FURTHER REPORT - Planning & Environment Committee 6 May 2025 MCU21/0110

PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING REPORT                                      6 MAY 2025


  ATTACHMENT 2 – (MCU21/0110) - DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT MANAGER’S
                                REPORT
REPORT
A report was presented to Council at the Planning and Environment Committee on 11 July 2023
for a development application which seeks to develop a 106-room hotel on land within Noosa
Springs.
The report addressed a range of issues including the sites split zoning, the potential odour impacts
of the nearby sewage treatment plant, bushfire risk, ecology, carparking and built form. The
officer’s recommendation was to approve the application on the basis that the odour impacts had
been satisfactorily addressed and matters relating to bushfire, ecology, carparking and built form
had also been suitably addressed.
Three deputations were made at this meeting, the deputations were made by residents of Noosa
Springs, Unitywater and the applicant. Notably, Unitywater advised they were opposed to the
proposed development based on insufficient separation being provided to the existing sewage
treatment plant.
The matter was referred to the General Committee Meeting dated 17 July 2023 at which time a
motion was put forward to refuse the application. The motion was successful, and the application
was recommended for refusal.
On 19 July the applicant stopped the decision-making period until 29 September 2023. As this was
done prior to the Ordinary Meeting of 20 July 2023 Council was not able to finalise a decision on
the application. The decision-making period recommenced on 29 September 2023.
A Further Report was prepared for the Planning and Environment Committee meeting on 7
November 2023, due to the significance of the matter was referred to the General Meeting of 13
November 2023.
At that time the applicant had not amended the layout of the proposed development however
provided several written submissions which included an analysis of the submissions made during
the notification period, a letter from a solicitor reviewing the proposed grounds of refusal, and a
further letter from the applicant’s planning consultant seeking to justify grounds to support the
development.
The officer recommendation remained in support of the application, it was recommended that
condition 13 of the original recommendation, which required guests to be advised of the potential
for odour from the sewage treatment plant, be deleted. At that time, the grounds of refusal proposed
at the General Committee on 17 July 2023, were reviewed by a planning solicitor. Accordingly,
updated grounds of refusal were included in the report.
On 13 November 2023 the applicant made an Other Change to the application to include an
extension to the existing clubhouse. The change was an Other Change as it introduced a new land
use into the application. This meant that the application reverted to the Confirmation Notice stage
and no decision was able to be made on the application at the 13 November 2023 General
Committee Meeting.
A report considering the proposal including the Other Change was prepared for consideration at
the Planning and Environment Committee dated 11 June 2024, at this meeting the matter was
referred to the General Committee Meeting of 17 June 2024. At the General Committee meeting it
was agreed to defer the matter to a future meeting round as the applicant requested to extend the
decision-making period so it could enter into meaningful discussions about changes that might be
made to the proposed Resort Hotel, that are reasonable, to address any valid planning concerns
Councillors might have about the development.
On 27 February 2025, the applicant made a minor change to the application. In a letter supporting
the amended application the applicant advises:



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