MCU14/0106 & OPW15/0001 Town Planning Report & Appendix A Code Compliance

                                                                                                          Town Planning Report
                           28 Eenie Creek Road, Noosaville and parts of the road reserves of Hofmann Drive and Walter Hay Drive



The Visitor Mixed Use Zone, along Gympie Terrace, provides for business uses that directly service visitors
accommodated in the immediate area and foreshore users
Noosa Heads (Hastings Street) is included in the Visitor Mixed Use Zone and is intended to service visitors to
the Shire with their day to day needs.
Noosa Junction includes a business centre which is intended to accommodate significant retail business, as
well as commercial, entertainment, dining, and community uses. The intent for Noosa Junction is to provide
residents and visitors with a range of goods and services, including some higher order services, in a manner
that does not detract from the role of the SBC as the principal business centre for Noosa.
Tewantin is a retail centre which serves the locality and wider hinterland, but also higher order non-retail
services including significant employment and administrative services.
In terms of retail services, all centres are subordinate to the SBC. Whilst some centres, including Noosa
Junction and Tewantin, provide some limited higher order services, those services are broadly limited to
service the immediate needs of nearby residents and visitors.
As demonstrated by the Retail Need Assessment prepared by Urbis (Appendix J – Retail Need Assessment
to this report), the other centres in the hierarchy, particularly supermarkets, are trading very strongly and are
expected to be very resilient.
Whilst all centres will be affected to some degree by the proposed development upon opening in 2018, all
centres are expected to achieve growth at least equivalent to the rate of inflation, if not more.
Further, the role and function of each of the centres within the network are not expected to be affected by the
proposed development.

7.3           Alternative Development Scenarios
The applicant has undertaken a significant amount of alternative scenario and option testing to determine the
most appropriate form of development on the site. The scenarios all proposed the provision of retail floor space
to satisfy community demand, but they varied in layout, access, treatment of open space and composition of
additional uses.
A range of businesses and industries were consulted to determine the level of interest for non-retail
development on the site, including education uses (universities and TAFE), commercial uses, entertainment
uses (cinema operators), hospitality providers (hotel and conference facilities; serviced apartment operators)
and health and wellbeing facilities. Those inquiries indicated that there was limited to no interest in the SBC.
These inquiries are reinforced by continued vacancies within the existing commercial buildings on the site.
The current development proposal was selected as the most appropriate for the site as it is broadly compliant
with The Noosa Plan because it:
         maintains the intended Map SBC layout;
         allows for the completion of the internal loop road,
         creates substantial future development sites fronting the ring road and gateway locations which can
          accommodate Noosa’s future non-retail needs;
         promotes the environmental drainage function of Covenant J, and
         offers the opportunity to create a civic ‘heart’ at the northern end of the expansion area.
The proposal is structurally robust and substantially compliant with The Noosa Plan. It can accommodate a
range of future uses to meet the needs of the community and does not fetter, but facilitates, the ability of the
SBC to achieve its role and function within the hierarchy of centres.

7.4           Visual Amenity and Landscape Strategy
A detailed Visual Impact Assessment has been prepared by Cardno (refer to Appendix I – Visual Amenity /
Landscape Integration Report to this report) to assess the impacts of the proposed development on the
visual environment of the local area.



December 2014                                          Cardno HRP                                                           61