L03 Submission

considerations includes, but by no means limited to, - location, land tenure, land area, access
or the ability to be feasibly connected and serviced by all necessary community infrastructure,
environmental constraints, compatible existing or likely future surrounding land uses. The QIC
application if developed as proposed will severely limit the ability for the Noosaville area to
provide uses which are considered essential for more sustainable and diverse development
within the locality.

The QIC application should not be approved until sufficient suitable land can complete the
rigour necessary for such a strategic planning exercise and formally included in the adopted
planning scheme for the Noosa local government area. This also confirms that the QIC
application is premature.



      7.   Economic impact of Shire Business Centre expansion on Noosa Homemakers
           Centre and other retail and commercial hubs within Noosaville

As previously discussed under section 5 of this submission, the QIC application relies on
demographics and statistics in an attempt to justify both the proposed retail uses and their
respective sizeable GFAs. An economic needs assessment included in the QIC application
wrongly represents the needs of the Noosa Shire government area and subsequently such a
proposal remains premature and will impact existing key retail nodes.

Existing business, retail and commercial precincts within Noosaville, Noosa Junction,
Tewantin and Noosa Heads are currently experiencing increasing vacancy rates as a result of
varying economic trends and business competition. A lack of consumer expenditure and an
increase in the development of business, retail and commercial precincts distributes the
injection of consumer capital and impacts business profit margins. Stage 1 of the SBC has
redistributed capital and consumer choices which have undoubtedly impacted other key
business nodes within Noosa.

Vacancy rates and downward pressure on rentals within the NHC are impacting the economic
                                                                             2
prosperity and viability of the centre. At present, approximately 1,700m of floor space
remains vacant within the NHC. NHC are concerned with the proposed expansion by QIC for
the Civic and the negative impact it will have on the NHC and other key business nodes in the
Shire.



3.0             CONCLUDING COMMENTS


Provisions of the scheme were adopted to strategically guide and steer the expansion of the
SBC to cater for community needs and to include a variety of uses including business,
employment, open space, residential and recreational mixed uses. More specifically, Precinct
E1 has been designated as a major employment node and is to include technology based
research and development, business offices and civic land uses.

The QIC application proposes to include predominately retail uses including a super market,
department store and speciality stores. Of sixteen (16) uses proposed, only six (6) remain
consistent with the provisions of The Noosa Plan 2006.

The QIC application over Precinct E1 remains inconsistent with the DEO’s, SBC Assessment
Table, Overall Outcomes for the Noosaville Locality, Specific Outcomes and Probable
Solutions for the Noosaville Locality and Specific Outcomes and Probably Solutions for the
SBC.

The NHC considers that QIC has not provided sufficient information to adequately justify such
a range of non-compliance and strongly encourages Noosa Shire Council to refuse the above
QIC application given its drastic inconsistency with the Noosa Plan 2006.