Not Properly Made Submission (Late) SUPPORT - Brian O'Connor MCU12/0184

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used to service the proposed facility, the potential exists for truce movements to damage the
road such that the council will be forced to step-up maintenance of Top Forestry Road.
Therefore, it is appropriate for the council to seek some form of recompense from the
developer   -
                the amount and payment schedule being subject to the usual provisions in this

regard.

Secondly, the Noosa Plan contains specific provisions relating to developments on ridgelines
and their visual impact on the rural landscape. This should not exclude such development

altogether, expect in most perverse circumstances, but merely require that careful
consideration be given to where each shed is placed in the landscape and whether its design,
roofline and colour can be altered in order to have buildings sit more appropriately in the

landscape. I urge the council to require the developer, as part ofhis application being
granted, to plant trees and shrubs (and maintain them)that will hide the buildings and
disguise their shape, as seen from surrounding roads and properties.

Chicken farms have the potential to generate noise and smells that can be carried by

prevailing winds. I note that the nearest neighbour to this development is 850m away,but
even at this distance noise and smells can be a problem. Again, this is an issue that could be

dealt with through sensible design and operational husbandry. Sheds housing chickens may
have to have sound-proofing installed and ventilation equipment may have to require

filtering. Likewise, the spread of manure waste from the sheds may have to be restricted so as
not to occur at mealtimes or at weekends when neighbours are likely to be home or enjoying

the amenity oftheir properties.


All of these things can be dealt with sensibly and appropriately through conditions attached to
the development application approval. Again, I urge the council to approval the application.


Now I wish to address the less rational aspects of matters likely to come to the council from
those who do not support the development application approval.


As a general comment,we are seeking across the Sunshine Coast a desire on the part of people

who seek to have our local government act in ways that addresses the deficiencies in planning

provisions and regulations that are the province of another level of government, namely state
government. Aspects of this thinking may be seen in respect of the Kin Kin quarry, for
instance.


This development application is a case in point. Animal welfare issues are legitimate and
emotive. Whatever people might think about the processes of animals being generated,
fattened and slaughtered, provided all animal welfare issues are dealt with, people should
have no objection. One of the furphy issues surrounding this application is that it is a battery

egg production facility; and the council may receive development application objections that
address this matter. They should be rejected. The chickens raised at this proposed facility
will be housed in sheds and will be free to range and forage. Provided the number of chickens
and the space in which they will be housed is commensurate with government legislative and

regulatory requirements,there should be no grounds for objection.

Again, as we have seen at the Kin Kin quarry, the issue of run-off in a high rainfall area is a
legitimate issue. The development application support material states that ’sterilised’manure

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        and floor litter from the sheds will be cleaned out regularly and applied to the avocado trees
        that continue to be part of this farming business. Council officers assessing this application
        need to have regard to the affects of rainwater flowing across land where manure has been

        spread and continuing on into the unfortunately-named Blackfellow Creek. It may be
        appropriate, for instance,to have the developer construct an earth bund that would capture
        any loose material, but would allow water to seep through into the creek. Should more
        stringent measures be considered necessary, the operator could be required to keep a log of
        water quality in the creek. Certainly, the council should require a baseline assessment of the

        Blackfellow Creek water quality to be undertaken, before the chicken facility becomes

        operational, so as to provide data against which any future complaint about adverse impact on
        water quality can be assessed.


        There are fanciful and unsubstantiated claims being made that this proposed facility will be
        detrimental to the local tourism industry. It is hard to see how these claims can stack up,
        unless smells and noise interrupt the enjoyment of bucolic vistas as guests at nearby bed and
        breakfast establishments breathe ’earthy’country air. Trucks on roads in country areas, many

        carrying livestock, and the daily occurrence of’whiffY cattle trains passing through the towns
        of Cooran, Pomona,Cooroy and Eumundi don’t seem to have harmed the tourist image of
        those communities.


        In closing, I re-state that, on balance, this development application should not be rejected. It
        will create jobs and economic prosperity for the Noosa hinterland region. It is consistent with
        the local communities’own strategic economic objectives. Some elements surrounding the

        application require further examination, but can be dealt with sensibly within the normal
        procedures applying to the orderly processing of a development application.



        Yours sincerely



         I~ ~
        BRIAN O’CONNOR
        5 June 2013




        P.O. Box 218
        Gympie
        Queensland 4570