2022-01-17 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                  17 JANUARY 2022


•    There will always be, by virtue of the type of goods involved and the nature of the Sunshine
     Coast, escape expenditure beyond the Shire.
•    The appellant has not demonstrated that any employment benefits to the community arising
     from the proposed development are above those that would arise from use of the land in the
     manner encouraged by the scheme.
Appropriateness of Land Use
What emerges from a plain reading of the relevant provisions of the planning schemes is that there
is no scope in the 2006 Scheme and only limited scope in the 2020 Scheme (at 3,500m2 GFA) for
Showroom floor space on the land. Otherwise, the land is designated for a range of other ‘non-
retail’ uses, with the intent of generating employment activities for the benefit of the Noosa Shire
that are not dependent on retailing.
Her Honour quoted and accepted the following from the expert planners in this regard concluding
that the proposed development is not an appropriate land use for the land in the Noosa Business
Centre:
•    It is entirely legitimate to plan a hierarchy of centres through the regional plan, (as has been
     done for this region by the State Government in the regional plan and as done by any
     planning authority). To that end, Maroochydore and not Noosa is the designated Principal
     Regional Activity Centre for this region, with Maroochydore therefore serving the needs of
     the people of Noosa in that role;
•    The Shire Business Centre should accommodate a full range of uses and it was the task of
     the planning authority to promote the Shire Business Centre in that way;
•    It is entirely legitimate for a planning authority to allocate locations and GFAs for various uses
     within the Shire Business Centre;
•    Creating the Shire Business Centre with all of the requisite elements will take decades,
     including the lifetime of many planning schemes and it was legitimate to protect strategic
     parts of the Shire Business Centre whilst that development was occurring, which is precisely
     what the planning scheme for this Shire Business Centre provides for;
•    There will always be differences in terms of people’s proximity (and convenience) to higher
     order centres like Maroochydore;
•    The scheme, in its terms, talks about some needs being met at Maroochydore and… I
     suppose, by exclusion, the balance needs being met locally, and… there’s no doubt the
     proportion of higher order and regional uses will always go to Maroochydore, because there’s
     a critical mass there that accommodates it;
•    The 2020 Scheme addressed a need for further Showroom space ‘as defined’ via the
     inclusion of an addition 4,200m2 of GFA in the Shire business Centre. This decision (and this
     specific amount) was consistent with the advice Council received from Mr Brown in preparing
     the Scheme. The 2020 Scheme also took account of a need for, and provided for, additional
     retail space in the Shire Business Centre (but did not provide for it on the subject land). These
     were both examples of the planning scheme evolving;
•    It is the Council’s responsibility to gauge community expectations in preparing a planning
     scheme, like it did with the 2020 Scheme. Moreover, the Council must take into account a
     broad spectrum of issues in preparing a planning scheme, not just issues of need or
     perceived need (for a particular type of retail);
•    The Masters Approval, whilst for the same land, involved elements of a hardware store and
     a garden and lifestyle centre that was a consistent use on most of the land, being a key
     distinguishing feature from the present case;
•    There is no support for shops on the Land in either the 2006 Scheme or the 2020 Scheme;
     and
•    It is relevant to consider, in the context of community need, whether (or not) the community
     is already reasonably well served (which Mr Duane confirmed it was).

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