2015-07-21 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                             21 JULY 2015


    DTMR will now re-tender in the coming weeks a planting contract and this tender will revisit
      existing sites (along the Bruce Highway) within the Noosa Shire not fully optimised by a
      previous contractor to increase the planting numbers within Noosa shire.
    DTMR will consult again with Noosa Council once final planting numbers on site are
      confirmed to investigate potential alternative planting options within the Noosa Shire,
      before planting on the two blocks north of Coles Creek Road outside Noosa Shire, if
      required.
    DTMR will need to meet the project’s federal and state government funding commitments
      within time and budget constraint, and therefore a value for money outcome will be a key
      objective should Noosa Council propose any remaining habitat offset be planted and
      maintained by Council.
At the meeting Council officers advised of potential options for planting of 60,000 additional
plants in Noosa Shire and of the opportunities to consolidate existing core habitat areas and
corridors.

In terms of DTMR’s proposed offsets, the following table provides an assessment of DTMR’s
latest proposal against the requirements of the Offsets for Net Gain of Koala Habitat in South
East Queensland Policy under which the impact occurred.

Policy Provisions – Where offsets may be                 Assessment of DTMR’s proposal
delivered
The koala offset site must be in an area identified as   DTMR’s consultants have identified the koala offset
high value or medium value suitable for                  sites mapped as containing
rehabilitation habitat.                                   Medium Value Bushland Habitat
(as per the SEQ Koala Protection Area Koala               Low Value Bushland Habitat
Habitat Values Maps)
                                                          Low Value Suitable for Rehabilitation Habitat
                                                          Areas Generally Not Suitable

Where an area of high value or medium value              Partly occurring in medium and low bushland
suitable for rehabilitation habitat is not available     habitat and also in areas mapped by the SPP 2/10
within the area required by provisions below, koala      as low value rehabilitation and low value other.
offset sites should be located within low value          Planting of cleared lands will increase the available
suitable for rehabilitation habitat, or where            bushland habitat in the future.
appropriate, within bushland habitat to enhance the
quality of bushland with in the local government
area.

Offset plantings may occur either on the                 A legally binding mechanism is required to protect
development site (as part of enhancement of              the vegetation from future clearing.
biodiversity corridors) or on another site. Where
offsets are delivered on the development site, they
must meet protection requirements as required by
this policy

The koala offset site must be within the same local      Current DTMR discussions with Council indicate
government areas as the development impacting on         DTMR lands in Noosa meet the requirement –
koala habitat values, except where the impact            subject to review early 2016
occurs on koala habitat values within:
    The Koala Coast which includes the local
      government areas of Brisbane, Logan and
      Redland.
    The Pine Rivers area



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