Further response to information request June 12.06.2020 · MCU19/0117

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       residential occupation is only contemplated to facilitate onsite management of the
       visitor accommodation use (if applicable). A guesthouse (or retreat) helps
       sustain the tourism economy of Noosa whereas a Detached House used for
       permanent accommodation will not [61, 62 & 69].
   -   The current approvals, and The Noosa Plan do not require the existing eco-
       cabins/houses to be within a letting pool for visitor accommodation. If they wish,
       the owners of the houses may retain the houses for their own private holiday use,
       or for such use by their family and friends. Their occupation cannot be permanent
       [135].


Application is for a consistent Visitor Accommodation use
On the 8 October 2019, Council accepted the application as properly made for a
Development Permit for Material Change of Use - Visitor Accommodation - Type 3
Rural. The relevant definitions are provided below (with highlight emphasis added).

The Noosa Plan Definitions




The Visitor Accommodation retreat would be used for no more than 3 months
consecutively by the owner and his family. Outside of these times, the large 2-bedroom
building could be rented out to private individuals wanting to stay and use the lagoon for
short term stays.

The proposed use meets Specific Outcome O21 of the Noosa North Shore Locality’s
Visitor Mixed Use zone:

       “O21 The following defined uses and use classes are consistent uses and are
       located in the Visitor Mixed Use zone-
       a)   Entertainment and dining Type 1;
       b)   Home-based business Type 1 or 2;
       c)   Open Space; and
       d)   Visitor accommodation Type 2 or 3.”


The owner initially looked at providing more units on the site (with a similar density to the
Beach Road Holiday Houses (BRHH) - 48 houses), however the proposal was scaled back
to one visitor accommodation building. This was a result of the Visitor Accommodation
Type 4 (conventional) use being considered an inconsistent use, as described below.


       “Visitor Accommodation Type 4 (conventional) is defined as two or more dwelling
       units or accommodation units, for the purpose of providing short term visitor
       accommodation… but does not include Visitor Accommodation Type 1 home
       hosted or Type 3 Rural as separately defined.”
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It was considered in line with The Noosa Plan provisions to lodge the application for one
building and the ancillary facilities and wait for the commencement of The New Noosa
Plan, which makes Short Term Accommodation a consistent use on the subject land.
This would allow further time to negotiate extinguishing the 3.8ha effluent irrigation
easement along the front of the site, which severely restricts the development potential of
the site.


Effluent Disposal Restrictions
A review of all existing approvals, CMS and title documents indicates there is no
requirement for any new development of Lot 500 to be connected to the existing effluent
disposal area established at the Noosa North Shore Retreat (NNSR). However, the
Easement A currently encumbers the subject property and allows for a 3.8ha irrigation
area to be established (for a fee), if/and when the requirement for the irrigation area
is required.
This 3.8ha effluent irrigation area is based on an effluent disposal design (in 2004 by
Cardno) for the development of the entire Visitor Mixed Use zone to full capacity and
allowed for the clearing of the vegetation within this area, as shown below.




Figure.1 Effluent Irrigation Management Plan approved for the site (Easement A takes its
shape from this approved plan).
The proposed development with associated onsite AES system has no impact on the
existing easement and/or require the future expansion of the irrigation area.
The development proposes not to join or pay for effluent disposal to be treated at this
facility, which negates the need to irrigate on Easement A. The proposed effluent disposal
design for the single building is designed to maintain acceptable public health standards
and avoid environmental harm in accordance with the existing approvals, State Legislation
and The Noosa Plan. It is also noted that Council’s Plumbing Department endorse the use
of the AES systems as being the most sensitive to the environment.

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The future design for additional visitor accommodation buildings are to include their own
Advanced Enviro-Septic system with an associated 39m2 disposal area. The disposal area
is in front of the building within a 2.5m wide x 15m long trench, which is to be grassed.


