Dear Noosa Councillors and CEO,
We wrote to you in 2018 with seven questions regarding the aged care development at Sunrise Beach. Since then ‘Glossy Team Sunrise’ has actively campaigned to prevent the clear felling of important Glossy cockatoo habitat at Sunrise Beach. Our change.org petition received over 2,200 signatures over a three-week period, with hundreds of supporters leaving heartfelt comments in support of our cause.
Last week we met with representatives from Uniting Care / Blue Care to deliver our petition, the comments and letters of support from key local community environment organisations – you can read a detailed report of the meeting in this Open Noosa post.
We thank the representatives of the development for having taken the time for a respectful meeting. Four things stood out:
- The developer representatives form Uniting Care/Blue Care, did seem to really listen and we believe they understood our concerns. They said our action has raised awareness and led to conversations within the organisation. In return, we learned about aged care realities.
- The developer representatives stated that it regarded the meeting as a first important step to engage with the local community and it saw many advantages in the facility becoming part of the local social fabric including engagement between high school students and aged care residents to become an integrated local community.
- The developer representatives stated they had submitted their operational work plan to council and they believed council would now begin community engagement on this project.
- We made it clear that we will not stand by and watch Glossy feed trees being cut down, but offered support in finding solutions to mitigate the damaging impact of the development. We acknowledged the potential benefits and opportunity for our local community.
Over to you Noosa Council …
We now turn our efforts back to you Noosa Council, as we believe the ball is in your court. We would like you to support a rethink of the development to make the aged-care facility worthy of our UNESCO biosphere reserve status.
We have seen a number of aged care facilities destroying large swathes of natural habitat over the past few months – we provided this overview in another post on Open Noosa.
… and Noosa Biosphere Reserve Foundation (NBRF)
We know we can do better and we must do better. There are successful precedents and we urge Noosa Council and the NBRF to support a rethink both logistically and financially through the Environment Levy.
Land swap options or reducing development footprints have happened in the past. Examples include
- Noosa Tennis Courts where developers traded land at Noosa Junction for the current site at Girraween;
- Flexi Learning Centre negotiated a better outcome;
- and, more recently, the proposal to extend the Carramar aged care facility was significantly amended.
In the past, the former Noosa Biosphere Ltd led negotiations with Energex to prevent trees for a new power line being cut down. We all know that negotiations can lead to better outcomes, and we urge Noosa Council to take the lead and negotiate on behalf of our community.
Let’s discuss this as a community
We would like to set up a round table to discuss biosphere-worthy place making for Sunrise including a walkable/cycleable neighbourhood centre that would provide a great service to the community including multi-generational learning and environmental immersion.
The Noosa Shire has a strong history of community inclusion before a final decision. It cannot be said to have been so in this instance. Therefore we ask that the Sunrise Beach community and interested stakeholders be given the opportunity to brain storm all options in a workshop, including:
- Council / town planning
- Hydrologists
- Conservation / Glossy experts
- Uniting Care / Blue Care
- Sunrise Beach community
- Schools
- Sunrise shop proprietors
- The local Uniting Church
- Sustainable development / architecture
- Alternative aged care / social impact
Ideally we would like NBRF to logistically support this.
This is a great opportunity for ‘a world-class UNESCO learning laboratory in action’ with the potential to remedy mistakes from the past and arrive at a model everybody involved could be proud of.
The time for change is now.
Kind regards
Bettina Walter, Desiré Gralton and Bob Carey for Glossy Team Sunrise
[Image: Glossy at Drinking Creek by Sieghilde Krenn]
We received the following response to our letter from Mayor Tony Wellington:
Dear Bettina et. al.,
Thanks for your email with attachments including a petition and letters of support etc. I applaud your concern for our local environment and for the longevity of our Glossy Black Cockatoos. I can assure you that our Council staff are well aware of the status of Glossy Black Cockatoos and have taken the needs of this species into consideration during many other matters, including developments, that have come before Council.
Please note that Council can only act in ways that it is legislatively able to do. When it comes to planning matters, we must abide by State legislation and also State planning instruments.
Your “open letter” states that your meeting with the developer resulted in the developer claiming they had submitted an operational works plan to Council and thus that they believed Council would begin community consultation on this project. There appears to be a significant misunderstanding of both the function of an operational works application and how this is assessed.
The operational works does not alter the building footprint. The operational works application with Council is for bulk earthworks to prepare the site. There is no legislative mechanism for Council to consult publicly on an operational works application.
Please note that Council has yet to receive payment for this operational works assessment, so it has not been progressed. Meanwhile, Council has received a minor amendment application to the original development approval. This amendment, I am informed, makes minor changes to a building footprint and to parking, apparently with the aim to conserve some trees. However, it very much a minor amendment, and so again we have no legislative authority to go to public consultation.
Staff aim to assess the minor amendment before assessing the operational works application.
I appreciate that many people would like Noosa Council to step in and insist on changes to the original development approval. Your statement “it is now over to Council” perhaps implies this? However, I’m afraid this is simply not possible.
The existing development approval predates this post-deamalgamation Noosa Council. Once a development is approved with conditions, changes can only be made at the request of the developer. That is exactly what is happening with the current amendment application.
Please note also that when assessing the amendment application, we can only assess what is being applied for. In other words, Council cannot use the amendment application to assess other aspects of the development approval not covered by the proposed amendments. The application for minor amendments is not a trigger to reassess the entire application.
I am informed that, due to the significant public interest in this matter, that the minor amendment application will be coming to a round of Council meetings for Councillor’s consideration.
Council has no authority nor coercive power to force changes to a preexisting development approval. And I can assure you that Council will not act in a manner that is unlawful or which will bring Council into pointless and expensive legal action, nor that will bring Council into disrepute.
The site has been zoned for urban use (community services zone) for over 20 years and the original development approval required for more than half the site to be dedicated to conservation as Nature Refuge. The processing of that Nature Refuge status is currently underway, so arguably the original development assessment had significant conservation outcomes.
Of course, that does not resolve all your concerns about the potential loss of some Casuarina trees on the site as a result of the development of an aged care facility.
Any further changes to the development approval, over and above the current minor amendment application, can only be initiated by the developer.
Best wishes
Tony Wellington
Mayor
Noosa Council