MCU210154

15 October 2021
Attn:  Development Planner
Noosa Council
PO Box 141
Tewantin QLD 4565

Re:  MCU21/0154 – Small Scale Meat Processing

We object very strongly to application MCU21/0154 to operate a meat processing plant in the shed on the owners’ home block at 82 Patterson Drive, Tinbeerwah.
PROTECTED ENVIRONMENT AND FAUNA
The land this home and shed are built on is zoned a RURAL RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBOURHOOD by the Noosa Council, NOT Light Industrial, and is classed as a CORE KOALA HABITAT, and a KOALA PRIORITY HABITAT (see Noosa Plan 2020).
On the DA Form 1, page 9, item 23.5, the owners state that the DA does not involve premises in the koala habitat area in the koala priority area. That is completely untrue.
The property at 82 Patterson Drive shares 2 boundaries with Patterson Park at 96 Patterson Drive, which is zoned ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION/ENVIRONMENT – ENHANCE OR PROTECT, and is classed as a CORE KOALA HABITAT, a KOALA PRIORITY HABITAT, and RIPARIAN BUFFER AREA (see Noosa Plan 2020).
The water from the riparian buffer area in Patterson Park ends up in Lake Macdonald, which is the source of town water for those residents in the Noosa Shire (Noosaville, Tewantin, Noosa Waters, Sunshine Beach, etc).
The owners have already installed four additional water tanks (10,000 litres total) to facilitate the meatworks. Where is this water used for the meatworks going to go? The answer is:  in the ground, because there are NO SEWERAGE SERVICES IN TINBEERWAH. All wastewater ends up in the ground on rural properties.  That will include animal blood, water and bleach that wash the meat and equipment, and any chemicals or salt used in preparing hides. This is not keeping our groundwater and waterways clean for eventual drinking and showering in the Noosa Shire, or for the koalas and other wildlife living in our neighbourhood and Patterson Park.
BOUNDARY SETBACK, NOOSA PLAN 2000
Rural Residential Zone Code states that “buildings used to house animals, temporary holding yards, structures containing areas of animal waste or by-product disposal are not within 100 metres of the boundary of another property in the rural residential zone or any other residential zone “(6.8.4 Rural Residential Zone Code, Table 6.8.4.3 Criteria for Assessment, Boundary setback A06.1(a), Noosa Plan 2020).
The shed at 82 Patterson Drive is located closer than the required 100 metres from the boundaries of 3 personal homes, namely 90 Patterson Drive, 76 Patterson Drive, and 15 Mackay Court. According to the owners’ Town Planning Report, page 8, “the shed is…approximately 50 metres away from the closest adjoining dwelling (90 Patterson Drive).” The residents at 90 Patterson Drive state in their submission that 2 compressors at the shed are keeping them awake most nights. How is that not already impacting the neighbours?
Rural Residential Zone Code also states that “buildings used to house animals, temporary holding yards, structures containing areas of animal water or by-product disposal are not within 100 metres of the boundary of adjoining properties in the environmental management and conservation zone.”
The shed must be set back a MINIMUM of 100 metres from the boundary of adjoining properties in the environmental management and conservation zone (6.8.4 Rural Residential Zone Code, Table 6.8.4.3 Criteria for Assessment, Boundary setback A06.1(c), Noosa Plan 2020). It is not. The shed at 82 Patterson Drive is located closer than the required 100 metres and shares two borders with Riparian Buffer Area Patterson Park.
The truck that the owner has already fitted with a rack to transport the deer back to his home is completely open, with a rack set higher than the cab, where the eviscerated deer will be strung up and exposed, completely visible to people as he drives through the streets of Tinbeerwah. Is that sanitary, or something families in a residential neighbourhood should have to see? And how is that not impacting wildlife, leaving a trail of blood and the smell of death all the way back to his home? We have spotted koalas in our backyard, and have koala marks on lots of our gum trees. We are supposed to protect them, this is not the way to do it. 82 Patterson Drive is located in a Core Koala Habitat, and a Koala Priority Habitat. This is no place for a meat processing plant. That’s exactly why we have industrial areas set up just 10 minutes from here, in Noosaville and Cooroy, where they have access to town water and town sewerage.
How does the owner propose to transport the dead deer from his truck to his shed by himself as a single operator? Will he have to drag the bloody animals along the rural residential drive to his shed, within sight of his neighbours, a mere 50 metres away? The children at 90 Patterson have already seen him washing blood off a deer carcass. It is absurd to think that this could even be seriously considered in a residential neighbourhood.
The owners at 82 Patterson Drive are applying to develop their shed into a meatworks (“Belinda Neilson and Adam Neilson are seeking to convert the existing shed into a small-scale meat processing shed”), but by the photos they submitted to Noosa Council, and in their Development Intent, “the shed has been retrofitted to be utilised by the applicant”), so they have already done it WITHOUT APPROVAL. They have done extensive retrofitting to the shed, installed 3-phase power, a grease trap, four 2500-litre water tanks, and increased their onsite sewerage. That is quite a lot of expense for just 5 deer a week.
Allowing a meatworks to be conducted with no sewerage services being so close to a Riparian Buffer Zone that carries water to Lake Macdonald seems ludicrous to us. Please do not allow this to happen. We would categorically state that the proposal is NOT consistent with the Noosa Plan 2020, which exists to protect citizens like us, residents on the Sunshine Coast for 16 years, and respectfully ask the Noosa Council to deny this Development Application.
Thank you for considering our opinion on this application.
Regards,
Lynn Sessler and Roger Koller
e:  [email protected]
45 Mackay Court, Tinbeerwah