Council Planning Report MCU17/0020

mcu17/0020 - DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION FOR A MATERIAL CHANGE OF USE FOR ANIMAL HUSBANDRY TYPE 1 (AQUACULTURE) AT 3 SANDERS STREET, NOOSAVILLE

Document information

Author	Coordinator Planning, Patrick Murphy
Planning & Infrastructure Department

Index	ECM/ Application/ MCU17/0020

Attachments	1.	Locality Plan
2.	Proposal Plans

APPLICATION DETAILS
Applicant	Martoo Consulting
Proposal	Development Permit for Material Change of Use of Premises - Animal Husbandry Type 2 - Intensive Aquaculture
Properly Made Date	14 March 2017
Information Request Date	4 April 2017
Information Response Date	18 April 2017
Decision Due Date	21 June 2017
Number of Submissions	No submissions

PROPERTY DETAILS
Property Address	3 Sanders Street Noosaville
RP Description	Lot 250 CP 839190
Land Area	1855 Square Metres
Existing Use of Land	Industrial Units

STATUTORY DETAILS
SEQRP Designation	Urban Footprint
Locality	Noosaville
Zone	Industry
Overlays	Natural Hazard Overlay: Potential Acid Sulphate Soils
Assessment Type	Impact

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Coordinator Planning to the Planning & Environment Committee Meeting dated 11 July 2017 regarding Application No. MCU17/0020 for a Development Permit for Animal Husbandry Type 2 (Intensive Aquaculture) situated at 3 Sanders Street, Noosaville and:
A.	Approve the application in accordance with the following conditions:
PLANNING
When Conditions must be Complied With
Unless otherwise stated, all conditions of this Decision Notice must be complied with prior to the use commencing, and then compliance maintained at all times while the use continues.
Approved Plans
Development undertaken in accordance with this approval must generally comply with the approved plans of development. The approved plans are listed in the following table unless otherwise amended by these conditions.
Drawing No.	Plan/Document Name	Date
0104	Hatchery Site Plan drawn by Bobbie Tomlinson	3 March 2017
Site Access and Driveways
A sealed access driveway must be provided from Sanders Street to all parking and manoeuvring areas of the development.
Car Parking
A minimum of 6 car parking spaces must be provided and marked on the site and made available and accessible at all times while the use is open for business. The works must include in particular:
5 staff parking spaces within the total, which are clearly marked for that purpose
Dimensions, crossfalls and gradients in accordance with the relevant Australian Standards (AS/NZS2890.1:2004 and AS2890.2:2002)
All vehicles must enter and exit the site in a forward gear.
All car parking areas and access driveways must be maintained exclusively for vehicle parking and manoeuvring and kept in a tidy and safe condition at all times.
Suitable signage must be provided to clearly indicate the staff spaces, customer spaces and the service vehicle area.
Service Vehicles
Service vehicle parking, manoeuvring and standing spaces must be provided on the site. The works must be generally in accordance with the approved plans.
Stormwater Drainage
Stormwater runoff from the development must be discharged to the existing stormwater drainage system.
Damage to Services and Assets
Any damage caused to existing services and assets as a result of the development works must be repaired at no cost to the asset owner at the following times:
where the damage would cause a hazard to pedestrian or vehicle safety, immediately; or
where otherwise, upon completion of the works associated with the development.
Any repair work which proposes to alter the alignment or level of existing services and assets must first be referred to the relevant service authority for approval.
Amenity
The development must not create detrimental impacts on the amenity of the area due to the creation of excessive noise, odour nuisance or other emissions.
The development shall incorporate suitable mechanical ventilation, filtration systems or the like to manage the risk of ingress airborne pollutants from any surrounding industrial uses.
Landscaping
A minimum of 15% of the site must be landscaped with a species mix and density reflective of the local variant of the Regional Ecosystem. The landscaping must include a 6 metre wide landscaping strip along the Sanders Street road frontage of the subject site, exclusive of the access driveways, generally uncompromised by infrastructure items.
Environmental Health
Contaminants or contaminated water must not be directly or indirectly released from the Premises to surface water or groundwater at or outside the Premises except for:
uncontaminated overland stormwater flow; or
uncontaminated stormwater to the stormwater system.
The Operator must ensure that:
maintenance and cleaning of equipment (including, but not limited to, vehicles and plant) is carried out in an area where contaminants cannot be released into stormwater drainage, a roadside gutter, water or onto unsealed ground;
any spillage of contaminants is cleaned up immediately by a method other than hosing, sweeping or otherwise releasing the contaminants into stormwater drainage, a roadside gutter or water; and
incident rainfall and overland flow of stormwater does not contact contaminants (for example, areas with contaminants should be roofed or be protected by diversion drains).
All fish tank areas must be bunded so that the capacity of the bund is sufficient to contain at least one hundred and ten percent (110%) of the largest storage tank plus ten percent (10%) of the second largest tank within the bund.
B.	Find the following are sufficient grounds to justify the decision despite the conflict with the Planning Scheme:
1.	The aquaculture use is similar in nature to an industrial processing operation and is appropriately located within an existing industrial premise.
2.	The development is compatible with and will not negatively impact on the existing businesses in the area.

