2020-02-17 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                 17 FEBRUARY 2020


3.    ASSESSMENT

Koala Habitat – Planning Regulation and State Planning Policy
The applicant acknowledges that Council’s assessment will necessarily address the Planning
Regulation and State Planning Policy requirements for koala habitat however they remain of the
view that there is no significant residual impact resulting from vegetation clearing works on the
site. This view is based on the previous dedication of land for the purpose of open space and
recreation at the time that Stage 1 was developed.
Council officers maintain that the application does not comply with both the Planning Regulation
2017 and the State Planning Policy. These are new state requirements that address the decline
in the koala population and habitat and the previous dedication of land does not fully address the
residual impact of the new development. Given the size of the land and location of suitable non-
juvenile koala food trees, koalas are likely to utilise the area for feeding purposes. The Planning
Regulation 2017 requires development to avoid clearing non-juvenile koala habitat trees, and
where clearing cannot be avoided, the clearing is minimised with unavoidable clearing offset.
The koala habitat offset has now been assessed as being $1,149,428, after further refinement by
officers of the area requiring to be assessed.
As a consequence of the existing Infrastructure Agreement conditions cannot be included for a
monetary offset to koala habitat, therefore the proposal is unable to comply with the relevant
koala habitat assessment benchmarks. To comply with the state requirements the current
infrastructure agreement would need to be varied through a deed of variation.
Bushfire Management
The applicant has amended the survey and bushfire management plans in response to concerns
regarding bushfire management.
The area previously identified as lots 23 - 25 is now a single lot and it is proposed that a
secondary emergency access be provided via the existing Energex easement to travel north and
connect with Eenie Creek Road. A letter of support from Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services
(QPWS) was provided however made no reference to specific plans or types of works supported.
Engineering plans detailing the access were provided on 29 January 2020 and provided to
QPWS who expressed concern with the proposed alignment of the emergency access track and
associated earthworks. Further concerns relate to practical issues associated with connecting the
emergency access track with the Eenie Creek Road and the proposed route of the track running
adjacent to vegetation which has the potential to be subject to bushfire.
However, an alternative solution has been identified which is supported by Council’s consulting
traffic engineer and bushfire expert. The alternate route provides a second emergency access in
the south-west of the site to Walter Hay Drive. The access requires removal of vegetation within
the Open Space Precinct at the site’s frontage and modification of the central median strip within
the internal road to allow vehicles to exit the site in a westerly direction, away from potential fires.
The alternative solution has been raised with the applicant who has advised that they are
supportive of conditions to this effect. Notably though Council is stopped from conditioning these
works by the current Infrastructure Agreement as the works are external to the site. This could be
overcome by a deed of variation to the Infrastructure Agreement.
The applicant has also modified the survey plan in response to concerns with the proposed
covenant for bushfire management purposes to the rear of proposed lots 12 -15 by constructing a
20 metre wide hard surface to the rear of these lots. The 20 metre wide hard surface will operate
as a fire buffer and an emergency access road to be accessed by locked gates at both Hofmann
Drive and Walter Hay Drive. This area will also include car parking situated on either side of the
emergency access road to service the related lot in which the parking is situated and will only be
accessible to vehicles via access from lot frontages. Easements will govern access and car
parking arrangements. The following images detail the proposed 20 metre wide area and
associated emergency access track and vehicle parking.

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