2014-08-25 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                  25 AUGUST 2014


6.   Commercial development on and adjacent to the Noosa River

Council has been investigating mechanisms for improving management of river based activities
on the Noosa River. Part of this relates to ensuring the planning scheme includes appropriate
provisions for regulation of those activities and the nature and scale of commercial operations at
these jetties. NRM (Dept of Natural Resource and Mines) are in the process of renewing
commercial leases on the river and any new leases granted will have standard conditions
applying to them, rather than the current leases which have specific conditions relating to the
number and type of vessels allowed in the lease area. There are a range of provisions currently
in the Waterway Works Code to control the design and location of jetties. The following
provisions are proposed to supplement those:

Outcome 1 Development is designed to –
   provide for uses for marine facility purposes only;
   be compatible with the scenic values of the waterway;
   provide a high level of amenity, including ensuring low ambient noise levels;
   not increase the overall scale and intensity of commercial operations;
   not extend beyond existing commercial lease areas (footnote: This refers to the commercial
     lease area existing at the time of gazettal of this plan).
   ensure no additional commercial leases on the Noosa River;
   ensure no net increase in the gross floor area of buildings or structures;
   use materials, natural finishes and colours that blend with the surrounding natural
     landscape and
   reflect the character and setting of the locality (such as timber and tin construction with a
     traditional pitched roof design.
Outcome 2 The loading and unloading of passengers is confined to the commercial lease areas
of the respective commercial operation.

Where marine facility purpose means a commercial facility relating directly to boating.


Previous Council Consideration

Referred from the Planning and Organisation Committee Meeting 19 August 2014.


Finance & Risk

A weak or flawed planning scheme is harder to rely on in development assessment or to defend
in planning appeals. Each time a development approval is granted in conflict with the planning
scheme it erodes the strength of the scheme and erodes the community’s confidence in the
planning scheme. Therefore it is considered timely to update the planning scheme to strengthen
it and better reflect the expectations of the Noosa Shire Community and the planning policies of
the State.




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