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Town Planning Report - 12 Eenie Creek Rd (RESOLVED DRAFT)
Casa Intelligence PLANNING INTELLIGENCE MATERIAL CHANGE OF USE — SHO WROOM Town Planning Report 12 Eenie Creek Road, Noosaville QLD 4566 Medium Impact Industry · Noosa Shire Council · Lot 7 RP96597 REPORT REFERENCE ISSUED C I - 2 0 2 6 - 0 7 1 2 -T P R 24 July 2026 A P P L I C AT I O N T Y P E P R E PA R E D F O R Material Change of Use — Ve n t i a Showroom CASAINTELLIGENCE.COM.AU
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SUMMARY
The proposal is a Material Change of Use for a
Showroom which, on the categorising provisions of the
Noosa Plan 2020, is impact assessable and categorised
as an inconsistent use. This report identifies the
grounds on which approval is nonetheless appropriate.
Impact
ASSESSMENT
809 m²
SITE AREA
~440 m²
S H O W R O O M G FA
0–1
space
A D D E D PA R K I N G
DEMAND
This report supports an application for a Material Change of Use to establish a Showroom for motor vehicle
sales at 12 Eenie Creek Road, Noosaville, within an existing building on land in the Medium Impact Industry
zone. The works comprise alterations and additions to the existing building, including a new glazed curtain
wall to the frontage, internal reconfiguration to provide showroom floor, amenities, offices and storage, one
new accessible parking bay and landscaping. Assessment of the categorising provisions establishes that the
use is impact assessable. The application is made on that basis, and the grounds relied on are set out in full
at section 13.
01 SECTION 1
Executive summary
The application. A Development Permit is sought for a Material Change of Use for a Showroom at 12 Eenie
Creek Road, Noosaville, described as Lot 7 on RP96597. The proposal establishes a motor vehicle showroom
within an existing building on an 809 square metre site in the Medium Impact Industry zone, operating by
appointment only.
Category of assessment. The proposal is impact assessable. Table 5.5.10 of the Noosa Plan 2020 makes a
Showroom code assessable in this zone only where it is trade related, does not exceed 400 square metres
of gross floor area, and fronts Eumundi Noosa Road or the Eenie Creek Service Road. The frontage
requirement is met; the trade related and area requirements are not. The use is accordingly categorised as
impact assessment and as an inconsistent use, and the application is made and assessed on that basis.
The grounds relied on. There are sufficient grounds to approve the application despite the conflict. The use
does not engage the retail and centres hierarchy concerns the categorisation exists to address, and operates
by appointment only, which the applicant offers as a condition. It generates between nil and one additional
car parking space of statutory demand over the lawful industry and bulk storage use, and lower traffic. The
street already accommodates showrooms approved by Council, including on the immediately adjoining
lot through impact assessment. The proposal improves the streetscape, and the industrial capability of the
Page 3
land is retained because warehouse and industry uses remain accepted development within the existing
building.
Assessment. The proposal has been assessed against the whole of the Noosa Plan 2020. The strategic
framework is addressed at section 11 and the assessment benchmarks are responded to in full in the
accompanying Code Assessment, which answers 204 performance outcomes across twelve codes.
Recommendation. Approval is recommended, subject to reasonable and relevant conditions including a
condition limiting operation of the showroom to an appointment only basis.
02 SECTION 2
Introduction and application details
This report is prepared in support of a development application to Noosa Shire Council for a Development
Permit for a Material Change of Use for a Showroom at 12 Eenie Creek Road, Noosaville, described as Lot
7 on RP96597. The applicant proposes to establish a motor vehicle showroom within the existing building
on the site, operating by appointment only. The application is assessed against the Noosa Plan 2020,
Amendment No. 2, which commenced on 26 September 2025. The proposal is based on concept drawings
prepared by Collins Building Designs dated 10 June 2026 and issued 22 June 2026, comprising sheets A103,
A104, A201, A202 and A301. This report addresses town planning matters only.
