JIM FAGAN
Noosa Council looks as if it will reject the controversial Noosa on Weyba development when it meets next Thursday.
Noosa Council’s senior development planner Denis Wallace has recommended the development application by Northbrook Corporation Pty Ltd be refused, including “significant environmental and social risks” among the 17 reasons for his assessment.
And the first step towards the council accepting the recommendation was made on Tuesday when the council’s planning and organisation committee, Chairman Frank Wilkie, Noel Playford, Tony Wellington and Joe Jurisevic decided to support the recommendation and forward it to the council’s general committee which meets this Monday.
The development is for a mix of residential, community and commercial dwellings to be built on land south of Noosaville adjoining Lake Weyba. The development site has about 400m of direct lake frontage. At least 10 community groups have objected to the development and only 37 of 1068 submissions received by council have been in favour.
Cr Wilkie said it was a significant application with up to 1000 dwellings and 2300 people in the footprint, this to be offset with the proposal of 140 hectares of land being given over to Noosa National Park.
Cr Tony Wellington: “There is no net gain for koalas and biodiversity as a result of the offset because the land itself is already constrained for development. There is a net deficit to koalas because of the development itself and a roadway through the koala corridor.”
Among the reasons for his assessment, Mr Wallace noted: “The site is ecologically constrained and drains into the highly sensitive receiving wetlands and waterways of the Lake Weyba and Noosa River systems.
“A number of desirable sustainability measures are posed but, overall, the assessment finds significant environmental risks and social risks are posed.
“The proposal seeks to modify the landform through major earthworks and clear all vegetation within urban precincts to provide for intensive residential development. This approach is not considered to appropriately respond to the site’s environmental, natural resource, open space and Aboriginal cultural heritage values and constraints.
“Community benefits posed are considered to be either minor or significantly outweighed by the development’s impacts,” Mr Wallace said.
