Three Noosa community groups have teamed up to campaign against the high-rise housing development being proposed by the state government for Noosa Junction. Noosa Shire Residents and Ratepayers Association, Peregian Beach Community Association and Noosa Parks Association all say the proposal, under the State Facilitated Development (SFD) scheme, is inappropriate for Noosa Shire.
“Noosa has a long and proud history of preventing high-rise buildings. That effort dates back to resident protests held in 1969,” said Noosa Parks Association spokesperson and former Noosa mayor Tony Wellington. “Building height limits have been embedded in the Noosa town plan since the 1990s. A local town planner has determined that the SFD development proposed for Noosa Junction would need to be at least seven storeys high and possibly taller. The state and the developer have no regard for the essential differences that make Noosa so attractive to visitors and residents. Trash the brand and you trash Noosa’s economic advantages,” he said.
The State Facilitated Development process aims to deliver a percentage of affordable homes as part of the housing mix. “But there are other ways to achieve those affordable homes without breaching the planning scheme,” said Noosa Shire Residents and Ratepayers president Adrian Williams. “Council has already demonstrated to the state that there are alternative sites, even in Noosa Junction, that can provide a mix of affordable and meet-the-market homes yet still adhere to the building height limits contained in Noosa Plan and its amendments.”
Barry Cotterell, president of Peregian Beach Community Association, said the notion of the state government overriding local planning schemes was fundamentally undemocratic. “This isn’t a public development like a school or even government-owned social housing, but rather a private development that is being fast-tracked to aid a private developer. What’s more, it will irrevocably alter the look-and-feel of the Noosa landscape and set a precedent for more such high-rise developments in the future,” he said.
Wellington said, “Although very little information about the developments has been supplied by the state, we are asking Noosa residents to respond to the first stage of the assessment process before the cut-off time of Monday at 5pm. Noosa residents turned out in unprecedented numbers to have their say on the creation of the Noosa Plan. Over 1,500 submissions were received by Council. All of that effort will have come to nought if the state simply ignores our community and foists inappropriate developments on us.”
The three groups are urging residents to go to yoursay.housing.qld.gov.au and navigate to State Facilitated Developments to complete the surveys relating to the two developments proposed for Noosa Shire, one in Noosa Junction and another in Tewantin before 5pm on Monday 23 September.
