Objection of SEF · MCU13/0092

Susan E Francis
PO Box 275,
Peregian Beach
Qld 4573
28 August 2013

The Chief Executive Officer
Sunshine Coast Council
Locked Bag 72
SCMC 4560

Attention: Mr Jack Lewis, Development Planner

APPLICATION DETAILS

Application No:		MCU13/0092
Proposal: 	Development Permit for Material Change of Use of Premises (Entertainment & dining, Type 1 Food & beverages; Commercial Type 1 Office; and Retail business, Type 2 Shop & Salon)
Street Address:		5-7 Rufous St, Peregian Beach Qld 4573

Real Property Description: Lot 94 SP 137431

SUBMITTER DETAILS:

Name:			Susan E Francis
Postal address:		P.O. Box 275, Peregian Beach Qld 4573
Signature:		Not required if submitted electronically
Date of submission:	28 August 2013

SUBMISSION DETAILS:

I refer to the Application by Multi Span Australia Pty Ltd (Multi Span) and advise that I wish to object to this Application for the reasons set out below:

THE NOOSA PLANNING SCHEME

The site is subject to the requirements of the Noosa Plan 2006, which commenced in February 2006 after a development process, including community consultation, of about five years. The Plan was amended up to 8 August 2011.

The site is zoned Open Space Recreation under the Noosa Plan.

The Proposal presents a major and insurmountable conflict with The Noosa Plan. The proposed retail and commercial uses are Inconsistent within the Open Space Recreation zone. See Table 7.19 under Division 23 – Specific Outcomes and Probable Solutions for the Open Space Recreation Zone.

Specifically the Proposal is contrary to the Overall Outcomes for the Eastern Beaches Locality as it:

Is not compatible with other uses around the site
Does not maintain the safety of people due to increased traffic
Creates significant adverse impacts on the amenity enjoyed by users of other premises, including acoustic and visual qualities
fragments the existing open space recreation land
the scale and form of buildings proposed is not in keeping with the surrounding streetscape and landscape qualities
makes no provision whatsoever for protection of the spring and  watercourse at the adjoining Veggie Village
fails to protect and form the basis of an extensive, accessible and usable open space network extending beyond the locality
proposes to create a second focal centre which, as a business use, is not of a scale or character consistent with the locality
does not consider the amenity and safety expectations of the community, let alone be consistent with these expectations
ignores the fact that, within the existing Peregian village, there is a wide range of local Retail, Commercial and Entertainment and Dining Uses serving the immediate needs of residents and visitors .

PEREGIAN BEACH NOW – A Sense of Place
The Peregian Beach village square with its unique character and charm, already provides a place where residents and visitiors meet and socialise.  It provides a sense of connection and community. These qualities are one of the reasons why I and others choose to live at Peregian beach. The sense of place is threatened by this application which would see a colourless strip shopping centre compete with the village square .
THE APPLICATION NOT PROPERLY MADE
The Application was LODGED in the name of Multi Span Australia Pty Ltd. It did not include its ACN which it is mandatorily required to do under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 and the Corporations Act 2001. As such it is not a properly made application and its non-compliance has not been waived by the assessment manager.
The Application was NOTIFIED in the name of Multi Span Australia Pty Ltd. It did not include its ACN which it is mandatorily required to do under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 and the Corporations Act 2001. As such it is not a properly made Notification and its non-compliance has not been waived by the assessment manager.
An ASIC search shows two companies bearing the name of the Applicant. It is not known which company of these is the applicant. SCRC is bound by Commonwealth law and, as such, should require the Applicant to re-advertise correctly.

PEREGIAN BEACH’S ALLEGED “NEED” FOR A LIMITED SERVICE SUPERMARKET
The proposed 1,100m2 limited service supermarket is not needed as Peregian Beach is well catered for with a 2,794m2 supermarket located at Peregian Springs (3kms), two supermarkets (2,500m2 and 2,800m2) at Coolum Beach (5 and 6.5kms) and two supermarkets at Noosa Junction (12kms). I note that the application exaggerates the distances of the supermarkets by measuring from the proposed development rather than from the Peregian Beach village centre.

As a former resident of  inner urban Toowong, Brisbane for 30 years I can say that I am better served here in Peregian beach with convenient access to supermarkets than I was in Brisbane.

As a resident of Peregian beach I am well served by the full service supermarkets at Peregian Springs and Coolum. I will continue to shop there as they are only about 3 to 5 minutes drive away from my home in Peregian. They are considerably easier to get to as compared with dealing with the traffic delays which will be inevitable through Peregian village and the Woodland drive/David Low way intersection. (Even if the driving distance to Rufous street is slightly less than driving to Coles at Peregian Springs it would take longer due to the traffic delays exiting from the site and Woodland drive on to the David Low way.  I also don’t wish to add to congestion around the village square by driving through those streets to get to this unwanted and unnecessary supermarket.)

