2021-05-11 Planning & Environment Committee Meeting Agenda

PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                     11 MAY 2021


REPORT
1.    BACKGROUND
A development approval for a Food and drink outlet was issued on 10 December 2020 under
delegated authority.
The applicant suspended the appeal period on 20 January 2021 and made representations on 16
February 2021 to the development approval conditions. The representations primarily relate to the
conditioned operating hours, the requirement for no amplified music and finish requirements for
planter boxes.
The application was required to follow a code assessment process and so was not required to be
publicly notified for comment from the community.
2.    ASSESSMENT
An assessment in relation to each of the submitted representations is provided below:
Condition 3 – Operating Hours
3.    The approved use must not operate outside the hours of:
      a.    6am to 10pm Sunday to Thursday
      b.    6am to 12am Friday and Saturday
Applicant’s Representation
The applicant requests that the hours of operation be amended to be consistent with the
surrounding restaurants which may operate on any night until 12am.
Arcadia Walk is a one way street that currently supports a number of restaurants and commercial
tenancies. Many of the restaurants in the street were established without the need for a planning
approval as they had existing lawful use rights and as a result there are no conditions of approval
limiting the hours of operation for these restaurants. Other restaurants that were required to obtain
an approval, including the site directly adjoining the subject premises, have the ability to operate
until 12am on any given day.
The condition is considered unreasonable and places the premises in a compromised situation
where surrounding premises have an unfair advantage in terms of trade. The hours of operation
make it difficult for the subject premises to compete with adjoining premises in the street or
comfortably accommodate two seatings.
There are also many periods over the year when premises experience higher than normal demand
and may operate after 10pm during the week including:
     School holidays
     Long weekends
     Special event weekends such as the Noosa Tri, Eat and Drink festival, cycling events/car
      shows/Melbourne Cup etc.
The applicant also notes that many hospitality staff do not work normal office hours have varying
work rosters and may work up to 7pm or 8pm 7 days a week which generally equates to resort
reception closing times. On average these hospitality workers head to Noosa Junction for the food
and outdoor dining options and may not arrive until after 8pm.
The outdoor dining area which triggered the requirement for an application has an area of 24m 2
and is partially under the existing eave of the buildings. The location of the subject area, existing
commercial buildings, roadways and car parking areas will assist in minimising any impacts of
patrons dining on the surrounding residential areas. The premises are approximately 133m from
residential development in Bottlebrush Avenue, 218m from dwellings in Wyandra Street and 207m
from dwellings in Berrima Row and no amplified music is proposed. See Figure 1 below.


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