2015-04-28 Planning and Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                    28 APRIL 2015


Despite the impacts on the Myall/Elm Street intersection being within acceptable industry
limits, any compounding of the existing poor performance is considered an undesirable
outcome of the development.
Earthworks
Significant amounts of cut (9,536m3) and fill (8,860m3) are proposed on the development
site. Cuts along the west of the development exceed 2.0m and fill of up to 2.0m extends
into the riparian buffer area and close to the Myall Street frontage. Appropriate retaining
treatment and landscaping along Myall Street will be important to achieve satisfactory
streetscape outcomes. The earthworks retention methods, associated landscaping and any
required geotechnical assessment would be addressed in more details in any operational
works application.
Priority Infrastructure Plan
The development site falls outside the Priority Infrastructure Area (PIA) for Cooroy under the
Priority Infrastructure Plan (PIP) in Part 15 of The Noosa Plan. The PIP identifies Council’s
trunk infrastructure planning and assumptions associated with urban form, population, timing
and the like. Since the development is outside the PIA, it must bear any works or costs
associated with extension of trunk infrastructure to service the site and additional demands it
generates on the broader trunk infrastructure network.
Cooroy Urban Form
The proposed out-of-zone development raises significant issues in relation to Cooroy’s
urban form. The town’s existing commercial precincts are severed by the rail corridor and
linkages and accessibility between the eastern and western sides of Cooroy are poor. The
proposed development footprint is roughly 2ha of what the applicant suggests is “usable site
area” totalling 5ha. This will create a significant new commercial precinct separated from
existing centres. Clearly there are imperatives for locating the tourist park on the urban
fringe and siting the service centre to benefit from highway trade but the structural effects on
Cooroy cannot be ignored. The development of new retail, dining, vehicle and industrial
uses out of zone will further disperse Cooroy’s commercial lands and appears
counterproductive to the consolidation and redevelopment of its business centre.
The urban form issue intertwines with the Myall/Elm Street traffic concerns previously raised.
It is difficult to support a substantial new commercial development on the site where the
primary northern access is via State controlled roads including an intersection that is one of
the worst in Noosa’s road network. Council has no certainty that upgrades could or would
be undertaken to improve the situation. Estimates on traffic splits between highway and
local customers are only that and there is risk that, should the site function more as a local
facility than framed by the applicant, impacts on the functionality of Cooroy’s road network
will be greater.
Noosa Plan Strategy Map
The applicant refers to the Planning Scheme Strategy Map in support of its proposal as it
identifies land within the site fronting Ferrells Road as urban. The map is included within
Part 1 of the Noosa Plan and shows the preferred land use pattern for the whole of Noosa
Shire. Extracts of the map area including the site and legend are shown below:




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