2018-07-10 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                      10 JULY 2018


to set fees for mooring in the river. Council (as manager of anchoring and living on board) would
also not have the ability to consider establishing fees for living on the river and anchoring in the
river. In addition, the State has already advised Council cannot be authorised under the Land Act
to take on management of the commercial jetty leases. This includes the associated lease
revenue.
Both these instances if they don’t eventuate negate the opportunity to recover costs for the
establishment of a new service in Council i.e. the establishment of a dedicated River
Management Unit to coordinate and implement the River Plan.
Regardless of the transfer of the management responsibilities for anchoring, mooring and living
on the river, the River Management Unit will require resources to establish an ongoing, regular
presence with authority on-river.
The proposed responsibilities of the Unit include conducting education and compliance activities
of the Noosa River Marine Zones and Exclusion Zone for migratory shorebird habitat protection;
as well as investigations into sewage and other contaminants released from vessels, and
unauthorised uses of public foreshores and boat ramps, and be a first-response to complaints
and emerging issues such as illegal camping on islands, dumping of rubbish and unauthorised
structures in declared fish habitat areas and on public foreshores.
In addition, the Unit will pursue legislative changes to prohibit long term unattended anchoring in
the river to reduce the number of vessels being abandoned and legislative changes to further
restrict speed limits in the lower estuary.
The annual cost associated with the River Management Unit is averaged at $172,200 /pa. The
cost of implementing all actions in the Draft River Plan (including the River Management Unit) is
currently estimated at $2,235M / 5 years.
Without transfer of State management responsibilities, this cost may result in an impact on
general rates and potentially the Environment, Tourism and Heritage Levies. These funding
mechanisms could potentially provide investment in river plan coordination, programs and
projects if alternative revenue sources cannot cover all costs.
There are a number of opportunities for alternative funding opportunities involving collaboration
and partnerships, many existing initiatives have resulted in a number of partner projects already
underway which are highlighted in the Draft River Plan.
These include the Bring Back the Fish and Keep it in Kin Kin partner projects which incorporate
financial and in-kind investments by local groups, philanthropic organisations, Council and in
some instances also leverage opportunistic State and/or Federal grants.

Consultation
External Consultation - Community & Stakeholder
Targeted external stakeholder consultation outlined in Table 1 of the Community Engagement
Plan attached has been undertaken over the past 12 months and has informed the development
of the Draft River Plan.
The attached Community Engagement Plan further outlines proposed consultation during the
public exhibition period of one month.
Internal Consultation
All relevant areas of Council have been consulted and involved in the development of the Draft
River Plan.
Internal stakeholder consultation is further outlined in detail in Table 1 of the Community
Engagement Plan attached.




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