There is no economic benefit in simply moving retail spending from one part of the Sunshine Coast to another, which is what this Application is proposing. This development will also have a significant adverse effect on existing shopping precincts which would be the losers of this retail trade that the Developer’s supermarket is projected to attract/achieve. There is no suggestion that additional retail spending will be created.

The developer is also proposing to build ten specialty shops , all of which exist in the Peregian village. For example, there are already three bakeries in the village square. There is no evidence of the need for an additional bakery in Peregian. The opening of such shops in a new centre could only be a threat to existing businesses in the village square . In Coolum the newsagent closed recently due to lack of viability with the competition provided by Coles.

The Foresight report submitted by the Applicant seems to conclude that as we shop at supermarkets , and Peregian does not have a supermarket , we “need” one. (On this logic we could “need” a Myer or David Jones store.) It ignores the fact that we have supermarkets in easy driving distance and the village square has a Friendly Grocer ( 250m2 supermarket store ) plus the approved Essence development across from the village has provision for a small supermarket of 387m2 food/grocery store ( not the 150m2 as stated by MulitSpan in its  Application)

According to the Application, the proposed centre is intended to serve local residents, the workforce in the vicinity of the site and visitors to Peregian Beach, Marcus Beach and Castaways Beach. There is no evidence in the Application to support the claim that the residents of Marcus Beach and Castaways Beach shop at Peregian Beach or would shop at Peregian Beach, rather than at Noosa Junction, if this proposed centre were approved and built. Why would residents of Castaways  beach drive to a limited service supermarket at Peregian (5.42 Kilometres) when they can drive to full services supermarkets ( yes, plural ) at Noosa junction which is 4.34 kilometres away ?

Multi Span, correctly, is not able to propose the approval of the Application on the basis of population growth justifying the need. On evidence supplied by the Applicant, population growth in Peregian Beach is simply not significant – and this growth will remain limited as the area is blessed by being surrounded by national park and the Pacific Ocean.

Pine Rivers Memorial Bowls Club Ltd owns the subject site which, zoned as Open Space Recreation, is worth an estimated $600,000 to $800,000. PRMBC apparently have sold the site to Multi Span on condition that Multi Span is able to obtain the necessary development approvals to build a supermarket/shopping centre. Multi Span is evidently insufficiently confident in its proposal to purchase the Bowls Club site outright; instead it has made a conditional purchase. The commercial motivation of Multi Span is the “need” to make a profit, which it achieves by developing supermarkets. Multi Span, a profit-driven design and construction company, has little or no interest in the community of Peregian Beach or the impacts of its projects upon the Peregian Beach community.

Multi Span’s own “survey” (criticized by those taking part as one sided) found that the Peregian Beach community’ had 63% of respondents in opposition to the use of the community’s open space recreation site for a supermarket.

As a resident I use facilities outside Peregian Beach “as a matter of convenience” and am happy to continue to do so. I travel to Coolum for the library and other purposes several times a week, and I am happy to continue to drive a few kilometres there for supermarket shopping. (I note that Multi Span considers it is appropriate for Peregian Beach residents to drive for up to 30 minutes to access recreational pursuits but not appropriate to drive for 5 or 10 minutes to access an exisiting full-service supermarket.)

Loss of open space recreational land
As stated above, the site is zoned Open Space Recreation and the proposed retail and commercial uses are Inconsistent within the zone. The site of the proposed centre is 6,503m2. Peregian Beach would lose 6,503m2 of Open Space Recreation land if this Application were to be approved contrary to The Noosa Plan

On 7 March 2011, Council adopted the Sunshine Coast Open Space Strategy, setting a framework for ensuring the Open Space needs of the community are met.The Peregian Beach profile describes the locality as being under-provided with recreation parks, with additional investigation required to upgrade the park and consider a master plan for Di Hurst Oval to retain current uses, increase local recreation park capacity and integrate with surrounding community facilities.

The Peregian Beach community would be disadvantaged by the loss of Open Space Recreation zoned land now and into the future as there is no alternative land, public or private, available for this purpose.

No attempt has been made by either PRMBC or Multi Span to develop the site for open space recreation purposes or to sell it to an organisation which is prepared to do so. In fact, PRMBC have not listed the site on the open market choosing only to attempt to sell it for commercial development –and considerable gain.

The result of this Application, contrary to the Noosa Plan, will be to further reduce the amount of Open Space Recreation land available in Peregian Beach. As a resident I do not wish to gain a supermarket at the expense of recreational land.

ENVIRONMENT
Amenity
The Application states that the proposed site will operate from 6am to 9pm seven days a week.

As a member of the highly successful and well regarded community garden, Veggie Village, in Rufous street I am very concerned about the impact of the development on the environment and amenity of the gardens and the existing adjacent residential properties.
When Veggie Village was established, the Peregian Beach Bowls Club ceased using chemicals so as not to contaminate the water supply which runs off this site into the Veggie Village site. A supermarket on this site would use industrial-strength chemicals,and this together with run off from the hard surfaces (eg fuel and chemical cleaners)   would contaminate the water table and natural spring which is the water supply for the organic vegetable gardens growing at Veggie Village .
Veggie Village is a registered Landcarer for the wetland that borders Rufous street. Contamination of the water table will adversely impact on the fragile and predominantly melaleuca wetland .

