2021-03-09 Planning & Environment Committee Meeting Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                    9 MARCH 2021


7    PROPOSED LOCAL LAW AMENDMENT – SHORT STAY LETTING – REVISED VERSION
     FOLLOWING PUBLIC CONSULTATION

Author           Principal Strategic Planner, Anita Lakeland
                 Environment and Sustainable Development Department

Index            SUBJECT: 37.15 Local Law No. 1 Amendments – Short Stay Letting

Attachments      1.    Administration (Amendment) Local Law (No.1) 2021
                 2.    Administration (Amendment) Subordinate Local Law (No.1) 2021
                 3.    List of likely anti-competitive provisions
                 4.    Complaints procedure
                 5.    First draft local law 2019 Plain English summary of requirements
                 6.    First draft local law 2019 – Public Notification - Summary and
                       Response to Key Issues
                 7.    Sites and precincts proposed to be excluded from local law (provided
                       separately to this agenda)


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Holiday houses have traditionally been part of the diversity of visitor accommodation in Noosa
Shire and were predominantly scattered around the beaches and Noosa River. The advent of
online booking platforms has however given rise to an increased number of permanent residential
properties being purchased and used for short term accommodation, many being managed from
a distance with no local presence, management structure or regulation.
The interchangeable use of most unit/ townhouse complexes and resorts between visitors and
permanent residents, and the use of online booking platforms has also given rise to concerns, both
for the residential amenity of permanent residents as well as the onsite letting agents.
A substantial proportion of submissions to both Noosa Plan 2020 and the first draft of the Short
Stay Letting local law suggested, where a mix of tourists and permanent residents co-exist, the
impact of short term accommodation on residential amenity was cause for concern and needed to
be addressed.
Some of the key issues identified for the operation of short term accommodation include: lack of
regulation and complaint management, and negative residential amenity impacts (noise, waste
management, traffic issues, and safety).
In October 2019, to manage the ongoing effects of both existing and future short term
accommodation Council publicly notified a draft local law for short stay letting. Over 574
submissions were received raising a number of issues with respect to the draft local law as well as
a range of planning scheme matters. The draft local law was put on hold following public
notification, pending the outcome of a state wide approach to managing short stay letting by the
Queensland Government. With the advent of Covid-19 however, the state government’s priorities
changed and the matter was deferred.
As part of Council’s adoption of Noosa Plan 2020, Council resolved to complete and introduce the
local law for short stay letting.
A revised draft local law has now been prepared proposing a number of changes, having
considered public submissions, legal advice, stakeholder engagement and internal staff review.
In addition to a number of smaller changes, for clarification purposes, the most significant changes
can be summarised as:
    inclusion of home hosted accommodation as part of the prescribed activity requiring an
     approval under the local law;


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