REPORT
PROPOSAL
The application seeks approval for a Development Permit for a Material Change of Use for Aquaculture (Animal Husbandry Type 2 – Intensive Aquaculture). The use is proposed to be within an existing industrial unit situated at 3 Sanders Street, Noosaville.
The proposal involves the use of the existing shed to grow native saltwater fish for live trade within a series of above ground tanks. The tanks will have a combined total of 243m2 within and around the existing sheds.
The proposal builds on the existing aquaculture facility at 15 Production Street Noosaville. There have been no complaints or concerns raised regarding the operation of this facility.
The report submitted with the application provides for the following information regarding the nature and scale of operation:
Saltwater is delivered to the site via a water tanker from the private Mill Street ‘marine facility’ at Noosaville. The saltwater is then filtered through the various aquaculture tanks. The species of fish to be grown at the site are:
Giant Grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus)
Barramundi (Lates calcarifer)
Flowery Cod (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus)
Cobia (Rachycentron canadum)
Barramundi Cod (Cromileptes altivelis)
Maori Wrass (Cheilinus undulates)
Mud crab (Scylla serrata)
Not all of the species listed will be cultured at once, with the Giant Grouper being the preferred species. After being used for the fish, the effluent water is deposited into Unitywater’s sewer network.
The business currently employs 4 staff (including the owner), and live fish deliveries occurs approximately twice a week at the Production Street site. The expanded site is likely to require a maximum of 5 staff onsite at any one time, with daily deliveries to the other factory and to fish markets for live trade. Because the site is not open for public sales, there will be limited clients visiting the site.
The hours of operation proposed are 24 hours per day 7 days a week, with staff on site commonly between 7am-7pm daily, however, there may be a need for staff to be working outside of these hours in case of emergencies. Any fish mortalities will be recorded and stored in the onsite freezer until the Council rubbish day when they will be removed from the freezer and placed in the Council bins to be disposed of appropriately. In the event of a large mortality event the dead fish will be loaded into a truck lined with plastic and taken to the Local Noosa landfill site.
A trade waste permit has been obtained from Unitywater.
site details
The site contains two buildings and includes loading, truck turning and a car parking area which can accommodate up to 16 cars adjacent to the building. The front building has a gross floor area of 390m2 (including a 25m2 mezzanine) whilst the rear building is 350m2 in area.
The site adjoins industrial lots which contain similar sized sheds.
Attachments 1 and 2 detail a locality plan and proposal plans.
assessment
Instruments for Statutory Assessment
Under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 the application must be assessed against each of the following statutory planning instruments to the extent they are relevant to the development:
State Planning Policies;
the South East Queensland Regional Plan;
State Planning Regulatory Provisions; and
the Planning Scheme for the local government area.
Of these, the statutory planning instruments relevant to this application are discussed in the sections that follow.
State and Other Statutory Instruments
The site is located within the urban footprint area of the SEQ Regional Plan. The proposal is consistent with the regional policies of the SEQ Regional Plan.
Statutory Instruments – Planning Scheme
The subject site is located in the Noosaville Locality and is zoned Industry. The proposed use is identified as an inconsistent use within the zone and is required to follow an impact assessable application process.
Locality Provisions
The Overall Outcomes of the Noosaville Industry zone seek for new uses to be compatible with surrounding development, with land in this zone generally reserved for industrial uses to the exclusion of incompatible uses including residential, community and office type businesses.
The proposed land use is generally confined to the use of large holding tanks within an existing industrial building. There will be no visible evidence of the aquaculture tanks from the street.
It is considered that the proposed use is similar to other production businesses within the industrial area and it will be consistent with surrounding industrial uses in terms of waste and traffic impacts.
Land Use, Works & Overlay Provisions