Item Detail
Street address 12 Eenie Creek Road, Noosaville QLD 4566
Real property description Lot 7 on RP96597
Site area 809 m² (809.5 m² computed from cadastral geometry)
Local government Noosa Shire Council
Planning scheme Noosa Plan 2020, Amendment No. 2, commenced 26
September 2025
Zone Medium Impact Industry
Precinct Not within a precinct (the Venture Drive Enterprise
Precinct does not apply)
Local plan Noosaville Local Plan
Overlay Acid Sulfate Soils
Proposed use Showroom (motor vehicle sales)
Category of development Assessable development
Category of assessment Impact assessment
03 SECTION 3
The site and its surrounds
The site is a regular rectangular allotment of 809 m² with a single frontage of approximately 19.15 metres
to the Eenie Creek Service Road and a depth of approximately 42 metres. The site and its context are shown
at Figure 1 (aerial photograph) and Figure 2 (existing site plan). It is developed with an existing building
Page 4
comprising a showroom area, a carport, an ancillary building and a shed, occupying the majority of the
site. Vehicle access is taken from the service road at the northern frontage. The site is generally flat and
contains no mapped vegetation, watercourse or steep land.
The zoning context is shown at Figure 4. The locality is an established service industry precinct. Casa
Intelligence spatial data records forty parcels in the Medium Impact Industry zone within 150 metres of the
site, and both immediately adjoining parcels — 10 Eenie Creek Road (Lot 8 RP96597, 809 m²) and 14 Eenie
Creek Road (Lot 6 RP227497, 1,411 m²) — carry the same zoning. The precinct adjoins the Noosa Civic major
centre to the east at 26 and 28 Eenie Creek Road, which is in the Major Centre zone and accommodates a
full-line shopping centre and associated showroom precinct.
The built form along this section of the service road is single storey industrial and service industry buildings
with direct frontage presentation, on-site parking forward of the building line and a mixture of tenancy
types. The proposal is consistent with that established pattern.
Surrounding development approvals. Council's records show a pattern of non-industrial approvals along
this frontage. Application 21696 approved a Showroom for fish and boat equipment at 10 Eenie Creek Road
in 2001, and TC 912 approved three showrooms at 18 Eenie Creek Road in 1995. The adjoining lot at 10
Eenie Creek Road has also accommodated an indoor entertainment use, a secondhand goods shop and,
more recently, a food and drink fitout. To the east, 26 and 28 Eenie Creek Road accommodate the Noosa
Civic centre and its associated showroom precinct.
Cultural heritage. The site is not a Queensland heritage place, is not a local heritage place under the Noosa
Plan 2020, and is not affected by the Heritage overlay. It is a developed industrial allotment with no known
indigenous cultural heritage values. The duty of care under the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003
applies to any ground disturbance in the usual way.
Public transport and accessibility. The site is within the Noosaville urban area on a service road adjoining
Eenie Creek Road, immediately adjacent to the Noosa Civic centre which is a focus for public transport
services in the locality. Footpath connections exist along the service road. Public transport services operate
along Eenie Creek Road and through the adjoining Noosa Civic centre. Given the appointment only
operating model, most customer attendance will be by private vehicle, and the proposal does not rely on
public transport to function.
Site characteristic Detail
Shape and size Regular rectangular allotment, 809 m²
Frontage Approximately 19.15 m to the Eenie Creek Service Road
(single frontage)
Topography Generally flat; no steep land
Registered owner Noosaville Property Trust
Easements and encumbrances None identified. To be confirmed against a current title
search.
Contaminated land Not recorded on the Environmental Management
Register or Contaminated Land Register. To be confirmed
by search.
