,    but the children of the School who will be attracted         to the facility. This is an
unacceptable intrusion into, and interference with, the amenity of the School.


The Applicant has not subjected the proposal to an economic needs and impact assessment of even the
most rudimentary          kind. The need for a development          is commonly    recognised to be related         to
community wellbeing. A development            may be said to be needed if, on balance, it improves community



                                                                                                                     3