2016-12-12 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                            12 DECEMBER 2016


Ordinary Meeting, 22 October 2015, Item 7, Page 8
That Council note the report by the Environment Officer (Rivers and Coast) to the Planning &
Organisation Committee Meeting dated 13 October 2015 and:
A. Confirm support for the establishment of a small scale pilot oyster reef restoration project to
build further knowledge in this area of aquatic restoration of the Noosa Estuary; and
B. Agree to provide in kind technical support to the Thomas Foundation for the development of a
detailed project proposal.

Finance & Risk

Noosa Council’s Governance Advisor is currently seeking advice from Council’s insurer LGM
regarding any cost implications associated with indemnifying the state from any costs associated
with the project. At the time of writing this report no comment had been received, however, a
verbal update will be provided to Council at the General Committee meeting.

With respect to the costs of removal of any unsuccessful units, Thomas Schlacher, on behalf of
USC, has verbally agreed to cover the full cost of any necessary removal of the reef restoration
units.

The costs of signage are estimated to be around $30,000 (2 signs per site). Monitoring activities
will be performed by the University of the Sunshine Coast.

There will be some administrative burden associated with the project due to Council being the
nominated contact reference on the signage, including maintaining a register of comments and/or
complaints.

With respect to the above, formal agreements will need to be developed between Council and
the relevant project partners to ensure clarity with respect to parties’ respective obligations,
financial contributions and to protect Council’s interests.

Provided that suitable agreements can be made, or bonds sought from the project partners to
indemnify the Council from any costs associated with the project, the risk associated with the
project would be considered acceptable and beneficial in terms of demonstrating Noosa
Council’s commitment to The Noosa Plan Environmental Sector Vision which states:

The Noosa community has a commitment to environmental excellence and sustainability. The
impact of human settlement has been minimised. We manage, maintain, restore and preserve
our natural environment of:
a)    biodiversity of flora and fauna;
b)    air;
c)    land;
d)    water; and
e)    forests and other ecosystems.

Restoration of oyster reefs that were anthropogenically removed in the pioneering days of Noosa,
will deliver community benefit in accordance with the Environmental Sector Vision of the Noosa
Plan, which is to restore natural environments impacted by Human Settlement.




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