By Jolene Ogle
Tourism and hire operators along the Noosa River foreshore who have spread out past their lease area have been given their last warning and the council is expected to approve plans for joint compliance action.
A report to the Services and Organisation Committee on 7 March outlined how compliance officers from the Department of Natural Resources Mining (DNRM) and the council audited eight leases along Gympie Terrace in December 2016 and found a number of encroachments such as tables, chairs and signs on community land.
The compliance officers also found a number of unapproved structures, plus expansions and changes to businesses, such as the addition of coffee shops, to be in breach of the Noosa Planning Scheme.
At the general committee meeting on Monday 13 March, councillors voted to authorise council CEO Brett de Chastel to write to the DNRM to confirm its support for compliance action.
Councillors also agreed with plans to write to the commercial lease holders and advise them to cease their encroachments as well as develop a Memorandum of Understanding with the DNRM to establish a regular compliance program.
A report outlining the breaches was presented to the council and councillor Brian Stockwell said he was “flabbergasted with the growth of encroachments” since the offending lease holders were first warned of their breaches in January 2016 and again in July 2016.
“What do we call a person who settles on land or occupies property without right or the payment of rent? What I just read out is the definition of a squatter,” he said.
Cr Stockwell said the motion before the council was about removing squatters from parklands and while he didn’t doubt that the council would be accused of being “anti-business”, he strongly believed “every square metre” of the river foreshore is valuable to the community.
The operators had been warned in 2016 to move their furniture and signs back within their lease area but Councillor Joe Jurisevic said the operators seem to have “thumbed their noses” at the council and have ignored the request.
Council local law officers already have the power to remove offending objects from community land.
The motion was carried by the councillors and is expected to be ratified at the 16 March ordinary meeting.
