2015-10-13 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                          13 OCTOBER 2015


The reasons for refusal stated in the decision notice are summarised below:
The application for Clearing Vegetation under the Planning Scheme is on premises
designated ‘Environmental Protection and Riparian Buffer area’ under the Biodiversity
Overlay.
1.    The vegetation is required to be retained and conserved in its present form or
      improved to ensure its ongoing contribution to the natural resources and biological
      diversity of Noosa Shire.
2.    The application for clearing vegetation is contrary to the terms of the registered
      environmental covenant for the land.
3.    The application for clearing vegetation is contrary to the conditions of the development
      approval 23118 DA, specifically conditions 4, 14.2, 14.3, 19.1, 19.2 19.6, 19.8, 33.1,
      33.2, 33.3, 34, 35 and 77.
4.    The vegetation is not required to be removed to mitigate potential risks to life and/or
      property from bushfire. The area is considered to be a low hazard area and the
      vegetation does not increase the hazard.
5.    The application has not demonstrated sufficient grounds to clear the vegetation and
      the proposed clearing is contrary to the provisions of The Noosa Plan’s Biodiversity
      Overlay Code, the terms of the covenant and the development approval conditions
      that apply to the lot.
This decision is the subject of the current appeal.

2.    Background
On 13 July 2005 Council issued a Compiled Decision Notice for a development permit which
permitted the creation of 8 lots for units and a park lot. One of the conditions of the
development approval was the creation of an environmental covenant over the area
described as “Private Open Space for Conservation & Waterway Protection”. This area was
conditioned to be managed to protect and reinforce its environmental values, particularly its
Koala Habitat and corridor values, Glossy Black Cockatoo habitat values, scenic amenity
values and water quality protection function.

Various management plans were required to be implemented for the covenant areas,
including a fauna management plan, ecological restoration plan, environment management
plan and a fire management plan. The fire management plan was required to incorporate all
the relevant requirements of, and be consistent with, all the other management plans
required by the approval.

The fire management plan required the first 2.5m strip of the covenant area, adjacent to the
developed area, to be a fuel reduced zone with only fire–retardant plantings to be
established in the area. Mature trees are located within this 2.5m strip and are known koala
food trees within a known koala corridor (refer Attachments 2 and 3).

The trees located within the 2.5m strip of the covenant area also serve as a visual buffer to
the development when viewed from the Noosa Sound residences, thus meeting the scenic
amenity values requirements of the development approval.

The application seeks to remove these trees for the purposes of satisfying the fire
management plan by contending the trees are not meant to be contained within the 2.5m
strip. The applicant supports this contention by providing a letter from the author of the fire
management plan which states 10 gum trees within this strip should be removed as soon as
practicable due to their future growth. The author asserts the retention of these trees has no
ecological benefit.


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