Visitor Accommodation Restriction
Condition 6 of the existing development approval for the 48 eco-cabins includes a
condition restricting the use of the eco-cabins for short term visitor accommodation only,
as described below.
       “The Eco Cabins shall be for short term visitor accommodation only, with no person
       permitted to occupy the Eco Cabins for the purposes of permanent accommodation
       in accordance with the Noosa North Shore Eco-Tourism Portal Development
       Code”
The applicant is willing to accept a similar condition for the one visitor accommodation
building, with the suggested wording below:
       “The accommodation building shall be for short term visitor accommodation only,
       with no person permitted to occupy the accommodation building for the purposes
       of permanent accommodation”
The building would then be classed as requiring higher building conditions as a Class 1b
building, the same as the existing 48 eco-cabins which include a higher fire safety and
building cost. A copy of the difference building classifications is included below.
Building Code of Australia (BCA) Definitions




The Visitor Accommodation building would be used for no more than 3 months
consecutively by the owner and his family. Outside of these times, the building would be
rented out to private individuals wanting to stay at the house and use the lagoon. The large
accommodation building could accommodate up to 12 people under this building
classification. As a result, the following condition could be included to restrict the numbers
of persons using the private infrastructure.

   •   No more than 12 people are allowed to use the site at any one time (including
       residence staying within the approved guesthouse and their guests), but not
       including staff.

Ancillary Recreation Use
The application does not propose to open the facility up to the public, but rather have it as
a private lagoon, which is the same scale as other private waterbodies/recreational
pursuits in the area.
P&E Law include further commentary regarding the issue of the proposed land use in
terms of ‘use’ and ‘ancillary’, including the recent case considered by Judge Kefford in
Caravan Parks Association of Queensland Limited v Rockhampton Regional Council &
Another [2018] QPEC 52.

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The proposal for visitor accommodation is the primary use of the premises, and it is not
intended to use the premises for activities other than visitor accommodation. The visitor
accommodation will be made more attractive by the provision of the ancillary use of a
wave lagoon and not be made available for others. On that basis, the wave lagoon is
ancillary to the primary use of the planning unit as ‘visitor accommodation’, similar to the
other larger ancillary facilities on private property, such as the golf course at 368 Dath
Henderson Rd, Tinbeerwah.
The proposed 4,000m2 lagoon is similar in scale to other private dams on the North Shore,
which are used for Rural Residential and Visitor Accommodation purposes. It is intended
to open the lagoon’s use up to other visitor accommodation buildings on the site – when
further short-term accommodation buildings are applied for under The New Noosa Plan.
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2. Insufficient justification has been provided to clear 1.27H of Cat C High Value
   Regrowth/Env Protection/Koala Habitat Area. There is also a mismatch between
   plans provided, i.e. 4000m2 water surface area and 6,000m2 footprint on site
   plan verses 5,700m2 water surface area and 1.05H footprint on IR TOD plan.
Please find attached detailed updated proposal plans and addendum to Ecological
Assessment Report. The report details that approximately 1.3ha of the 14.85ha site is
proposed to be cleared, which represents 8.7% of the Visitor Mixed Use zoned site.
The original planning for the development allowed for an irrigation area to be developed
within Easement A and the clearing of up to 2.7ha (or 18.1%) of the site along the Beach
Rd frontage. This would accommodate the effluent disposal irrigation area footprint, and
a further 0.15ha around each house site and roads (total = 9.9ha or 66% of site to be
cleared).
The owner is in negotiations to preserve this vegetation along the frontage of the site and
extinguish the easement for overflow irrigation to be required and for the vegetation to be
cleared adjacent to Beach Rd would now be retained. This will ensure a net benefit in
vegetation being retained across the site, as shown below.