Vegetation and waterways No mapped significant vegetation, watercourse or
wetland
Page 5
Infrastructure services Reticulated water, sewerage, electricity and
telecommunications available and connected
Surrounding zoning Medium Impact Industry to both sides and opposite;
Major Centre to the east
FIGURE 1 — AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH, SUBJECT SITE OUTLINED
Source: Collins Building Designs, sheet A103, 10 June 2026
Page 6
:/ Existing Carpon £ exiting | ‘Show room ie Concept raving Tie raect Baiting Ste Plan Fopsted atertors acon COL L | N S 12 Eenie Crk, Noosaville oe Client: Noosovile Property Tt | scot: 1:200@ A3 |Drawing No: € Dates 10082026 Rev A01-A 13 BUILDING DESIGNS [email protected] Mobs: 0474 141 scale off thi crowing. 0 Check ai cimensions on st. AB ulcing wore must comply th Algrawings oe copyright and Gre owned ond contol by otns Bling Designs. BCC FIGURE 2 — EXISTING SITE PLAN Source: Collins Building Designs, sheet A103, 10 June 2026
Page 7
sng F Hl | Showroom eigner 7 7 Concept orotic ths aovirg, | [DRAWING REVSIONS Popotsdsie Fon Frond oho & cto ‘Seng wore mst comely th COLLINS 12 Eenie Crk, Noosaville cension | Client: Sear ee eae 04 ‘cence #1508416” Milonel Calis, Mob: 0474 141 348, FIGURE 3 — PROPOSED SITE PLAN Source: Collins Building Designs, sheet A104, 10 June 2026
Page 8
FIGURE 4 — ZONING EXTRACT, NOOSA PLAN 2020
Source: Casa Intelligence, from Noosa Plan 2020 zoning and Queensland cadastral data
04 SECTION 4
Site history and existing lawful use
A search of Council's development records has been undertaken against Lot 7 on RP96597 by lot and plan,
by street address, and across the whole of RP96597. Three searches returned the same records for the
subject land.
The lawful use of the site is established by TPC 990, a converted approval for industrial buildings for
industry and bulk storage purposes. A commercial carport was approved in December 1994 under appli
cation 942296 (Council reference 111994.12296); that carport is the structure shown on sheet A103 and is
proposed to be incorporated into the showroom floor.
Page 9
No approval for a Showroom use is recorded against the subject land. The area annotated "Existing Show
room" on the concept drawings is not an approved showroom use, and no existing use rights are claimed
or relied on. The proposal is therefore a genuine material change of use, and is made on that basis.
Council's records also hold TPC 2097, dated 22 July 1988, for a shop for the buying, selling and auctioning
of secondhand and disposal goods, with a status of "use ceased". That record is attributed by Council to 10
Eenie Creek Road on Lot 8 RP117189. Plan RP117189 does not appear in the current cadastre, and street
level imagery shows the premises in question signed as 12 Eenie Creek Road. The attribution of that record
is accordingly uncertain. As the use has ceased, it confers no rights in either case, and confirmation has
been sought from Council.
The existing lawful use is material to this application. The site is lawfully used for industry and bulk
storage purposes, and it is against that baseline that the change in impact of the proposed use is
measured — most directly in relation to car parking, at section 12.
05 SECTION 5
The proposed development
The proposal is shown at Figure 3 (proposed site plan), Figure 5 (proposed ground floor plan) and Figure 6
(street view elevation). The proposal is to establish a Showroom for the display and sale of motor vehicles
within the existing building. The works comprise alterations and additions to the existing showroom and
carport areas, specifically:
(a) a new glazed curtain wall to the northern frontage with glazed entry doors, replacing the existing
frontage treatment;
(b) internal reconfiguration of the building to provide showroom floor, amenities and offices, and storage;
(c) incorporation of the existing carport area into the showroom floor;
(d) provision of one new accessible parking bay to the frontage; and
(e) landscaping, comprising a new garden bed and screen hedging to both side boundaries at the frontage,
with the existing frontage garden removed.
No increase in the footprint of the building is proposed beyond the enclosure of the existing carport, and
no increase in building height is proposed. The building remains single storey, with an overall height of 5.9
metres to the parapet.
The showroom floor is approximately 440 m², with the premises as a whole, including amenities, offices
and storage, approximately 600 m². These areas are derived from the scaled concept drawings. These areas
will be confirmed by the final schedule of areas at building approval stage, and the category of assessment
does not depend on them because the trade related limb of the categorising provision is not satisfied
independently of area.
Display vehicles are accommodated within the building. The use is proposed to operate by appointment
only, and the applicant offers that limitation as a condition of any approval.
