2022-12-12 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                              12 DECEMBER 2022


The reserve was originally gazetted on 12 June 1948. Key milestones since that time include:
Late 1970s     Three runways were established
1981 – 2005    Trustee Lease with Roelef & Marrianne Barrink over a hangar area
2006 – 2009    Trustee Permit with Noosa Model Flyers (over the former Barrink hangar area)
2015 – 2021    Trustee Permits with Noosa Model Flyers
2015 – 2021    Trustee Leases with Sunshine Coast Sports Aviators (formerly the Sunshine Coast
               Hang Gliders Club)
Existing infrastructure on the site includes three grass runways and two hangars. As noted above,
there is a history of community sporting club use at the site. The Sunshine Coast Sports Aviators
(SCSA) and Noosa Model Flyers Inc. (NMF) presence at the facility are understood to have
commenced during the Barrink lease period. Both clubs remain active at the site and each has
held tenure over the respective hangars owned by their clubs. SCSA most recently held a 3-year
Trustee Lease and NMF held a 3-year Trustee Permit. Both tenures expired in November 2021.
SCSA was issued a 5-year lease in November 2021 but have not executed that lease. NMF’s
tenure renewal has been in abeyance pending SCSA’s lease execution, as that lease establishes
future management and maintenance responsibility frameworks for the site’s shared runways.
Various issues have arisen during Council’s trustee oversight of use of the reserve. Issues have
included: significant ongoing external aviation pressures from helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft;
noise complaints from Noosa North Shore and Teewah residents; disagreements between the
resident community clubs; disagreements over airstrip maintenance and safety obligations; Civil
Aviation Safety Authority investigations into aviation complaints and safety incidents; and unlawful
vegetation clearing for a fourth east-west runway (between approximately 2010-2019).
The issue of the transfer of all or part of the site into National Park also has an extensive history
which is discussed further in Section 5 of this report.
Request to Relinquish Trusteeship
The Department of Resources (DoR) wrote to Council on 11 July 2022 advising the Department of
Environment & Science (DES) is seeking to acquire the reserve for inclusion in the surrounding
National Park - see Attachment 1. The request states:
To progress the transitioning of the land to National Park, the department is seeking your written
confirmation that Council is prepared to relinquish trusteeship of the reserve to allow DES to be
appointed as the new trustee. DES will then consult with the community and the community groups
on future uses which ensures protection of the long term values and needs of the area.
Further detail about the request was sought from DoR, which was provided by DES in its letter
dated 15 August 2022. See Attachment 2. DES states:
This lot was identified for acquisition, and inclusion in the Cooloola National Park, in 1992 and has
been subsequently confirmed in management planning documents and reports as being beneficial
to management of the greater national park estate if gazetted as protected area.
The Department of Environment and Science has prepared a report (attached) on the values of
Lot 7, including habitat values, fire management efficiencies, improved risk management and
consistent management framework for the Cooloola Section Great Sandy National Park to provide
to Department of Resources and NSC.
DES’s Summary of Natural Values and Risks Report accompanying its letter is included as
Attachment 3. The report outlines the site’s history, its significant environmental values and the
management outcomes DES seeks to achieve through the acquisition.
3.     Legal Advice
Legal advice has been obtained from King and Company solicitors – see Attachment 4. It
indicates the proposal to relinquish Council’s trusteeship is within Ministerial powers under the
Land Act and appears appropriately founded on an intent to better manage the site’s environmental
values and “appears to presage support for anticipated reinvigoration of the (hitherto dormant)


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