2020-07-16 Ordinary Meeting Agenda

ORDINARY MEETING AGENDA                                                                16 JULY 2020


3     MAYORAL MINUTES

                               MAYORAL MINUTE
I hereby give notice of my intention to move the following motion at the Ordinary Meeting on
Thursday, 16 July 2020:


1     PURCHASE OF 24 COOROY NOOSA ROAD, TEWANTIN – LOT 375 SP151415 (FORMER
      TEWANTIN TAFE SITE)
      That Council note the Mayoral Minute provided to the Ordinary Meeting dated 16 July 2020,
      and:
      A.    Instruct the CEO to discontinue negotiations with the Queensland Government regarding
            the purchase of the former Tewantin TAFE site located at 24 Cooroy Noosa Road,
            Tewantin;
      B.    Agree to instead adopt an advocacy role for potential suitable end users (e.g. lessees or
            purchasers), with these likely to be from the education or training sectors; and
      C.    Request the Chief Executive Officer to write to the Department of Employment, Small
            Business and Training and the State Member for Noosa, Sandy Bolton, thanking them
            for their assistance in this matter to date and:
                 Advise of Council’s decision not to proceed with purchase negotiations but to
                  instead advocate for a suitable user to be found to activate the site;
                 Reaffirm Council’s desire to see the site activated at the earliest opportunity;
                 Provide details of approaches to Council from potential end uses to date; and
                 Offer Council’s ongoing assistance to facilitate the activation of the site.


BACKGROUND
The Tewantin TAFE campus was constructed in 2004 by the Queensland State Government. It had
a short history, opening in 2006 with 716 students and closing in 2014 with 256 students many of
whom were studying off-campus. The decline in the success and viability of the campus was
mirrored at many others around Australia, with privatisation of the training sector causing competition
for students, resulting in the State Government identifying a need to centralise and reduce the
number of TAFE campuses across the state.
Since its 2014 closure the facility has mostly sat idle and, unfortunately, been subject to vandalism
and building deterioration. Meanwhile the Noosa community and Council have grown increasingly
anxious to see the site reactivated to halt the decline of this valuable community asset.
The site currently remains the responsibility of the State’s Department of Employment, Small
Business and Training (the State) and, through the assistance of the Member for Noosa, Sandy
Bolton, and departmental staff, Council has been provided with “first option” to purchase the site.
Sandy has been a strong advocate for this facility being re-activated and has worked tirelessly to
support our Council throughout this process for which we are grateful.
Following an initial formal approach by the State regarding a potential purchase of the site in 2018,
Council has formally considered the issue twice and on both occasions resolved to continue to
negotiate the potential purchase of the TAFE site. On 20 December 2018 (Council’s second formal
deliberation of the matter), Council agreed that subject to successful negotiations the CEO was
authorised to purchase the site for up to $1.7 million. Council’s decision at that time to purchase was
ultimately predicated on Council’s desire to protect the environmental values of the site from private
purchase and development and also delivering on the community’s desire to see the site reused and
reactivated.


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