A plan to build a farm to plate school camp at Cootharaba aimed at educating school students on permaculture has been knocked on the head by Noosa Council in favour of protecting prime agricultural land for future food production.
The proposal by Christian Youth Council intended to change a current development approval for the Kabi Road Golf Course to enable farm stays for up to 299 people with a staff of 50 people and 126 car parking spaces.
The proposal included three villages and a large communal area with a restaurant.
The 130ha site, zoned rural and comprised of three lots was originally approved for a 15ha golf course over two lots, 14ha as a permaculture orchard and with the remainder retained as natural vegetation.
Council officers recommended the development application be refused after determining the assessment of the application found that while the nature of the use made it suitable for a rural property, the proposed farm stay activity did not further the SEQ Regional Plan 2017 strategies and far exceeded the scale intended by the Noosa Plan 2020.
While both documents support tourism on rural lands, the SEQ Regional Plan 2017 also seeks that on-farm agricultural activities are intensified or diversified, with the Noosa Plan 2020 seeking that land mapped as Agricultural Land Conservation is protected and rural accommodation is complementary, small scale and fit for the site and locality, officers stated.
“The proposed permaculture and food production is not of a significant scale, largely intended for farm stay guests and will alienate agricultural land, with large areas of the site identified as Agriculture Land Conservation.
“The farm stay activity will also be the primary use rather than a complementary use, is not small scale having a gross floor area of 8,325m2 (including a restaurant for 300 people) and is an entirely different scale and character to the approved golf course and orchard where a former Queenslander dwelling was renovated as a clubhouse/restaurant. The proposal is also of a more permanent nature than the golf course and will generate significantly more traffic along Kabi Road to the detriment of nearby residents.“
While a number of councillors at Monday’s general meeting agreed there was a lack of knowledge and application of best-practice regenerative farming methods occurring in Noosa, they decided the project was in the wrong location with no overwhelming need for it in the shire, the agricultural land was more important to protect and there was no shortage of youth camps in the region.
“We underestimate the importance of food production,“ Cr Brian Stockwell said.
“Death of agricultural land threatens our future.“
Cr Stockwell said a long-standing principal of state government planning was not to alienate good agricultural land.
“We’ve never had a famine in Australia. The countries that have, know maintaining agricultural land is vital,“ he said.
Cr Tom Wegener, who is also president of Permaculture Noosa and declared his position, said he understood the staff’s recommendation but thought there was “overwhelming local interest“ in the project.
“We have a situation we don’t eat what grows here,“ he said.
“Our plan says promote local agricultural and food production. We need to start the regenerative process – it’s so utterly important to us.
“We need to educate on sustainable land practices.“
Cr Joe Jurisevic agreed he saw the value in the proposal but it was a “great idea in the wrong location“.
“The concept of education in sustainable agriculture can have great outcomes,“ he said.
“It would keep kids occupied and educate them in sustainable practices.
“It’s not land to put accommodation on. The land should be used for agriculture.“
“This is resort scale accommodation on land set aside for food production,“ Deputy Mayor Frank Wilkie said.
“Our access to arable land is going to become increasingly critical. To put buildings on a resort scale will deny food production in the future.“
A final decision on the development proposal will be made at council’s ordinary meeting on Thursday evening.
