2014-05-20 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                       20 MAY 2014


No response has been received to the submission, but it is noted from the amendments made in
Parliament on 7 May that the transitional provisions have now been removed and in their place a
transitional regulation making power inserted. The transitional regulation has not been provided
to councils at this stage.

3.    Unitywater Interim Connections Policy

The Interim Connections Policy includes a set of rules which prescribes the application
categories for water and sewerage connections and the criteria for making and assessing
applications. The Interim Connections Policy is included as Attachment 2. The Policy includes
the following contents

1.    Definitions and maps which describe the:
      a) Connections Area
      b) Future Connections Area
2.    Criteria and conditions of each type of connections with the Connections Area and Future
      Connections Area.
3.    Criteria for connections outside of the Connections Area and Future Connections area
4.    The way to apply for a connection. Three connection types:
      a) Standard Connections
      b) Staged Connections
      c) Other Connections
5.    Time frames to decide connection applications.
6.    Conditions for when a water approval lapses.
7.    Requirements for construction maintenance and defects liability.

The endorsement by the participating councils of the Interim Connections Policy for
commencement on 1 July 2014 is a statutory requirement for distributer-retailers for which no
default regime is currently provided.

Unitywater have requested that Council endorse the policy as being consistent with Noosa’s
planning assumptions or request changes. Under the DRA Council may also refuse to endorse
the policy.

Noosa’s Priority Infrastructure Plan includes the current planning assumptions, which comprises
assumptions about the type, scale, location and timing of future development and growth for
Noosa based on the current Noosa Plan. The Interim Connections Policy includes maps of
Unitywater’s Connection Areas, Future Connection Areas and Restricted Connection Areas. The
mapped Connection Areas and Future Connection Areas align with the Priority Infrastructure
Area identified in Noosa’s Priority Infrastructure Plan.

However, the Interim Connections Policy also maps parts of the Shire as Restricted Connection
Areas including properties located outside the Priority Infrastructure Area but where a connection
exists for a single dwelling house and National Parks and beach foreshore areas where there
may be an existing amenity facility. The proposed mapping for these private properties
satisfactorily distinguishes these properties from those properties in the Connection area, but it is
also important that additional wording be included in the Policy to clearly identify that the
connection right is only for a single residential dwelling. Further including conservation lands
creates a misleading impression and should be excluded from the mapped areas altogether.
There are some other minor anomalies in the mapping that require amendment.

The Interim Connections Policy currently does not address the type, scale, location and timing of
future development. Unitywater have advised that it is intended to incorporate this detail in the
Water Netserv Plan.



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