The Noosa Council Planning & Environment Committee Meeting of Tuesday 7 May
Wicked be the shopkeepers, for they erect signs
Under local law they’re called “advertising devices” but you and me know them as signs. You may have seen them; they’re the useful little structures about the place that indicate where things are. But Noosa Council generally seems to regard them as blots on the landscape so it’s invented a law. Instead of offering the present open assessment of signs under its planning scheme, the new law will enforce control without all that messy public consultation. Bit by bit, inch by inch, this Council is enforcing a North Korea style regime of control like Noosa has never seen. But CEO Brett de Chastel says “the change will better suit local conditions”, so I suppose that’s all right then. (With thanks to demographer Bernard Salt for the North Korea allusion.)
Of flight paths and drones – and grandstanding
There are some councillors, who I’m choosing not to name here because so far I’m in a benign mood, who never saw a bandwagon they didn’t want to leap on. And the present flight path controversy (see my last column), which has caused an outbreak of mass hysteria in the Shire, has seen plenty of this frenzy from people who seem to believe the end of days is nigh.
It was during an update on environment and sustainable development that the subject of aerial hijinks arose in Council. First Cr Jess Glasgow – flying high on flight paths and copping some recent turbulence in his new role as aviation expert – asked a question about drones which caused Mayor Tony Wellington to expatiate about a drone company in Eumundi where he said there were employment opportunities. (Perhaps this was a hint to Cr Glasgow.)
Whereupon Cr Stockwell, also at the forefront of the flight path resistance brigade including introducing a motion on the issue last month, proclaimed that he was buying a drone to use in his own business pursuits. My immediate hope was that this would not present a collision of interest with flight paths – a plane wreck if you will. But I was distracted from this thought when a staff member interpolated that Noosa could become a major player in the “drone industry”. We get one of these vanity major player bubbles at almost every meeting of this Council: ‘Of course, little Noosa, you can be anything you want’.
Dear doctor, some things cause me chronic irritation
Readers may be surprised at this admission, but I do have my pet peeves. They’re almost a health issue. One of many annoying bugbears is the continuing lack of discussion at the Council’s quarterly updates of the many infrastructure delays. I hope the silence is innocent and not sleight of hand to keep ratepayers in the dark about significant problems or cash flow complications of key projects.
Listing my considerations following this short meeting. There was another routine gym application (there are too many gyms; they depress me and I avoid them). Noosa does not need special signage laws, particularly if the decisions are not made openly. A Noosa Sustainability Institute – that zombie idea we haven’t heard of for a year (could this be the secret use for the TAFE site?) – is roaring back to life. Discussion was deferred to the forthcoming General Meeting.
The costs of purchasing and maintaining the Yurol-Ringtail forest are looking out of control. And many other projects – the new town plan, the Noosa River plan, the zero emissions plan, the Nature Conservancy partnership, the so-called ‘Bring Back the Fish’ project, the digital hub, stormwater management, the vulnerable Noosa Spit and the North Shore campground – are presenting too many problems. And did I mention infrastructure?
