By Margaret Maccoll
At an emotive meeting on Monday, Noosa Councillors voted to call on the State Government to gain approval to call a halt to providing property owners in medium and high density residential zones future approvals to use their properties for short-term accommodation (STA).
With a General Meeting agenda that included four applications for STAs in medium or high density residential zones, Cr Amelia Lorentson proposed council write to the Minister for permission to make a Temporary Local Planning Instrument (TLPI) to make STA an inconsistent use in those zones.
Cr Lorentson said the reason behind the request was that STAs were depleting the housing supply for permanent residents and posing a “significant risk of serious adverse economic and social conditions in Noosa Shire”.
Council officers are currently updating the Noosa Council Housing Needs’ Assessment prepared in 2017 by Briggs & Mortar Pty Ltd.
The housing needs’ assessment is expected to provide information on the supply of housing for permanent residents, the impacts STA has on this supply and inform the assessment of future development applications for STA.
While the housing needs’ assessment is still a few months from completion, housing shortages were described at the meeting as having reached a crisis situation after an unexpected influx of residents caused by a Covid-migration trend.
There has been a 23 per cent increase in residents to the coastal areas of Noosa Shire, officers said. “We have a housing availability crisis.”
Cr Tom Wegener said council needed to act and questioned whether they already had the ability to do so.
“We have the planning scheme. We have information. Do we have the tools to get this job done?” he asked.
Officers said there was sufficient information in the planning scheme to refuse applications.
“Noosa is one of the most desirable places to live. We have good amenity, good planning principles. We respect the community and have done a good job planning. We’ve had a huge influx of residents.,” Cr Wegener said
“The circumstances have changed. There’s a tipping point. STA doesn’t meet our strategic outcomes. We have the tools to change it. It’s our job to step up and say this has changed.”
Cr Brian Stockwell said the housing shortage right now was the worst in Noosa’s history.
He said there had been 340 STA applications since the 2020 Noosa Plan was introduced.
“None of these applications are for key workers, low income workers or the elderly,” he said.
Noosa chief executive officer Brett de Chastel said council’s draft law for STA under its Noosa Plan 2020 was under a two-year trial period required by the State Government.
He said the housing needs’ assessment review could be used as a precursor to move it forward.
Council heard there were 10-15 STA applications in various stages of progress in addition to the four applications before them.
Mayor Clare Stewart proposed the current applications be excluded from the proposed TLPI.
Cr Karen Finkel said housing issues had been raised by councillors in February and she disagreed with making policy on the run.
She said applicants had followed the process, taken advice from officers and submitted their applications in good faith and they needed to be considered.
“We are debating policy at the table,” she said. “We should have the housing needs’ study. We are not adhering to the processes. Good governance is to engender trust.”
Cr Lorentson agreed council needed to consider the current applications in line with the planning scheme.
If council refuses an STA, then it needs to do it through a TLPI not through an “on the run policy,” she said.
At the meeting, councillors recommended approving three of the four applications on their agenda.
They voted to refuse one STA application on the corner of David Low Way and Lowry Street, Peregian Beach, despite it being in a medium-high density zone and located across the road from three tourist resorts and a block of units.
Officers put forward a list of reasons for refusal. Among them were that it was “not appropriately located in Peregian Beach,” visitor accommodation was not sought or needed in the area and it would “further erode the permanent housing in the area, impacting permanent resident amenity”.
Final decisions on council’s STA plans and the approval of the STA applications were due to be made at council’s Ordinary Meeting on Thursday evening.