Figure.2 Vegetation Clearing footprint (green) and original clearing footprint for irrigation
area (red).
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3. The proposal for filling the lagoon/wave pool via natural rainfall is not
   considered feasible, and it is likely that a supplementary water source would be
   required to fill the lagoon/wave pool, and to maintain the water level. The
   requirement to deliver the water to the site would put undue pressure on
   existing North Shore infrastructure (including the road network and ferry
   service), and would likely impact on resident’s amenity along the route, the
   regular operations of the ferry service during construction, and potentially
   during dry periods where additional water will be required to maintain
   levels. The investigation into ground water impacts is insufficient –
   • Only 1 borehole in wave pool location.
   • Tanks (2.5m high) and Pump house (5m high) buried below clay layer (at
      1.6m deep), possibly penetrating into ground water storage area. Also
      triggers Natural Hazards acid sulphate overlay as 100m3 excavation below
      5 AHD.
   • Wastewater disposal through permeable layer of tank - impacts of wetlands
      in QPWS land and Council.
Acid Sulfate Soils
Please find attached updated layout plans with storage and infiltration tank locations and
depths for earthworks. All cuts are located above 5mAHD and does not trigger the
requirement for an Acid Sulfate Soils impact report.
Groundwater
An Irrigation Management Plan was provided as part of the detailed Engineering and
Operational Works approvals (and is also attached for reference). Section 3.3. of the report
included details as to the Groundwater and Surface Water Quality for the 3.3 ha irrigation
area.
       During effluent treatment and disposal, monitoring of groundwater quality will be
       undertaken annually as specified by the conditions of the preliminary development
       approval. Quarterly baseline monitoring of groundwater quality has been underway
       since December 2004 to determine current groundwater conditions. In accordance
       with the conditions of the development approval, quarterly baseline monitoring of
       receiving waters including groundwater and surface waters will be conducted for a
       minimum of 12 months prior to commencement of construction works for the
       proposed development and will continue during construction and for 2 years after
       completion of construction works.
       Groundwater monitoring will include analysis of pH, Electrical conductivity, Total
       dissolved solids, Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Sodium, Salinity, Chloride,
       Sulfate, Alkalinity, Nitrate and Nitrite, Ammonia, Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorous
       and Faecal coliforms. The quality of surface water runoff from irrigation areas will
       be monitored where there is a minimum of 30 mm rainfall in the preceding 24 hours
       sufficient to cause runoff from the irrigation area. Surface water monitoring will
       include two event samples of runoff from the irrigation areas collected annually,
       and analysed for pH, Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus, Electrical Conductivity, and
       Faecal Coliforms. The discharge limits contained in the Development Code may
       be amended in consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency and Noosa
       Council following determination of existing water quality conditions through
       baseline monitoring. No criteria have been specified for groundwater quality;
       therefore it is proposed that criteria be defined following the completion of baseline
       monitoring which commenced in December 2004. Locations for water quality
       monitoring are presented on Figure 2.




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Figure.3 Effluent Irrigation Management Plan approved monitoring wells.
The management measures were approved to ensure no significant impacts occur to soils
or groundwater within the irrigation areas and the receiving environment. This included
baseline monitoring of groundwater quality prior to the commencement of construction,
during and after construction. These measures are similar to those recommended by North
Coast Environmental and the Operational Works approval will provide specific details as
to the ground and surface water monitoring wells, as per the previous approvals for the
site.
Filling of the Pool
If the filling of the pool is unable to be fully undertaken by natural rainfall as per TOD
Engineering Consultants recommendations, the pool will be supplemented using a water
tanker from a private property on The North Shore. The applicant also owns a property at
1 Noosa River Dr, which includes part of the river. The collection of water does not require
Council or State approval, as was noted by the approval for Noosa Eco Marine at 3
Sanders St, Noosaville, which gains seawater for their tanks from 4 Mill St, Noosaville.
The water balancing of the pool can then be undertaken in accordance with the pool
specifications. Further advice has been obtained from a pool expert to indicate this can
occur. The combination of filling methods will ensure the impacts from regular traffic
movements on the Noosa car ferry. Further details will be provided as part of an
Operational Works and Construction Management Plan.
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Pursuant to the Development Assessment Rules, the applicant has given the assessment
manager the information requested.

If you have any further queries in relation to the above, please do not hesitate to contact
myself.

Regards,




Jack Lewis B.Sc Hons UNSW M.Plan Otago MPIA
Planner/Director
Pivotal Perspective Pty Ltd
0406 334 227




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