2022-02-14 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                  14 FEBRUARY 2022


options to help live with flying foxes. The cost to Council of this subsidy is approximately $5,000
per year.
Effects of development
It is difficult to manage flying foxes in the urban environment. Council has implemented a range of
methods to try to manage the flying fox colony at Wallace Park. This exercise has been resource
intensive, acknowledges the presence of flying foxes in our community and seeks to manage the
impacts of flying foxes on residents. The methods used to manage the flying foxes are many and
not in the scope of this report.
In this instance many complaints have resulted from the current colony in Pinaroo Park. While it is
unlikely that development itself would adversely affect the colony, additional residents in the area
affected by the colony are likely to give rise to further complaints and concerns. In addition, further
expenditure from the Flying Fox Subsidy Scheme and more Council resources is likely to occur,
given the close proximity of the roost to this lot.
The flying fox colony represents a significant hurdle for residential development which cannot be
overcome. It is not considered prudent or good planning to place more residents in close proximity
to the flying fox colony for the above reasons.
Koala
The site is home to some Koala food trees with scratches from Koalas identified near Eucalyptus
propinqua, but no scats, however, Possum scats were observed. The EVR report indicates the site
represents the end point of the Pinnaroo Park vegetation corridor and whilst it is not expected that
Koalas would travel through the site heading southward, due to lack of suitable habitat beyond the
southern boundary, it is plausible that may access the site as part of their southern range within
the Pinnaroo Park habitat .
Effects of development
It is likely that the majority of the trees on site would be removed with a few retained within the front
6m setback and an odd tree in the side and rear setback areas. In terms of the Koala food trees,
they would be removed. In this case offset planting could occur in the neighbouring 32 Toulambi
Street or at Girraween with large ex-ground food tree species.
4.    Liveability survey
The Noosa Liveability Survey was carried out in November 2021 to gain an understanding of what
people most cared about where they live and how they rated their experience of living in their
neighbourhoods. The survey was undertaken Shire wide and provides statistically representative
data for each location across the Shire.
The top place attribute for the Noosa Heads Community was " Elements of natural environment "
which shows the importance of this attribute in terms of contributing to the overall liveability of
Noosa Heads. This attribute is highly valued (at 85%) and is also performing very well in terms of
peoples experience of this with it scoring 8.9 out of 10.
However, the bottom performing attribute for Noosa Heads was the range of housing prices and
tenures, at 3.7 out of 10. This attribute is not performing well in terms of contributing to the overall
liveability of Noosa heads and is of concern when a liveability score is this low.
Although this attribute was not valued as a high contributor to liveability overall within the Noosa
Heads Community (10%), when looking at the different age sectors for Noosa Heads, it increased
to 23% for under 25s and 21% for the 45-64 age groups, which shows that this attribute is a higher
priority for these groups of people and it's not performing well.
Local residents and neighbours have expressed concern over Council decision to investigate this
site for potential social and affordable housing outcomes. Residents have indicated to Council a
strong connection to the site, its use as part of Pinaroo Park and its local significance as a
vegetated area of greenspace within an urban context, these issues are relevant in terms of the
local residents perception and value of liveability in their neighbourhood.

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