2018-03-12 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                12 MARCH 2018


Construction of new QBFP storage facility

In June/July 2017, Council officers became aware that a new facility was under construction on
the QBFP site. Council officers made contact with the Department regarding the construction.
The Department later advised officers that:
    The proposed shed will not house additional vessels or facilitate an increase in staff
      numbers and did not require a development approval.
    The new boat shed is required to meet work place health and safety requirements. To that
      end …certain vessels could only fit in the old boat shed if it had a fold down canopy which
      is not appropriate for WH&S. Now the shed is higher they can add a solid ridged canopy to
      the vessel that will ensure sun protection. Further ...the design of the new boat shed was
      largely driven by the size of the boats/vessels to be accommodated and the location of the
      existing boat ramp on the site.
    The height of the shed was designed to suit the 4.2m high roller doors required to
      accommodate the largest of the QBFP vessels; this dictated the 4.75m high side walls of
      the main shed. The ridge line of the main shed gable roof is approximately 6m above the
      floor level (RL 7.5) with aesthetics being the primary guidance in terms of roof pitch.
    The new shed has increased floor area to 180m2 (approximately 38% increase in total use
      floor area benchmarked from May 2000).

In October 2017, Council officers advised the Department that:
    The site does not have a Community Infrastructure designation by the Minister and is
      subject to the Noosa Plan provisions.
    Under the Noosa Plan the site is zoned Open Space Recreation and in this zone a Service
      & Utility Type 1 Depot (Boat Shed for state government) requires a Development Permit for
      Material Change of Use and is subject to an impact assessable development application
      requiring public notification.
    The new boat shed would require a Development Permit for Material Change of Use for a
      Service & Utility Type 1 Depot under the Noosa Plan as the new boat shed is substantially
      larger in scale, bulk and appearance. The new boat shed also significantly impacts on view
      lines for neighbouring residents to the Noosa River. While it is noted that the use is
      existing and the planning scheme contemplates buildings up to 2 storeys and 8 metres on
      the site, the planning scheme also requires a 40m setback from the mean high water spring
      or as otherwise prescribed by the EPA’s Erosion Prone Area Maps for buildings from the
      Noosa River.
    The trees removed from the site would also have required a Development Permit for
      Operational Works being located within the riparian buffer to the Noosa River.

On 5 January 2018, Council officers confirmed this advice and formally wrote to the Department
advising that: the scale, bulk and appearance constitutes a material change of use and a
Development Permit, which would be required to go through an impact assessable process,
should be obtained (see Attachment 1).

Photographs of the new boat shed are shown on the following page.




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