Covering letter

       less of 1 or more koala habitat areas being cleared of native vegetation since 7
       February 2020, disregarding an area cleared of native vegetation if any of
       paragraphs (l) to (p) applies to the clearing
   •   Clause (n) – Development that is or involves operational work that is the clearing of
       native vegetation in a koala habitat area if the clearing (vii) is necessary for essential
       management and is qualifying clearing.

With regard to the exempt development described in Clause (k), no clearing of mapped
core koala habitat is understood to have occurred on the land since 7 February 2020, and
the clearing work required within the mapped core koala habitat to accommodate the
proposed dwelling house and associated outbuildings amounts to less than 500m2.
Accordingly, the proposed residence on the subject land is able to be sited within the 500m2
clearing permitted under Item (k).

Regarding Clause (n)(vii), Schedule 24 of the Planning Regulation 2017 defines essential
management to include clearing native vegetation:
(a) for establishing or maintaining a necessary firebreak to protect infrastructure, other
    than a fence, road or vehicular track, if the maximum width of the firebreak is equal to
    1.5 times the height of the tallest vegetation next to the infrastructure, or 20m,
    whichever is the wider.
(b) for establishing a necessary fire management line, if the maximum width of the clearing
    for the fire management line is 10m.

The bushfire assessment completed for the site confirms that clearing to form an asset
protection zone of 28m width is required to achieve a BAL 19 construction standard under
AS3959. Advice received from SARA confirms that if the vegetation clearing is restricted to
that which is required to facilitate an adequate asset protection zone for the residence, as
determined by the specialist bushfire report, the project will not trigger assessment, as it will
comprise exempt clearing for fire management. The bushfire hazard assessment requires a
cleared area of approximately 670m2 of native vegetation containing core koala habitat to
be cleared to provide an asset protection zone around the proposed dwelling. This is less
than the maximum 1.5 times the height of the mature vegetation permitted under the
Regulation and accordingly, the clearing is able to occur under the exemption for essential
management.

On this basis, the proposed development is not assessable development under State
legislation and therefore referral to the State Assessment Referral Agency is not required.

Under Table 5.5.14 of the Noosa Plan 2020, a dwelling house is accepted development in
the rural residential zone, subject to requirements of the Rural residential code and the
Low density housing code. Section 5.3.3 (2) of the Noosa Plan 2020 states that accepted
development that does not comply with one or more of the acceptable outcomes in the
relevant parts of the applicable codes becomes assessable development, requiring code
assessment unless otherwise specified. As the proposed development seeks to reduce the
side setbacks from 6m to 5m for the proposed house and 3m for the proposed shed under
the Rural residential code, the development will become code assessable. Further, the



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