2015-04-28 Planning and Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                      28 APRIL 2015


The primary benefits of the development are considered to comprise:
 The Service Centre facility will help meet needs of highway drivers to a limited extent
 Provision of greater retail and fast food choice, and fuel competition to residents
 Car wash will provide a facility currently unavailable in Cooroy, which will be particularly
   useful to residents on tank water
 Self-storage facility will help meet a demonstrated need in Cooroy
 Tourist Park will help meet known need for such facilities in the Noosa hinterland
 Construction and operational job creation
In terms of the local community, Cooroy has existing fuel, dining and retail options, and its
need for these cannot be said to be pressing. Opportunities also exist to locate the retail,
dining and industrial uses within Cooroy’s existing commercial zones.
The development will not significantly impact on rural amenity or agricultural production
values however its rural zoning also reflects non-urban and open space intents under The
Noosa Plan. The proposal for expansive development within the water supply catchment is
a fundamental planning issue for the Noosa community and land use planning within
catchments remains relevant to Council. Seqwater has raised no objection to the application
and impacts on drinking water quality may only be incremental, however this does not
invalidate The Noosa Plan’s precautionary approach of avoidance of expanded urban
development within the catchment.
Structural issues relating to Cooroy’s urban form and existing traffic issues are also
concerning. The development will further disperse and fragment the town’s commercial
precincts and see increased traffic through the Myall/Elm Street intersection that will
incrementally exacerbate traffic problems. Council can neither instigate nor require upgrade
works at this intersection as it is State controlled.
Given the significance of the water supply catchment, urban form and traffic issues in
particular, it is considered that substantial levels of need and/or community benefit must be
shown for the development application to be supported. A known need for tourist-park-type
facilities exist in Noosa’s hinterland and this is seen as the development’s most beneficial
component. The site’s size and location suggests it could appropriately accommodate a
tourist park with few impacts while providing community benefit. A demonstrated need also
exists for a self-storage facility but that industrial use would be more appropriately sited
within the Cooroy industrial estate for which further subdivision approval exists.
The applicant originally framed the development as “highway oriented” however DTMR
restrictions impinge upon the development’s visibility and signage to the extent that,
practically speaking, it might better be described as “the best located of Cooroy’s service
stations to benefit from highway trade”. Indications are, while the service station will help
meet the needs of highway traffic, it will do so only to a limited extent. Discussions with
DTMR suggest planning for the upgraded highway corridor is still likely to identify future
locations for compliant service centres in the region. The service station is not needed by
local residents, with Cooroy well serviced by two existing service stations.
The development’s mix of uses poses a number of synergies that provide some basis for the
overall proposal. On balance, however, the assessment does not identify sufficient levels of
need or community benefits for the service station, retail, fast food, car wash and self-
storage uses to warrant their development out of zone. Further, due to the insufficient
riparian buffer proposed to the tourist park, approval of the application for this use only is not
considered appropriate. The application is recommended for refusal, with detailed reasons
listed in the recommendation.




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