Dear readers, this is my own submission to the New Noosa Plan. Writing it I realised what an endeavour it is and I am now even more impressed by submissions we received. Thank you for your contribution Judy, Desiré, Nick and Leigh. The submission deadline has now closed and we will see how Noosa Council will respond.
Dear Noosa Council,
Thank you for all your hard work on the New Noosa Plan. Here is my feedback as a Sunrise Beach resident. I support all points that my fellow Sunrise Beach resident Desiré Gralton raised in her excellent submission and will embed some of her points into my submission.
Short Stay Accommodation
I object to the introduction of newly zoned ‘Short Stay Areas’ into the New Plan.
Doing so without socio-economic impact modelling, without genuine community engagement and at a time when many people have invested in or depend on income from providing this type of visitor accommodation is irresponsible, impractical and costly.
Instead I believe Council should develop a kind and fair framework for SSA with help and insights from all stakeholders. We should:
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- Focus on SSA benefits for the community such as flexible income generation for vulnerable women, single parents, people who are in-between employment etc
- Protect neighbourhoods from unreasonable disruption through a clear and simple code of conduct
- Protect against a total takeover of our suburbs that could potentially turn suburbs into ‘tourism ghost towns’ and make resident services such as schools, shops and doctors suffer – perhaps through a licensing system.
- Grandfather ‘overuse’ of suburbs by SSA out.
- Extend the Tourism Noosa eco-check program with practical solutions to reduce impact on our infrastructure. Offering easy public transport on and off ramps, bikes, good resource recovery, award water savings as well as emission savings.
- Seek to support the most vulnerable income earners of our tourism industry (cleaners and maintainers).
- Support the development of public transport as well as active transport links to minimise traffic impact.
- Seek to actively design walkable neighbourhoods with centres of interest – local suburban shops and social activities.
- Seek to actively support the development of experiences for visitors and residents such as tours and activities set in suburbia.
- Develop a workable and effective Affordable Housing strategy.
Relaxing rules to share land.
I would welcome any relaxations that would make sharing property and land easier. I believe this would allow for greater resource sharing and higher agricultural productivity.
Tiny House on Wheels
I would like to see the maximum time for a tiny house to be placed on a site to be increased from 3 months to at least a year and, if no complaints are being lodged by neighbours, indefinitely – until such time reasons for removal arise such as complaints or changes to the area.
Two Storey Building Height
To prevent further environmental destruction I would like in some instances permissible building height to increase. Horizontal sprawl is out! Greenfield and pockets of native vegetation are precious. There are situations where ‘going up’ is the better solution. This is not to promote the ‘dreaded high rise’, but to allow for higher density where appropriate especially for community services such as aged care, hospitals, schools and also over-shop accommodation where appropriate.
Signage
I believe restricting signage is a good thing, but an obsession with it can be counter productive. If the sagas around Lexis and Music Noosa are anything to go by I would prefer to see these rules appropriately relaxed rather than tightened.
Placemaking / design thinking for local centres
Council in collaboration with local residents should seek to activate our suburban centres to cover most of our basic consumer needs as well as becoming spaces to socialise, pick up newspapers, have coffee, healthy products and takeaways. A place for community engagement and learning and as is the case in Sunrise: a place where school students and residents can interact, local services can be showcased and innovation can be fostered. Our Sunrise Shop could serve as a collection points for C4C, electronic waste, oil etc , and contain a facility for resource separation and a community composter. It could also provide information about our local wildlife and history supported by signage.
Protecting the natural environment and wildlife
I would like to see the new plan include stricter guidelines around land clearing and perhaps somehow enforce a minimum amount of permeable land left to allow better drainage.
Council should also encourage or fund programs that encourage native gardens that will provide food and better connections for local wildlife. It’s astounding that NICA’s grant applications for such a program is always knocked back when it could really help counter the negative effects of the building boom in our region.
Active transport vision
I would like to see an earnest push for making active transport (Walking, cycling) the easiest and safest mode of transportation. Instead of being fixated on roundabouts we should focus on facilitating safe travel and crossing under or over roads – safe for walkers, riders and wildlife too. After all you can not have both, free flowing car traffic without signalled intersections AND free flowing bicycle traffic. Somebody will need to stop somewhere.
Local Government Infrastructure Plan / Transport at Sunrise
“Transport Development facilitates safe and convenient pedestrian and cycle connections between and around key destinations.”
Infrastructure seems to be lagging behind and I fail to see any effective planning action to address this. Other than the 775 metres of new pathway scheduled along Wollomia Way – Orient Drive to Dame Pattie Drive at a cost of $250,000, there seems to be no further forecast or planning to provide safer bicycle infrastructure to the cluster of schools and community facilities in the Sunrise Beach area for the next ten years or more.
I note that the cost to the community of the new Blue Care development will be quite significant, with the need for a bio retention basin, infiltration basin and dispersion bund on Grasstree Court / Ben Lexcen Dr at $421,880 and more than $2 million to upgrade the Ben Lexcen Dr / Eenie Creek Rd intersection to cope with all the extra demand. That stings, given that the development will also see the clear felling of more than 70 feed trees for the vulnerable Glossy Black Cockatoos and impact on the biodiversity of the area.
Towards a greener and kinder future!
With best wishes
Bettina Walter