Mechanical plant. Air conditioning will be required, and Performance Outcome 13 of the Medium Impact
Page 10
Industry Zone Code expressly extends to air conditioning equipment. The concept drawings do not yet show plant locations. The building presents behind a parapet at 5.9 metres, and plant mounted at roof level behind that parapet would not be visible from the street or adjoining properties. The applicant offers, as a condition of any approval, that all mechanical plant be located and screened in accordance with Acceptable Outcome AO13.2 and its location shown on plans submitted for approval. Hours of operation. The showroom is proposed to operate by appointment only, between 8.00 am and 5.00 pm Monday to Friday and 9.00 am to 2.00 pm Saturday, with no Sunday or public holiday trading. Customer attendance is by prior appointment in each case. The applicant offers these hours, and the appointment only basis of operation, as conditions of any approval. Hours are to be confirmed with the operator prior to lodgement. Waste management. Waste and recycling storage is provided within the site, screened from the street by the existing building, and collected by commercial service in the usual way for premises in this precinct. A showroom generates low volumes of general waste and recycling and no trade or industrial waste. No external waste storage area is proposed to the frontage. Employment. The proposal supports ongoing employment on the site. Design rationale. The building is retained in its existing form and scale. The design intent is to replace an inactive frontage with a glazed curtain wall that opens the interior to the street, providing natural light, passive surveillance and an improved presentation to the Eenie Creek Service Road, while introducing landscaping to both side boundaries at the frontage. The result is a more attractive street elevation than the existing condition, achieved without increasing the height, bulk or footprint of the building.
Page 11
FIGURE 5 — PROPOSED GROUND FLOOR PLAN Source: Collins Building Designs, sheet A202, 10 June 2026
Page 12
FIGURE 6 — STREET VIEW ELEVATION
Source: Collins Building Designs, sheet A301, 10 June 2026
06 SECTION 6
Supporting documentation
This report is accompanied by the following material:
(a) DA Form 1, completed;
(b) owner's consent;
(c) the concept drawings prepared by Collins Building Designs dated 10 June 2026, comprising sheets A103,
A104, A201, A202 and A301;
(d) a current title search and registered plan;
(e) the accompanying Code Assessment, responding to the assessment benchmarks; and
(f) a schedule of areas, to be provided by the designer.
No specialist technical reports are provided at lodgement. The proposal involves a change of use within
an existing building with no bulk earthworks, no new access and no industrial emissions. Should Council
require a traffic, acoustic, stormwater or acid sulfate soils assessment, that material can be provided in
response to an information request.
07 SECTION 7
Statutory framework
Page 13
The application is made under the Planning Act 2016. The proposal is assessable development for which a
development permit is required.
The applicable local planning instrument is the Noosa Plan 2020, Amendment No. 2, which commenced
on 26 September 2025. No Priority Development Area, State Development Area, master planned area,
approved plan of development, preliminary approval overriding the planning scheme, or temporary local
planning instrument has been identified as applying to the land. The planning scheme accordingly governs
the categorisation of, and benchmarks for, this development.
The site is not within a precinct of the Medium Impact Industry zone. The Venture Drive Enterprise Precinct
at section 5.5.10.1 does not extend to this land, and the categorising provisions applying to land "where not
located in a precinct" therefore apply.
08 SECTION 8
Category of assessment
Table 5.5.10 of the Noosa Plan 2020 provides for a Showroom in the Medium Impact Industry zone as
follows:
"Showroom — Code assessment. If: (a) trade related and the gross floor area does not exceed 400m²; and (b)
on land fronting Eumundi Noosa Road or Eenie Creek Service Road, Noosaville."
The categorising provision is cumulative. Each limb must be satisfied for the use to be code assessable. The
proposal is assessed against each limb below.
Limb (b) is satisfied. The site fronts the Eenie Creek Service Road, as shown on sheets A103 and A104.
Limb (a) is not satisfied, on either element. As to "trade related", Schedule 1 of the Noosa Plan 2020
defines that term as meaning, for an office, technical or administrative activities related to the building and
construction trades where such activities are not suited to a centre zone. The definition is expressed for
an office and is not extended to a showroom. Taking its ordinary meaning in the context of a showroom,
a trade related showroom is one serving the building and construction trades. A motor vehicle showroom
selling to members of the public is not a trade related use. As to gross floor area, the showroom floor is
approximately 440 m² and the premises approximately 600 m², each exceeding the 400 m² threshold.
Where a use does not meet the description in the categorising column, Table 5.5.10 provides that any use
listed in the table and not meeting that description is impact assessment and an inconsistent use, assessed
against the whole planning scheme. Schedule 1 defines an inconsistent use as a use that is strongly inap
propriate in the relevant zones because it is incompatible with other uses generally expected in that zone.
The application is accordingly made as an impact assessable application and is subject to public notification.
The applicant does not contend otherwise, and this report addresses the proposal on that footing.
