Hello Blue Care! 6 weeks later

Hello Blue Care,

It has been 6 weeks since we met with you and your colleagues regarding the Sunrise Beach aged care development. We appreciate your commitment to take our concerns regarding the Glossy Black cockatoos and other issues on board. Our public support continues to grow in line with the level of community concern, not only for the wildlife but also for reasons of traffic impacts and emergency evacuation plans.

Can you please provide any feedback with regards to what further actions, if any, have been taken by Blue Care to address these genuine concerns, in particular to retain more Glossy Black food trees?

We have had some offers from within the community for funding to facilitate a redesign of the development with the aim of retaining food trees. We understand that you have already made minor changes to retain some trees, however we would like to know what cost, financial and other, is involved in doing more?

For example,

• can the area marked for stage 2 be left uncleared until that stage is ready to go?
• could the design platform levels be adjusted to minimise the need for cut and fill so that stands of remnant vegetation can be integrated into the design?
• can the layout and design of the ILU’s and roads in stage 2 be reconsidered and redesigned at a slightly increased density to reduce their footprint and retain the food trees in the north eastern corner of the site.

If we were able to assist with part funding of these changes, would you be prepared to reconsider?

What ball park costs would be involved in achieving any of the above suggestions?

We are in discussion with Noosa Council to see if they are willing to assist this to happen through wavering of fees on future DA amendments etc. While Council support the idea for a greater number of trees to be retained, under the legislation, they can only respond to Blue Care’s applications and cannot put further conditions on the DA out of the risk of being taken to court.

It is a stalemate, when all parties say they want the best for the environment, but are unable due to costs and planning legislative processes. Please we hope you see our frustration.

Please let us know if there is a way to make this a win win for all parties and if any financial input from our group would have any impact on your decision.

Yours sincerely,
Robyn, Bettina, Desire and Bob
Glossy Team Sunrise