The car parking areas will increase traffic in the local streets. Loading bay service areas and operation of commercial plant and equipment (after-hours deliveries, air conditioning and refrigeration units, waste collection and vehicle noise) would  denigrate the peaceful setting of Veggie Village.
As a founding committee member of the Peregian Beach Community House I am concerned about noise levels from traffic on users of the House. The design of the House provides for the wall along Woodland drive to be opened while the rooms are in use (thus saving the need for air-conditioning) Excessive traffic adjacent to these rooms will make use of the rooms very difficult and may make the House a less desirable venue and thus effect revenue of the House.
The proposed building is adjacent  to the Council-owned land forming the car park for the Peregian Beach Community House.  I am opposed to the developer’s attempt to appropriate this car park to be used by people shopping at  the developer’s shopping centre. The community contributed to the design and building of this car park and businesses now located in the Peregian Square made financial contributions to parking which were used to finance it. Its use by people visiting the proposed supermarket/shopping centre would result in there being no or insufficient car parks available for users of the Community House.

Traffic problems and road changes

This intersection of Woodland Drive and David Low way would be the only vehicular access point to the site from both north and south. The south-bound lane is at a different elevation to the north-bound lane already making it a difficult intersection to cross. The width of the David Low Way at this intersection also makes traffic merging difficult and dangerous when heading south.

As a regular visitor to Veggie Village I use this intersection frequently and it takes some time to be able to turn south from Woodland drive across oncoming traffic onto the David Low way. There are also delays in merging with the David Low traffic heading north. Traffic will be a significant  problem at this intersection if the development is allowed to proceed. With 100 car parks generating 700 car movements per day plus all the associated delivery vehicles, etc) the intersection will become a traffic nightmare. Flow on effects may include rat running along the peaceful streets of the esplanade streets of north Peregian .

The increase in the number of vehicles in Rufous street raises concerns about safety of children accessing the kindergarten and those of us accessing Veggie village, the tennis courts and Di Hurst Oval. The increase in vehicles will be a deterrent to those of us using bicycles to access veggie village and the other non-shopping amenities in Rufous street .
Part of the recreational precinct includes the mobile library which is parked in Woodland drive ( just near the corner of the David Low Way) outside the Community House every Monday afternoon from 1pm to 5pm. The library uses the facilities of the Community House . The traffic hazards and delays will therefore be considerably worsened on a Monday afternoon if this development is allowed to proceed. .

IMPACTS OF AN APPROVAL
The approval of this Application would create the following impacts:

a major traffic congestion and safety problem on the David Low Way and Woodland Drive intersection with a major impact on:
the residents of Woodland Drive, Cormorant and Tern Streets for whom this is the major access to and exit from David Low Way;
the users of the David Low Way heading both north and south past this intersection;
the users of the tennis courts, the kindergarten, Veggie Village , the Community House , the mobile library and the Di Hurst Oval;
a major traffic impact on narrow suburban Rufous Street which services the tennis courts, the kindergarten, Veggie Village and the Di Hurst Oval;
a major diversion of retail trade from the supermarkets located at Peregian Springs, Coolum and Noosa Junction (which each provide a full-service supermarket) and from some of the businesses located in the Village square;
a significant reduction of 6,503m2 of Open Space Recreation land available to the residents of the Peregian Beach area which could not be replaced in the area;
the imposition of unnecessary costs on ratepayers for road works, signage etc. simply because this developer wants to develop a supermarket / shopping centre in an inappropriate location;
while residents would have potentially difficult and dangerous access to a limited service supermarket slightly closer to the neighbourhood centre and perhaps save a matter of minutes in travelling by motor vehicle to shop, the supermarket would provide limited services compared to the full-service supermarkets currently accessed and would compromise the viability of existing local businesses and the livability of the locality.
destruction of the amenity of Peregian Beach village and its unique character; and a negative impact on existing businesses in the village which are to be duplicated in the satellite shops.

SUMMARY
The issues noted above indicate that the approval of this Application would be detrimental to the wellbeing of the community of Peregian Beach and the livability of the locality.
The suggested benefits are minor, with only minutes of travelling time saved to access a limited service supermarket, which is unnecessary with several full-service supermarkets conveniently located at a reasonable distance.
Conversely, the impacts on the community and the environment will be major with the loss of precious open space, significant traffic and noise issues, and the potential degradation of the nearby village community garden and bush land reserve.
The Application presents major conflicts with the Noosa Town Plan; threatens the amenity and safety of the community and the economic viability of the neighbourhood centre traders; and, generally, would compromise the uniqueness and charm of Peregian Beach.
As the Proposal presents a major and insurmountable conflict with The Noosa Plan and because the proposed retail and commercial uses are Inconsistent within the Open Space Recreation zone, I request that the Sunshine Coast Council reject this Application.

Thank you for considering my submission.
Yours faithfully,

Susan Francis
Peregian Beach

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