For completeness, the planning scheme provides elsewhere for showrooms of this kind. Table 5.5.9.1
applies to the Lionel Donovan Drive Auto Precinct in the Low Impact Industry zone at Noosaville, and
makes a Showroom code assessable in that precinct "if for vehicle, boat or caravan sales". That wording
appears in the scheme only in relation to that precinct. Council's current records are consistent with
Page 14
that reading. Application MCU26/0069, for a Showroom for motor vehicle sales at 1/9 Lionel Donovan
Drive within that precinct, was lodged on 17 July 2026 and is recorded by Council as code assessment.
By contrast MCU25/0119, for an Indoor Sport and Recreation use at 26 Eenie Creek Road, is recorded as
impact assessment and has proceeded through public notification. Neither application binds the assessment
of this proposal, and MCU26/0069 remains undecided, but together they show how Council applies the
categorising provisions in practice. The applicant acknowledges the point rather than avoiding it: the
scheme identifies a precinct in which vehicle sales showrooms are anticipated, and this site is not in it. Why
approval is nonetheless appropriate on this land is addressed in the grounds at section 13.
The use is categorised as an inconsistent use. That categorisation is acknowledged rather than
contested. The grounds on which approval is nonetheless appropriate are set out at section 13, and
address the statutory test directly.
09 SECTION 9
State planning framework
State Planning Policy. Part 2 of the Noosa Plan 2020 records that the Planning Minister is satisfied the
State Planning Policy dated July 2017 is appropriately integrated into the planning scheme across liveable
communities and housing, economic growth, environment and heritage, safety and resilience to hazards,
and infrastructure. Where a state interest is appropriately integrated, assessment against the planning
scheme discharges the state interest and no separate assessment is required.
One state interest is recorded as not fully integrated: natural hazards, risk and resilience in respect of coastal
hazards. That interest applies to development in the erosion prone area. The site is not within the erosion
prone area, is not affected by the Coastal Protection and Scenic Amenity overlay, and is a developed inland
industrial allotment. The interest is accordingly not engaged. Strategic ports are recorded as not relevant
to Noosa Shire.
South East Queensland Regional Plan. Part 2 records that the planning scheme appropriately advances the
Regional Plan. The site is within the Urban Footprint, and the proposal is the efficient re-use of existing
serviced urban land within an established employment area, consistent with the efficient land use outcomes
of the Grow element.
Referral and State Development Assessment Provisions. No referral agency assessment has been identified
under Schedule 10 of the Planning Regulation 2017. The site does not adjoin or take access from a state-
controlled road, is not within a state transport corridor or a transport noise corridor, is not affected by
mapped matters of state environmental significance, and the proposal is not development for which the
chief executive or another entity is a referral agency. On that basis the State Development Assessment
Provisions do not apply and no SDAP response is required.
10 SECTION 10
Need and demand
For an impact assessable application, and particularly one categorised as an inconsistent use, the question
of need is relevant to whether there are sufficient grounds for approval. Need in a planning sense is not
Page 15
a question of commercial viability for the applicant, but whether the use serves a genuine demand and
whether that demand is better met here than elsewhere.
The proposal meets a demand not presently served in this location. Noosa Shire has an established vehicle
sales presence at the Lionel Donovan Drive Auto Precinct, but no specialist premises of this kind on the
Eenie Creek Road frontage. The proposal introduces a use that broadens the range of enterprises in the
precinct, consistent with strategic outcome 3.3.5(a) which seeks a diverse and resilient economy with
business growth pathways.
The demand is not one that competes with a centre. An appointment only vehicle showroom draws
customers who have made a deliberate decision to attend a specific premises for a specific vehicle. It does not
draw convenience or comparison retail expenditure, and it does not compete with the Noosa Civic centre
adjoining the precinct or with any centre in the Noosa Shire Centres Hierarchy. The centres hierarchy is
therefore not undermined, which is the concern the zone provisions and local plan outcome 7.2.4 PO18(d)
are directed at.
The site is well suited to the demand. A motor vehicle showroom requires a large clear display floor with
direct vehicle access to the building, which is a defining element of the Showroom definition in Schedule
1. Those characteristics are found in industrial buildings rather than centre premises, which is why the
scheme locates vehicle sales showrooms in the Low Impact Industry zone at the Lionel Donovan Drive Auto
Precinct rather than in a centre zone. The existing building on this site has precisely that configuration,
and reusing it avoids the construction of a new building elsewhere.
