By Margaret Maccoll
Over four hours of debating, Noosa Councillors at council’s general meeting decided to approve short-term-accommodation (STA) applications for two Peregian Beach properties, a month after rejecting a similar application.
Last month, councillors refused a STA application in a medium/high density zone in Peregian Beach after staff said 50 per cent of dwellings in the area were STAs which was depleting the dwellings available for permanent housing and impacting permanent resident amenity.
This month, councillors approved the STA applications against staff recommendations that mirrored those put forward a month earlier.
Cr Tom Wegener asked officers how amenity was measured and was told it was something planners talked a lot about but could be subjective, with measures based largely on complaints of noise and car parking.
“Amenity is an important asset,” Cr Wegener said. “It’s what we moved here for. STAs are eroding that asset. It’s our job to protect it.”
Cr Frank Wilkie said councillors had an opportunity to not worsen the housing availability crisis facing Noosa. He said visitor accommodation needed to be in the mix but not dominate, and a Scanlon development underway on the former caravan site would deliver ample visitor accommodation with an extra 99 visitor beds to Peregian Beach.
“There is clearly no need for more visitor accommodation in this region,” he said.
Mayor Clare Stewart questioned the data, the number of STA applications council had received for existing STAs and new STAs under the superseded plan and, with the increased migration to Noosa, the number of people living permanently in them.
Cr Amelia Lorentson said of the 334 STAs mapped in the region, 94 were townhouses, 77 apartments, 149 houses, four were home-hosted accommodation and four were secondary dwellings.
She said the number one industry in Peregian Beach was food and beverage and visitor accommodation was vital to the businesses.
The Scanlon development currently under construction had applied for permanent housing in its development application but was refused by Council, the meeting heard.
Until Council completes its updated Housing Needs’ Assessment which is expected in October it relies on its current Housing Needs’ Assessment prepared in 2017 by Briggs & Mortar Pty Ltd and a “range of data”.
Cr Stewart asked what had changed that had led officers to recommend refusal of the STA application, and was told staff had assessed the application against the planning scheme, the mix of accommodation in the area, and the concern that Noosa was in a housing crisis and STAs were contributing to the housing crisis.
Cr Stewart said the applications met council’s planning codes and there was no evidence STAs were causing the housing crisis.
It’s about fairness, consistency, an even playing field. If this had come before us in February, it would have been approved, she said.
Cr Brian Stockwell said there were valid arguments on both sides but the difficulty for councillors was the data available to them was dated.
It may be easy to assume we have more STAs but about a year ago Tourism Noosa was saying there were more people moving to STAs to live in them permanently, he said.
Until council has the updated information in October, he would not support refusing the application, he said.
At council’s ordinary meeting the majority of councillors voted to approve both Peregian Beach STA applications with councillors Frank Wilkie and Tom Wegener voting against the approval.
