2016-10-11 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

THEME: NATURAL HAZARDS AND RESILIENCE
                                                        significant tributaries of Cooroy Creek and Cooroora
Where are we now                                        Creek and the Lake Macdonald water supply dam
                                                        owned and operated by Seqwater. The hinterland
An important part of being a liveable community
                                                        settlements of Cooroy, Pomona, Lake Macdonald and




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is ensuring the safety of people, property and the
                                                        Cooran are adjacent to these local water courses
environment from natural hazard risks. Existing and
                                                        and hence have some vulnerability to flooding.




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future natural hazards including flooding, coastal
erosion, extreme weather, bushfire, landslide, acid     Steeply sloping land of certain soil types have
                                                        landslide potential across elevated areas of the shire.




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sulphate soils and impacts of future climate change,
present a number of challenges and threats to           This land is mapped as an overlay in the planning
                                                        scheme to inform development assessment.




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Noosa Shire. These threats will be heightened by the
region’s coastal location, development pressures and    Landslide hazard requires the careful management,
vulnerable environment. Well informed and proactive     design and siting of development to avoid or mitigate




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planning in conjunction with community awareness        risk and geotechnical engineering assessments and
and preparedness can significantly reduce the risks     specifications for building works.
to communities, assets, infrastructure, economies       Low lying areas across Noosa Shire are subject
and environments.                                       to acid sulphate soils that if exposed can result in
Flooding affects large areas of Noosa Shire. Noosa      damage to assets and infrastructure. There is a high
Shire is divided by two catchments contributing         potential in low lying coastal areas for acid sulphate
eastwards to the Noosa River or westward towards        soils to occur in areas below 5m AHD and a medium
the Mary River. Approximately two-thirds of Noosa       potential between 5 and 20m AHD. Overlay mapping
River Catchment lies within the Noosa Shire             in the planning scheme depicts this.
taking in the communities of Kin Kin, Boreen Point,     Due to local climate conditions, extensive vegetation
Coorooibah, Tewantin and areas downstream to the        cover and variable terrain, bushfire hazard affects
river mouth. The two largest lakes along the Noosa      large areas of Noosa Shire. The State government
River, Lake Cootharaba and Lake Cooroibah, provide      provides Bushfire Hazard Mapping that is regularly
large storage areas which also slow down the flow       updated with latest terrain and vegetation
of flood water on its way to the river mouth. Six       information. The mapping identifies very high,
Mile Creek is part of the Mary River Catchment and      high and medium potential bushfire intensity and a
flows north-west from the southern boundary of          potential impact buffer and is included as an overlay
the shire and drains the western portion of the shire   in the planning scheme to inform development
towards the Mary River. Six Mile Creek includes two     assessment.

                                                                                                                  Discussion Paper 31