2018-07-10 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                        10 JULY 2018


Other assessment criteria under the Koala SPRP include that the site design provide safe koala
movement opportunities as appropriate to the development type and habitat connectivity values
of the site. The SPRP also requires native vegetation clearing undertaken in a sequential manner
and under the guidance of a koala spotter where the native vegetation is a non-juvenile koala
habitat tree and landscaping activities provide food, shelter and movement opportunities for
koalas consistent with the site design.
As the originating application material did not consider the koala habitat values of the site as
important, it is unlikely the requirements for site design and connectivity for koalas have been
considered in the design and would not be able to meet the criteria.
The site is currently mapped as a Koala Assessable Development Area and whilst offsets are not
applicable, the application requires assessment under the current requirements of the Planning
Regulation 2017. The applicant has not provided an assessment against the current
requirements.
Furthermore, due to the amount of time which has lapsed since the original application was
made, the ecological reports which formed the basis of the original assessment are now out of
date.
Council’s Environment Officer advises that new ecological reports are likely to require
amendment to the layout of the development to address significant vegetation, koala habitat, acid
frog habitat and revisions in the assessment of skink habitat importance.
The Noosa Plan (2006)
Under the Noosa Plan the land is zoned Semi-Attached Housing and Open Space Conservation.
A new application for Multiple Housing Type 4 would be an Impact Assessable application and
would involve assessment against the whole of the planning scheme.
A condition of the development approval requires that part of the site, being land designated at
the time in the Strategic Plan as Open Space – Waterway and Conservation Protection, be
dedicated to the Crown. The effect of this condition is that the development is limited to that part
of the site which is now identified as Semi-Attached Housing. The Noosa Plan’s zoning is
generally reflective of the 1997 Strategic Plan’s designations for the site.
Development of multiple dwelling units is consistent with how the Noosa Plan envisages the
Semi-Attached Zoned land will be developed. The land use is identified as a consistent use
within the Semi-Attached Housing Zone for the site.
The proposed development also remains generally consistent with the design parameters for the
Semi-Attached Housing Zone apart from the maximum gross floor area (GFA). The Noosa Plan
allows a GFA based on the maximum population density x 40m2, which would allow 1621.6m2.
The approved maximum GFA of 1896m2 therefore does not comply.
The development is also not consistent with the overall and specific outcomes of the Noosa Plan
for the natural environment.
Whilst there was similarity in the environmental provisions of the superseded planning scheme
and the Noosa Plan the assessment of the environmental issues is considered outdated and
deficient. This is due to the applicant’s environmental report which Council’s Environment Officer
advises lacks suitable detail and currency to enable a properly informed assessment. The
original ecological report advises the site utilisation by koalas is very low or nil, which is contrary
to contemporary knowledge of the site and locality.
Council’s Environment Officer advises that the site contains significant vegetation and that koalas
use the site as part of a corridor between the Noosa National Park and vegetation stands around
Lake Weyba.
The vegetation protected as part of the original application was primarily at the rear of the site.
The retention of a koala corridor may require additional vegetation within the site to be retained
following a detailed investigation of the koala usage. The retention of this vegetation would have

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