Noosa Council will stop negotiations to buy the former Tewantin TAFE site on 24 Cooroy Noosa Road from the State Government, according to a motion moved by Mayor Clare Stewart at Council’s Ordinary Meeting last night.
Council sites the restrictions on the use of the property due to Native Title and environmental protections and the uncertainties caused by Covid as reasons for the decision not to proceed with the purchase.
In her Mayoral Minute Cr Stewart proposed Council instead adopt an advocacy role for potential suitable lessees or purchases likely from education or training sectors.
The Tewantin TAFE campus was constructed in 2004 by the Queensland Government, opened in 2006 with 716 students and shut in 2014 with 256 students, many studying off-campus.
Since 2014 it has mostly sat idle and been subject to vandalism and building deterioration.
Due to the work of Noosa MP Sandy Bolton Council was provided with “first option” to purchase the site.
A flora and fauna assessment of the site commissioned by Council identified suitable habitat for threatened species, including koala, glossy black cockatoo, vulnerable wallum frogs and endangered swamp crayfish.
Under the New Noosa Plan and State Koala Conservation Plan the site is identified as an area of biodiversity significance and a koala priority area, limiting future development to the existing cleared footprint of the former TAFE campus.
In 2018 Council formally offered to purchase the site from the state for $1.7m with funds to be sourced from the Environment Levy and general cash reserves. The state disclosed that Native Title still applied to the site requiring the state to enter into an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) with the traditional owners, the Kabi Kabi people prior to the purchase proceeding.
Cr Stewart said Council now finds itself in a continuing impasse with unknown completion timeframes and increased contractual complexity in addition to the new COVID environment.
Council’s investigations have found previously identified options for the site including aged care, Tewantin cemetery expansion, as a Council Depot or for Council administration would be unlikely to be feasible due to development constraints and environmental protections.
But there may be potential for commercial business use or opportunity for education providers.
