Town planning report

        It is recommended that the following conditions be imposed to further increase
        resiliency to flooding—
        (1)      all electrical and telecommunications equipment be located above
                 2.8mAHD;
        (2)      all goods stored below 2.8mAHD must be easily evacuated to a level above
                 2.8mAHD; and
        (3)      All building materials below 2.8mAHD be flood resilient.


4.6     THE NEW NOOSA PLAN
        The New Noosa Plan is a draft planning scheme that would eventually replace the
        current Noosa Plan 2006. The major consultation phase has closed, and Council is
        considering how the draft scheme should be amended in response to submissions.
        The New Noosa Plan, incorporating any amendments, would then require the
        Minister to consider it, the amendments, and how Council had dealt with
        submissions—prior to a final approval and scheme commencement.

        Contrasted to the rules for code assessment that require an assessment manager to
        assess only against the assessment benchmarks, section 45(5)(b) of the Planning Act
        2016 states “an impact assessment is an assessment that may be carried out against,
        or having regard to, any other relevant matter, other than a person’s personal
        circumstances, financial or otherwise”. The legislative intention is that the ‘other
        matters’ not substitute for the ‘prescribed matters’. The explanatory notes to the act
        elaborate on this—

                 Furthermore, given that the prescribed matters are matters of public record
                 included in statutory instruments that have been the subject of extensive
                 community consultation, the prescribed matters are always expected to carry
                 substantial weight in any assessment.
                 (https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/bill.first.exp/bill-2015-047 page
                 53 accessed 10 July 2019)

        Furthermore, Council should be cautious and not give too much weight to a draft
        instrument [see Coty (England) Pty Ltd v Sydney City Council (1957 2 LGRA 117, and
        Nerinda Pty Ltd v Redland City Council & Ors (2018) QCA 146]

        However, s45(8) of the Planning Act 2016 may become relevant if the New Noosa
        Plan commenced prior to determining the application—it would only allow the
        assessment manager to give weight it considers appropriate to a statutory
        instrument that comes into effect after the development application is properly
        made but before it is decided.

        The New Noosa Plan includes the whole site in the Mary Street/Thomas Street
        Health and Wellbeing Precinct—meaning that the proposal would be impact
        assessable and an inconsistent use. The range of uses allowable in this precinct are
        unnecessarily restrictive having regard to the historical uses on the site. The


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