2017-04-11 P&E Agenda Attachment 1 to Item 1 Housing Needs Assessment

There appears some need for accommodation for key workers; however many of these are also
transient and mobile.

Barriers to Provision
The land availability and the zoning are the key barriers to smaller, more affordable dwellings
being developed. The only options to get more land are to pull things down or go higher.

Dual living is not allowed here like the Sunshine Coast. However there is very little land in Noosa
for dual occupancies. There can also be a problem with regard to parking. There are some streets
in Sunshine Beach for instance where on weekends cars are parked on footpaths and narrow
streets to dangerous proportions etc. Most occupants have 2 not one car. There are some
concerns about ‘ghettoisation’ with affordable housing.

There are also very limited zones for duplexes in Noosaville and Noosa Heads.

Planning Scheme Barriers
Planning Scheme barriers identified include:

       Small lots are not allowed. If blocks of land are bigger you must do a bigger house to
        make it viable;
       Infrastructure charges are the same for infill sites as greenfield but they are often harder
        and more expensive to build on;
       Some resorts which would make good residences are not allowed to be sold for
        permanent residency e.g. the large Viridian Villas;
       Developers won’t do ‘tourist only’ developments because they are not profitable;
       Engineered solutions to basement car parking in flood prone parts of Noosaville e.g. Mary
        Street, to enable viable redevelopment with affordable housing on top of commercial;
       The time taken for approvals and the difficulty of the approval process discourage
        developers;
       The small dwelling provisions appear not known by most developers.

Some incentives could be provided to encourage more affordable housing for example:

       Relaxation of staggered setbacks;
       Simplification and relaxing of the regulations to get medium density development in the
        right places;
       A change of attitude of assessors and the culture of Council to encourage development.

Other Comments or Suggestions for Council from the Consultation
Council needs to determine first what we want Noosa to be. It must be recognised that a balance
of accommodation for tourists and residents is crucial, because without tourism the economy
would collapse. There are concerns about substandard accommodation being offered to tourists,
and our accommodation no longer being competitive.

Several developers expressed the view that Noosa was busy enough now and did not need
expansion beyond the urban footprint. If it is in the footprint it should be made easier to develop.




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