2019-01-14 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                   14 JANUARY 2019


That Council note the report by the Environment Officer (Rivers and Coast) to the Planning &
Organisation Committee Meeting dated 13 October 2015 and:
A.    Confirm support for the establishment of a small scale pilot oyster reef restoration project to
      build further knowledge in this area of aquatic restoration of the Noosa Estuary; and
B.    Agree to provide in kind technical support to the Thomas Foundation for the development of
      a detailed project proposal.

Ordinary Meeting, 15 December 2016, Item 10, Page 11
That Council note the report by the Environment Officer to the General Committee Meeting dated
12 December 2016, and:
A.    Accept the Draft Resource Allocation Authority conditions proposed by the Department of
      Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries on behalf of the project partners;
B.    Authorise the development application for the project to be submitted as soon as possible to
      facilitate deployment of the oyster reef restoration units in the March to May oyster spat
      recruitment season;
C.    Authorise the Chief Executive Officer to negotiate and enter into a formal agreement with
      relevant project partners, which will result in nil additional cost to Council (following payment
      of development application fees) associated with the project, following receipt of the
      development approval.

Finance
The Nature Conservancy Proposal provides for funding of approximately $1.2 million and seeks
matching funding of approximately $1.2 million from Council over three years, starting in the
2019/20 financial year. While this is enough to deliver on the project, the TNC proposal outlines an
intention for further funding to be sought from the public and private sector. It is proposed to aim
for a further $1.2 million from such sources in the first 18 months of the project.
It is proposed that should Council agree to partner in this initiative that funding allocation be spread
over the 3 phases and 3 financial years of the proposal as outlined in below table. Funding would
commence from 1 July 2019 and can be considered as part of the 2019/20 budget process.
The proposed funding and budget for the 3 year initiative is outlined here:

                                                     Year 1 -    Year 2 –      Year 3 –       Total
            DRAFT PROJECT COSTS
                                                     2019/20     2020/21       2021/22
 Activity #1 - Strategic planning support             132,904     136,069       139,329        408,303
 Activity #2 - Site visits, exchanges, workshops       52,246      52,799        53,368        158,412
 Activity #3 - Oyster restoration                     404,438     646,999       310,860      1,362,297
 Activity #4 – Communication and engagement            62,472      57,920        58,877        179,269
 Activity #5 - Project management                     106,413      92,136        94,366        292,916

 Subtotal                                             758,473      985,924      656,800      240,1197
 Noosa Council contribution                           379,237      492,962      328,400      1,200,599
 Total Expense (GST exclusive)                        758,473      985,924      656,800      2,401,197

The Nature Conservancy propose to leverage additional matching funding and a final budget will
be agreed as part of the partnership agreement.




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