2018-05-14 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                     14 MAY 2018


is dependent upon the type and the scale of the development being proposed. For many years,
from at least 1991 to September 2013 a policy was in place to guide Council and the
development sector on the circumstances where Council will agree to a monetary contribution in
lieu of a development making provision for the required onsite car parking.
The most recent policy was Planning Scheme Policy 13 “Contributions in Lieu of the Provision of
off-street parking” (PSP13). PSP 13 was only applied where development was located on
property within a Business Centre, Visitor Mixed Use, Neighbourhood Centre, or Village Mix zone
under the Noosa Plan.
In accordance with PSP13, a condition was imposed on a development approval to
accommodate the contribution in lieu of the car parking being provided. However, as a result of
amendments made to the Sustainable Planning Act 2009, on 1 July 2011 Council was no longer
permitted to impose a condition that requires a monetary contribution for non-trunk infrastructure.
An alternative approach has been implemented since then, by applying PSP13 by way of a
separate Infrastructure Agreement between Council and the applicant. Under this approach, an
applicant signs an agreement before the application is decided and signed by the Council once a
resolution has been obtained approving the development and for a contribution to be made in lieu
of onsite car parking.
In May 2013, the State required the removal of PSP13 from the Noosa Plan as a result of the
introduction of the Priority Infrastructure Plan (PIP) and its subsequent conflict with the State
Regulatory Provision (adopted charges) 2012 and section 347(1)(b) of the Sustainable Planning
Act 2009. Consequently, there is currently no policy in place to guide the development sector or
staff about the acceptance or appropriateness of a contribution in lieu of onsite parking.
The State considers that contributions for onsite car parking obligations are outside the concept
of the infrastructure charging system under planning legislation (the former Sustainable Planning
Act 2009 and the current Planning Act 2016.) That system is based on overall networks of trunk
infrastructure and developers pay an amount attributable to the scale of their development’s
effect on the various types of trunk infrastructure.
On site car parking is not trunk infrastructure and is therefore not eligible for an infrastructure
charge and the State acted in 2013 to require cessation of onsite car parking contributions being
administered by Planning Scheme Policies. However the concept of a developer not providing
parking and instead making a contribution to Council to enhance local public parking is a well-
established practice that is beneficial to the development sector and the community through
improved public facilities available to all.
Therefore, the issue is being addressed by this corporate policy to effect an alternate
implementation mechanism outside the planning system. Similarly, Moreton, Sunshine Coast and
Gympie Regional Councils, for example, have maintained car parking contributions in their list of
development charges.
The lack of a policy has been a constraint on development outcomes in key centres such as
Hastings Street and Noosa Junction where there is limited opportunity to provide additional car
parking on smaller sites. Since 2013 there has been no published guidance about the
circumstances where Council will accept a contribution or the quantum of contributions in lieu of
each onsite car parking space. Noosa Junction business community representatives and two
local planning consultants have expressed support for a policy to be in effect.
3.   Application of the Policy
The policy is intended to primarily apply to centres. Cooran, Kin Kin, Pomona, Cooroy, Tewantin,
Noosaville, Noosa Heads (Noosa Junction and Hastings Street), Sunshine Beach and Peregian
Beach centres are specifically mentioned and mapped in the policy. Maps are included in the
policy as Appendix 2. The policy can be applied to other development sites if the particular
circumstances warrant it and the developer/applicant is agreeable. Also the contribution may be
applicable for some of the car parking spaces and not necessarily all.


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