2017-08-08 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                  08 AUGUST 2017


    Significant public interest grounds exist to support preserving the approval including:
      o     Significant community benefit by way of parkland dedication and construction of
            pedestrian pathway network;
      o     Protection of vegetation areas in perpetuity through parkland dedication and vegetation
            covenants;
      o     Community need for additional range of housing choices and options. It is considered
            that there is a need and market for rural residential development within the Noosaville
            locality having regard to limited areas available for development due to environmental
            constraints.
    Despite some inconsistency with current laws and policies, it is considered that the matters
      discussed above, when considered in context, justify approval of the extension. In addition,
      the dedication of over 52.7ha of the site for open space purposes as required by the approval
      provides significant public interest benefits over and above the benefits that would be
      achieved through the site’s rural zoning. The proposed dedication will facilitate conservation
      and also provide for passive and active recreation opportunities which would not be possible
      without the approval.
2.    SITE DETAILS
2.1. Background
A rezoning application was approved over the site on 1 August 1997, approving a change of the
site’s zoning to Special Residential and permitting the development of a maximum of 80 rural
residential lots and 2 rural lots.
This rezoning was gazetted in 1 May 1998 and has an associated Plan of Development (PoD)
referred to in the superseded planning scheme maps. The PoD established the footprint for future
development and open space areas. It also established the development parameters for the site,
including lot density and lot size.
The rezoning and PoD have now been superseded with the adoption of The Noosa Plan in 2006
and the rezoning approval is no longer current.
Under the rezoning approval, the applicant was required to dedicate a large portion of land for the
Walter Hay Drive road reserve. The POD required a further application to be made to Council for
the subdivision of the land.
An application for subdivision (reconfiguring a lot) was subsequently made on 12 September 2006
for 82 lots plus 1 park lot. The applicant at the time requested that the application be considered
under the superseded planning scheme as provided for under the Integrated Planning Act 1997.
At Council’s Ordinary Meeting on 19 October 2006, Council confirmed that the subsequent
development application for reconfiguration could be assessed against the Superseded Planning
Scheme. In arriving at this decision, Council considered that assessment of the application under
the new (2006 Noosa Plan) may have resulted in a compensation claim arising from the potential
loss of value in the land as a result of the change of zoning from Special Residential to Rural under
the 2006 Noosa Plan.
The application was refused as Council was instructed by the Department of Environment &
Resource Management (as Concurrence Agency) to refuse it. Accordingly, a Decision Notice of
Refusal was issued on 16 November 2009. The decision was appealed through the Planning and
Environment Court.
The proposed Rural Residential development was amended by the appellant during the appeal
process, with the number of residential lots reduced to 49 rural residential and 3 rural allotments.
The final approval granted by way of the Planning and Environment Court Order (Appeal No. 344
of 2009) dated 5 July, 2013 reduced the overall yield to 52 Lots and Park. This approval requires


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