Response to Outstanding Issues - 25-27 Toolar St · MCU21/0083

     seeking approval to cover the second car space in the future. This is not a valid planning argument
     or justification for requiring compliance with an accepted solution.

     By this assessment, one would be lead to believe that, in Council’s opinion, 2 covered car spaces
     are:

•    of far greater importance to Council than maintaining 40% site cover;

•    of greater importance than having the opportunity to accommodate additional, potentially visitor,
     parking spaces on site than what will now be provided.

•    a necessary component of sensible, liveable and accessible design;

•    vital to accommodate the expected demand for 2 car accommodation which comprises just 34.5%
     of households in Tewantin; and

•    essential to provide residents with means to accommodate multiple vehicles required for travel
     when the site is so well serviced by public transport and alternative transport options;

Council’s updated Housing Needs Assessment 2021 endorsed on 16 December 2021 for the purposes
of informing a Housing Strategy for Noosa Shire found that,

       ‘The 2020 scheme now requires two covered spaces for a house not including a secondary
       dwelling, and for a house including a secondary dwelling it requires 2 covered spaces plus
       one additional space.

       ‘This places quite a burden on a property owner who seeks to add a secondary dwelling to
       an existing older house with no or only one existing carparking space. They have the cost
       of building covered carparking as well as the secondary dwelling itself. Indeed any building
       additions or extensions to an older house is triggering the need for two covered carparking
       spaces and sometimes this cannot be constructed without encroaching into a boundary
       setback.

       ‘Providing residential development includes sufficient space for on-site carparking, it should
       not be the role of the planning scheme to dictate it is covered.’

Further, the Housing Needs Assessment 2021 also indicates that,

       ‘While there continues to be an over-reliance on private cars in Noosa Shire, the cost of
       land combined with the limitations on building height make the provision of car parks quite
       expensive within a development. The cost of this car accommodation has to be embedded
       in the cost of the dwelling (purchase price and rent). The purchaser or tenant of a dwelling
       that comes with one or more dedicated parking spaces should appreciate that a portion of
       housing cost is actually the cost of owning and running a car.’

The applicant has responded to Council’s desire for smaller dwellings by deleting 1 bedroom from 4 of
the proposed dwellings, thus reducing the number of parking spaces required by the planning scheme.

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