The following codes which regulate land use and design are most applicable to this application:
Agricultural Uses Code
Business Uses Code
Engineering Works Codes
Natural Hazards Overlay Code
The application has been assessed against each of the above applicable codes and generally complies with each, with further discussion provided below.
Agricultural Uses Code
The Probable Solutions of the Agricultural Uses Code details minimum lot sizes and setbacks for aquaculture ponds, however these solutions generally relate to open ponds in rural areas which adjoin residential uses. The proposed aquaculture business is contained within existing industrial units with minimal external impacts.
The application does propose three 50,000 water storage tanks site externally. These tanks will be situated between the two existing buildings adjacent to the northern side boundary. Tanks of this size generally have a height of approximately 3.5 metres The siting of these tanks is not considered to be unreasonable.
The development is unlikely to cause significant adverse impacts on adjoining industrial uses and is consistent with the Outcomes of the code.
Business Uses Code
The operation of the proposed use will generally require a maximum of 5 employees at the premises at any one time.
As there are 16 car parking spaces on the site it is considered that the proposed development includes sufficient car parking. Driveway areas adequately accommodate small truck deliveries and pick up.
The use of the open areas adjacent to the sheds is within an existing concrete storage area and does not impact on any existing landscaping on the site.
The system is a closed system so the water in the tanks will not be impacted by pollutants from nearby industries.
Conditions are recommended for appropriate management of any contaminants or contaminated water to manage the risk of pollutants on the stormwater system and any surrounding industrial uses.
cONSULTATION
IDAS Referral Agencies
The application was referred to the State Agency Referral Agency for the following matters:
Concurrence
Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning
The Department is a concurrence agency for certain aquaculture. The Department responded on the 27 May 2017 with conditions to be attached to any development approval. The conditions include limits on species type, pond size and management of the aquaculture business.
On 1 June 2017 the permit applicant made representations to the department under section 320(1) of the Act requesting that the department amend its concurrence agency response under section 290(1)(b)(i) of the Act.
The department considered the written representations and agreed to issue an amended concurrence agency response.
The effect of the amended responded is that a condition limiting the pond area to a maximum of 243m2 was removed and replaced with a requirement that the facility be carried out generally in accordance with the approved plan.
Public Notification
The application was publicly notified for 15 business days in accordance with the Sustainable Planning Act 2009. No submissions were received.
conclusion
The proposed Agriculture Use - Type 1 (Aquaculture) within existing industrials unit in the Noosaville Industry zone is an inconsistent use within the zone, but does not raise any significant planning concerns.
The holding tanks for the proposed aquaculture business are contained within an existing industrial unit, and the development is generally compatible with other industrial type businesses within the locality. The system is a closed system so the water in the tanks will not be impacted by pollutants from nearby industries. The application is recommended for approval, with grounds identified to overcome the planning conflict included in the recommendation.

Departments/Sections Consulted:
	Chief Executive Officer	X	Community Services		Corporate Services
	Executive Officer to the Mayor & CEO		Community Facilities		Financial Services
	Executive Support		Community Development		ICT
			Libraries & Galleries		Procurement & Fleet
			Local Laws		Property & Facilities
			Waste & Environmental Health		Revenue Services
					
	Executive Office		Planning & Infrastructure		
	Community Engagement		Building & Plumbing Services		
	Customer Service		Civil Operations		
	Economic Development		Infrastructure Planning & Design		
	Governance		Planning & Environment		
	Human Resources		Strategic Land Use Planning		
	Sustainability				

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PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING REPORT	11 JULY 2017

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PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING REPORT	11 JULY 2017