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01022023 Cox & Pisarski re MCU 220118
Attached to the e-mail PM Submission - Leonie Cox & Adrian Pisarski - MCU22/0118.
To the Assessment Manager
Noosa Council
www.noosa.qld.gov.au
PO Box 141 Tewantin Qld. 4565.
Submission re:
File No.: MCU 22/0118
Address of Land for proposed development: MCU 22/0118 at 94 and 142 Noosa Drive, Noosa
Heads.
Full Name of Submitters:
Dr Leonie Cox [email protected]
12 The Quarterdeck Noosa Heads Qld 4567.
Mr Adrian Pisarski [email protected]
12 The Quarterdeck Noosa Heads Qld 4567.
We make the following submission:
The Mayor Clare Stewart and Councillors were chosen by ballot to speak and stand for the interests
of the Noosa residents and to look after the interests of Noosa Shire more broadly. Planning officers
are employed to serve Council in this work, and to assess applications such as this MCU, in terms of
the provisions of the Noosa Plan 2020. The proposal includes the construction of 16 Eco-Cabins for
short term accommodation (STA) with a pond and various other forms of infrastructure.
This proposed Material Change of Use application MCU 22/0118 at 94 and 142 Noosa Drive, Noosa
Heads should be rejected because:
Contrary to the interests of the local community, this MCU application does not meet community
expectations of Council decision-making about:
1. the conversation of koalas and enrichment of koala habitat in the Noosa Shire
2. the safety, comfort, and enjoyment of rate-paying residents
1.
Council’s Koala Conservation Plan identifies several specific actions to help conserve koalas in Noosa
which are directly threatened by this MCU 22/0118, including:
• Protecting and enhancing koala habitat
• Supporting research into the health, distribution and abundance of koalas across the Shire
The SPRP (State Planning Regulatory Provisions) Management Program 2006-2016 and the Koala-
sensitive Design Guideline: A guide to koala- sensitive design measures for planning and development
activities seek to inform decision makers on development and include:
• avoiding, minimising or offsetting the clearing of non-juvenile koala habitat trees
• site design that provides safe koala movement opportunities appropriate to the
development type and habitat connectivity values of the site
Again, this proposed development cannot meet these standards and directly contravenes them. The
plan to build these in a piece of rainforest which is a well-known Koala habitat will decimate the
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resident Koala population and create further anguish for residents. How can this proposal be even
considered when Noosa has a Koala Conservation Plan in place to help bring back wild koalas in the
Noosa Biosphere Reserve and when they are listed as endangered?
There is an 80% decline in the number of koalas across Southeast Queensland in the last ten years.
Council’s own site notes that habitat loss is one of the main problems in the ongoing human
destruction of koalas. There are few opportunities to preserve koalas in the wild in Southeast
Queensland. The Mayor and the councillors have such an opportunity in rejecting this proposal.
2.
Council approval of such a proposal can only weaken the residents’ confidence and trust in Council
and the hope we hold about their capacity to project residents’ interests in maintaining the
attractiveness and comfort of the area we have chosen to make our home and for which we pay
rates.
Therefore, this proposal should be rejected since, over the past 4 years we and our fellow residents
have experienced the destruction of our residential amenity with the expansion of Short-Term
Accommodation in our streets across the Shire.
It is impossible to build community or enjoy our homes when a significant proportion of houses in
areas designated as residential:
• are populated by a never-ending parade of people who are there for two or three days only
to be soon replaced by another group in party mode
• encourage visitors who have no long-term interest in the community and do not pay rates
• host constant parties with streams of strangers roaming the streets at all hours
• have street scapes ruined by rubbish bins being put out any day of the week and left out all
week
• experience constant noise pollution from leaf-blowers and the like
• have a constant steam of maintenance and other traffic impacting on noise, parking and
safety
Those who have turned their houses into STA profits, both leally and illegally, have no interest in
actual residents’ amenity. These conditions result in alienation, stress and anxiety in our own homes
where we should be able to build community and find peace and safety. The plan to build 16 STA
Eco- Cabins near to our homes will make these matters more acute for voting resident ratepayers.
This proposal is in no way beneficial or acceptable to the residents of Noosa Shire who live, work and
raise families here and who care about the wildlife sharing this special place with us. Will Noosa
Mayor and councillors explain to our grandchildren why they opted to allow it?
If Noosa Mayor and Councillors have a social conscience, they cannot possibly approve this
development application.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Leonie Cox and Mr Adrian Pisarski.
1st February, 2023.
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