A formal economic needs assessment is not considered necessary to establish the planning need for a use
of this modest scale, which introduces a single specialist enterprise to an existing building. Should Council
request one, a specialist assessment can be provided in response to an information request.
11 SECTION 11
Strategic framework
As an impact assessable application the proposal is assessed against the whole of the planning scheme,
which includes the strategic framework at Part 3. The outcomes most directly engaged are those for
Economy and Employment at section 3.3.5.
Strategic outcome 3.3.5(u) provides that industrial land is retained for industrial uses which generate
employment and is protected from encroachment and impacts that may threaten the function, viability and
expansion of those uses. This is the strategic expression of the concern underlying the categorisation of the
use, and it is addressed directly.
The proposal does not remove industrial land from the Shire's supply. The site is retained in its existing built
form, and warehouse, low impact industry and medium impact industry uses remain accepted development
within an existing building without expansion of the use area. The industrial capability of the land is
therefore preserved and can be resumed without a further application. No industrial operator is displaced,
the lot is not fragmented, and the site remains a single 809 square metre allotment within an intact Medium
Impact Industry precinct of some forty parcels.
Nor does the proposal threaten the function, viability or expansion of surrounding industrial uses. It
Page 16
generates no emissions, no industrial traffic and no amenity conflict, and it introduces no sensitive receptor.
An appointment only showroom is markedly less likely to constrain a neighbouring industrial operator
than a use attracting continuous public attendance.
The proposal is positively consistent with other outcomes of section 3.3.5. Outcome 3.3.5(a) seeks a diverse
and resilient economy supporting business growth pathways, and outcome 3.3.5(c) encourages industries
with high economic yield and low environmental impact. A specialist vehicle sales business occupying an
existing building, generating employment and requiring no infrastructure augmentation, answers both. It
also contributes to the diversity of enterprise along a street presently occupied by conventional service
industry uses.
The proposal is not inconsistent with the settlement pattern outcomes: it involves no expansion of the
urban footprint, no consumption of greenfield land, and the efficient re-use of existing serviced urban land
within an established employment area.
12 SECTION 12
Assessment against the planning scheme
As an impact assessable application the proposal is assessed against the whole of the Noosa Plan 2020. The
completed assessment tables are provided in the accompanying Code Assessment. The matters of substance
are addressed below.
Strategic framework. The proposal makes efficient use of an existing building on existing serviced industrial
land within the urban area, without consuming greenfield land or requiring infrastructure augmentation.
It does not diminish the shire's supply of industrial land, because the building and the site remain capable
of reverting to an industrial use.
Medium Impact Industry zone code. The zone exists to accommodate industry activities, and to prevent
retail uses of a type and scale that would compromise or compete with the Noosa Shire Centres Hierarchy.
The proposal engages that purpose directly, and the response is addressed in the grounds at section 13. In
built form terms the proposal complies: the building is single storey and 5.9 metres in height, well within
the 10 metre limit; there is no change to setbacks; and the frontage treatment and landscaping improve the
presentation of the site to the street.
Noosaville Local Plan code. The proposal maintains the established service industry character of the Eenie
Creek Road frontage, and improves it through the replacement of the existing frontage treatment with a
glazed curtain wall and the provision of screen hedging to both side boundaries.
Car parking. This matter is addressed in detail because it is a recurring ground of refusal in Council's
decisions. Table 9.4.1.4 of the Driveways and Parking Code requires one space per 50 m² of gross floor area
for a Showroom. The same table requires one space per 50 m² up to 500 m² for Low Impact Industry, Medium
Impact Industry and Warehouse uses, reducing to one space per 100 m² above 500 m². The lawful use of the
site is industry and bulk storage. Applying both rates to the same gross floor area: at 440 m2 the lawful use
requires nine spaces and the showroom nine, an increase of nil; at 600 m2 the lawful use requires eleven and
the showroom twelve, an increase of one space. Any numerical shortfall against the code is a pre-existing
condition of the site and is not created by this proposal. That position is reinforced by the operating model:
an appointment only showroom generates intermittent customer visits rather than continuous trade, and
Page 17
display vehicles are stored within the building rather than occupying customer parking.
