Application for Exempted Clearing

                           Application for Exempted Clearing

A development application was lodged with Noosa Council on 3rd February 2021.

Application details
 Application                          MCU21/0014

 Street Address                       26 Little Springs Lane Lake Macdonald Qld 4563

 Real Property Description:           Lot 4 RP 905954

 Planning Scheme:                     Noosa Plan 2020 (25 September 2020)


Development Type
Development Permit for Material Change of Use - Dwelling house

Application Status
On Friday 26th February 2021 Noosa Council advised that they had assessed the application as a
Prohibited development as the development was located in a koala habitat area and the clearing
required was greater than 500 m​2​.

Application for Exempted Clearing
Following the assessment of the development we have contacted a planning officer in Planning and
Development Services, SEQ North, Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local
Government and Planning for further advice.

The advice is that we are able to request that ​exempted development​ provisions under Schedule 24
of the Planning Regulation 2017 to be applied to our proposal. Consequently, we request the
following exemptions be applied for our application:

1. General exemption for clearing up to 500 m​2​ in a koala habitat area under Schedule 24 Exempted
Development part (k). The building footprint of the dwelling including decks and verandahs is 190 m​2
and is thus within the 500 m​2​ area for this exemption.

2. Clearing of a firebreak around the dwelling under Schedule 24 Exempted Development part (n) (vii)
that “​is necessary for essential management and is qualifying clearing​”.

Qualifying clearing​ is defined in Schedule 24 of the Planning Regulations 2017 as clearing native
vegetation that (a) “​is on freehold land”​ .

Essential management​ is defined in Schedule 24 of the Planning Regulations 2017 as clearing
native vegetation to include “​(a) for establishing or maintaining a necessary firebreak to protect
infrastructure, other than a fence, road or vehicular track, if the maximum width of the firebreak is
equal to 1.5 times the height of the tallest vegetation next to the infrastructure, or 20m, whichever is
the wider​”.

The Fire Management Report (Revision 2, February 2021) prepared for the proposed development
recommends that to achieve BAL19 the house “is sited on a low hazard area on the lot and achieves
a setback of 10 metres from any retained vegetation” (Executive Summary). Noting the proposed
location on the lot, this would require clearing a firebreak of at least 10 metres from the east, south
and western sides of the dwelling and clearing to the lot boundary (approximately 7 metres) on the
northern side.