Noosa Botanic Gardens Master Plan Stakeholder Reference Group

Frank Wilkie21:26

Thank you Councillor Stockwell. Any other Councillors wish to speak to the motion? I'll waive my right to close. All in favour? That's carried unanimously. Thank you. Item is the Noosa Botanic Gardens Master Plan Stakeholder Reference Group and we have Shaun Walsh. You can give us a summary of the report.

Brian Stockwell23:21

Yes. So I'm happy to move the recommendation with B reading a point Councillor Councillor Jess Phillips as Chair and Councillors Lorentson and Finzel to the Noosa Botanic Gardens master plan Stakeholder Reference Group.

Okay. You. One, I'll change it as we go. All right. If that's okay? Want to leave that, Larry? Yes. Okay. So if we go through it, the appointment of Councillor Lorentson as Deputy Chair to the Local Disaster Recovery Committee and note that all are invited to attend as observers to the LDMG and the LDRG, which is the recovery group, the management group, the Local Disaster Management Group and the local Disaster Recovery Group. Appoint Councillor Councillor Wilkie, the and Councillor Phillips and Wegener to the Case Management Working Group. Appoint Councillor Finzel as Chair of the Regional Arts Development Fund committee, the RADF. I appoint Councillor Finzel as Chair of the Noosa Heritage Reference Group. Appoint Councillor Lorentson as Chair, Councillor Wilson and Wilkie, Mayor to the Capital Works Executive. Appoint Councillor Wilkie as Chair and Councillor Stockwell. To the CEO Performance Review Committee. Appoint Councillor Wilkie and Councillor Lorentson to the Teewah Cooloola Working Group. That's available to observers as well as can for Councillors. Appoint Councillor Stockwell as Chair and Councillor Finzel and Councillor Wegener to the Noosa Biosphere Trails Reference Group. I appoint Councillor Wilkie as the Chair of the Business Round Table. Appoint Councillor Wilkie as Chair and Councillor Wegener and Councillor Wilson to the Climate Change Response Plan Steering Group, plan steering group, sorry. Appoint Councillor Phillips as Chair and Councillor Wilson to the Climate Change Response Plan Community Reference Group, appoint Councillor Wilson to the management committee for the Memorandum of Understanding MOU with the Sunshine Coast University, appoint. Councillor Wilson to the Audit and Risk Committee, appoint Councillor Phillips as Chair and Councillor Stockwell to the Noosa Drive Pathway Project Reference Group, appoint Councillor Wilkie, Councillor Finzel and Councillor Wilson to the housing Stakeholder Reference Group. Appoint Councillor Wilkie as Chair and Councillor Stockwell and Councillor Lorentson to the destination management Project Control Group. Appoint Councillor Wilkie to the regional resource recovery steering group as part of the of MOU with Gympie Council this is the one we need to change because we've just put that in so is we've just approved that in the previous agenda item where it's Councillor Phillips with Lorentson and Councillor Finzel as members of that Noosa Botanic Gardens master plan Stakeholder Reference Group and then the.

Brian Stockwell23:42

No, I think there will be no happier group than the Noosa Botanic Gardens that this is progressing. It's something that they've been asking for a number of years and it is a great asset. That it has considerable potential for improvement as part of the master planning process and it's also a great asset for the local community having lived there for many years around that area and good to see that we've got that mix on the Stakeholder Reference Group because there'll be different users with different aspirations and different needs in terms of the way they use the Botanic Gardens.

Just so the Councillors understand, Seqwater retain an easement which is entitled over the Noosa Botanic Gardens. So whilst land is owned by Noosa Council, they have an easement over the site. Now those easement rights give them the ability to, well they basically need to endorse any sort of site improvements ability. And building works on the site and that's written into the title of documentation. So they're you know a critical stakeholder and they'll be primarily concerned for you know retention of the quality of Lake Macdonald because it is our primary water supply for the Shire. And those concerns are legitimate and well-founded. So by having them formally on the Stakeholder Reference Group we'll be able to have really good collaborative discussions and also realistic outcomes that meet both the needs of the broader community in terms of quality of water supply as well as you know botanical enrichment on the site and also I note that from a funding perspective Seqwater has also funded improvements in the past on the Noosa Botanic Gardens such as the shade house so you know possibly there might be an Avenue there but I can't speak on behalf of them but certainly keeping them at the table in a really positive and collaborative manner I think will be to the project's benefit.

Good morning Councillors. The preparation of a fresh master plan for the Noosa Botanic Gardens is a committed budget item for the 24-25 budget and we've put an invitation to quote out to the market and engaged a consultant to start preparing that process. The first part of the sort of formal community engagement is preparation of calling a Stakeholder Reference Group which is made up of appointed Councillors and also appointed community representatives. That will be used as a valuable sounding board for the consultants and the preparation material and it's a good initial step or stage before broader community consultation. There's of course a plan like broader community consultation as part of this preparation process. So you'll see the report recommends appointment of three Councillors including one to be Chair and also appointment of delegates from various community and stakeholder groups in and around Lake Macdonald and Cooroy. Thank you.

Brian Stockwell30:15

I will. I think there's some interesting points brought out there. I thought the lateral thinking in terms of how do we get an element and bring in like in Roma Street Parkland they had access to horticulture students. I'm not sure we have that course locally but we do certainly have a lot of people going through the conservation and land management which may be linked to an elements of that particularly if we increase for example the level of rarely endangered native plants like at the moment the Botanic Gardens has the part of the Macadamia Recovery Plan being cited on it because we've got a endangered macadamia species in the world so to me getting this master plan will be a recipe for going out and looking at what are the new sources of support partnership and funding to drive this to be a really enhanced asset for our locals but also it will attract people who are interested in gardens and interested in the natural environment to our Shire and once again that idea of dispersing our visitation to reduce the congestion in other parts of the Shire this while not the main focus is one element of it.

The master plan gives a future design direction for the site and if you think about the way Council planned resources for the hinterland adventure playground, you know, there was a design done at the hinterland adventure playground, a budget set and then delivered. As part of those budget decisions for construction of the new asset, Council also appointed new resources to actually manage the hinterland adventure playground, that resource is actually split between the hinterland adventure playground and the Cooroy, the Noosa Botanic Gardens, so there is actually has been some deployment of new resources, but I think it's really important that as we plan new initiatives and we want to improve the standard of their space, the need for more resources to you know fulfil that vision and maintain it is going to be critical. Our discussions and part of the terms of reference for the actual master plan is funding streams about you know so it's embedded that you know that unfortunately Council doesn't have unlimited funds and how we tap into supplementary you know funds to achieve this outcome. One of the things I am interested in exploring and this is a result of my background with Roma Street Parkland we had a Memorandum of Understanding with the Grovely TAFE horticulture which actually supplied horticultural students for long-term placements free of charge to our gardens and I'm interested to see what other, you know, learning and traineeship opportunities might exist on the Sunshine Coast because that would be an also a wonderful supplement to our volunteer program as well so I think we have to think really laterally and creatively about how we deploy resources to achieve the standard uplift that we're after.