Acid Sulfate Soils overlay. The site is within the overlay. The code is triggered by excavating or otherwise
removing soil or sediment, extracting groundwater, or filling land at or below 5 metres AHD. The principal
works are internal. External works are proposed at the frontage, being construction of the accessible
parking space and shared area to AS/NZS 2890.6 including grading, bollard footings and a new garden
bed. Soil disturbance associated with these is expected to be shallow and localised on a site that is already
developed and sealed, and no bulk earthworks, filling or groundwater extraction is proposed. The applicant
offers, as conditions of any approval, an acid sulfate soils investigation where excavation below natural
ground level is required, and management of any material identified in accordance with an acid sulfate soils
management plan.
Other overlays. The site is not affected by the flood hazard, bushfire hazard, landslide hazard, coastal
protection and scenic amenity, heritage, or biodiversity, waterways and wetlands overlays. Each has been
checked against the parcel and none applies. The Acid Sulfate Soils overlay is the only overlay affecting
the land.
The absolute numerical position should also be stated plainly. Assessed as a total rather than as an increase,
Table 9.4.1.4 would call for twelve spaces at 600 m2, and the site provides two. That shortfall is a pre-
existing characteristic of an 809 m2 lot substantially covered by an existing building, and it is unchanged
by this proposal. The application is accordingly made against the performance outcome rather than the
acceptable outcome, on the basis that the change of use generates no meaningful additional demand and
that the appointment only operating model reduces demand further. On-site parking is provided at the
frontage, comprising one standard space and one accessible space with the shared area required by AS/
NZS 2890.6, as shown on sheet A202. The two bays drawn within the building are display positions on the
showroom floor rather than functional car parking, consistent with the nature of a vehicle showroom. The
existing site presents as an open hardstand forecourt, so the proposal does not reduce the parking area; it
formalises frontage parking and introduces a compliant accessible space where none presently exists. and
a traffic engineer's parking assessment can be provided if Council requires one.
13 SECTION 13
Grounds for approval despite the conflict
The proposal conflicts with the Noosa Plan 2020 to the extent that a Showroom of this description in
the Medium Impact Industry zone is categorised as an inconsistent use. The question for the assessment
manager is whether there are sufficient grounds to approve the application despite that conflict. The
grounds relied on are as follows.
First, the proposal does not engage the mischief the categorisation is directed at. The zone code is concerned
to prevent retail activity of a type and scale that would compromise or compete with the Noosa Shire
Centres Hierarchy, and to protect industrial land from underutilisation by retail conversion. An appoint
ment only motor vehicle showroom is not a centre activity. It does not draw passing trade, it does not
compete with the Noosa Civic centre or with any centre in the hierarchy for convenience or comparison
retail expenditure, and it does not generate the visitation patterns that centre based retail generates. The
applicant offers the appointment only limitation as a condition of any approval, so that the basis on which
approval is granted is enforceable and enduring.
Page 18
Second, the proposal generates no material additional impact over the lawful use. As set out at section 8,
the change from the lawful industry and bulk storage use to a showroom generates between zero and one
additional car parking space of statutory demand. Traffic generation is lower than the lawful use, not higher:
an appointment based sales operation generates fewer vehicle movements than an operating industrial and
bulk storage premises. There is no increase in building height, no material increase in site cover beyond
the enclosure of an existing carport, no change to access, and no industrial emissions, noise or hours of the
kind the zone contemplates.
Third, the character of this street already accommodates showrooms, with Council's approval. Council
approved application 21696 in 2001 for a Showroom for fish and boat equipment at 10 Eenie Creek Road,
on the lot immediately adjoining the subject site. That application was impact assessable, was publicly
notified, and was approved by development permit on 8 November 2001 with a negotiated decision on
15 January 2002. Council also approved TC 912 in October 1995 for three showrooms at 18 Eenie Creek
Road, on land which remains in the Medium Impact Industry zone. Both approvals were granted under the
previous planning scheme and neither binds Council. They are relied on not as binding precedent but as
evidence of the character of this street: a showroom use in this location is not incompatible with the uses
generally expected here, which is the statutory test the inconsistent use categorisation invokes.
Fourth, the proposal improves the streetscape. The existing frontage is replaced with a glazed curtain wall,
and screen hedging and a garden bed are introduced to the side boundaries at the frontage. The Noosaville
Local Plan seeks improved presentation of the service industry frontages, and the proposal delivers it.
Fifth, the site and building are retained in a form capable of reverting to an industrial use. Warehouse, low
impact industry and medium impact industry uses are accepted development in this zone where carried
out within an existing building without expansion of the use area. The industrial capability of the land
is therefore not lost, and no permanent reduction in the shire's industrial land supply results from this
approval.
Sixth, the proposal delivers an economic benefit through the productive re-use of an existing building, the
retention of employment on the site, and investment in the physical fabric of the premises, without any
call on public infrastructure.
Seventh, and addressing the matter directly, the existence of the Lionel Donovan Drive Auto Precinct does
not preclude approval here. That precinct identifies where vehicle sales showrooms are anticipated as of
right through code assessment. It does not provide that such a use is prohibited elsewhere, and the Noosa
Plan 2020 contains no prohibited development. Table 5.5.10 expressly contemplates a showroom on this
frontage, subject to conditions as to scale and trade orientation, which demonstrates that a showroom
on the Eenie Creek Service Road is not foreign to the drafters' intention for this land. What the impact
assessable pathway requires is that the particular use be shown to be appropriate on its merits in this
particular location, and the grounds above address that question. The relevant comparison is not between
this site and the auto precinct, but between this proposal and the uses generally expected on this street,
which include showrooms Council has itself approved.
14 SECTION 14
Infrastructure and services
Page 19
The site is fully serviced. It is connected to reticulated water and sewerage, electricity and telecommunica
tions, and is within an established urban area with existing road and drainage infrastructure. The proposal
involves a change of use within an existing building and does not require augmentation of any network.
Infrastructure charges are payable in accordance with Council's adopted charges resolution. Because the
proposal is a change from one non-residential use to another within an existing building, a credit for the
existing lawful use is expected to apply, and the net charge is anticipated to be limited. The charge is a
matter for Council's calculation on assessment.
15 SECTION 15
Conclusion
The proposal is a Material Change of Use for a Showroom at 12 Eenie Creek Road, Noosaville. On the
categorising provisions of the Noosa Plan 2020 the use is impact assessable and is categorised as an
inconsistent use, and the application is made and assessed on that basis.
The conflict with the planning scheme is acknowledged. There are, however, sufficient grounds to approve
the application despite that conflict. The use does not engage the retail and centres hierarchy concerns
that the categorisation exists to address; it generates no material additional impact over the lawful industry
and bulk storage use of the site, including no material additional car parking demand; the street already
accommodates showrooms approved by Council, including on the immediately adjoining lot through
impact assessment; the proposal improves the streetscape; the industrial capability of the land is retained;
and the appointment only operating model is offered as an enforceable condition.
Approval is recommended, subject to reasonable and relevant conditions including a condition limiting the
operation of the showroom to an appointment only basis.
16 SECTION 16
Appendices
The following accompany this report:
Appendix A — DA Form 1
Appendix B — Owner's consent
Appendix C — Concept drawings, Collins Building Designs, sheets A103, A104, A201, A202 and A301, dated
10 June 2026
Appendix D — Current title search and registered plan
Appendix E — Code Assessment, responding to the assessment benchmarks of the Noosa Plan 2020
Appendix F — Schedule of areas
A State Planning Policy checklist and a State Development Assessment Provisions checklist will be provided
at lodgement where Council requires them.
17 Assumptions and matters for resolution
Page 20
This report is prepared on the following stated assumptions. Each is a matter recorded as unresolved in the underlying research and is disclosed rather than presumed in the applicant's favour. • The final schedule of areas will be confirmed at building approval stage. The category of assessment is not affected, as it does not turn on gross floor area. • Detailed design of the accessible parking space, bollards, mechanical plant screening and any associated external works will be resolved at the building and operational works stage and is addressed by way of the recommended conditions. Casa Intelligence does not certify compliance with AS/NZS 2890.6; a certified accessibility check should be obtained prior to construction. • This report proceeds on the basis that owner's consent will be provided by the registered proprietor with the application, confirmed by a current title search. Prepared by Casa Intelligence Pty Ltd for the use of the party named on the cover. This report addresses town planning matters only and is not legal advice. Assessment of any development application is a matter for the assessment manager on the material before it.