Popular Cooroy venue, Bus Stop Espresso, may have to close down its coffee service within three months, following a Noosa Council staff recommendation to refuse its continued operation – unless councillors vote otherwise.

A main concern for council planning staff is the business’s desire to continue providing coffee and snacks, considered to be an “urban” activity which should be provided only in central Cooroy, not in a “rural” location across from the council’s local waste station.

The staff report also mentions the use of council road reserve on Mary River Rd for car parking, seeking to limit spaces to four inside the property, however Bus Stop Espresso owner Rob Noy said it is catering for many customers including those driving trades vehicles with trailers, also emergency services vehicles, along with car and bicycle/motorbike club enthusiasts, all of which would otherwise impact heavily on an already very busy Cooroy CBD.

The location is also convenient for nursing home buses to visit and for infirm residents to safely and easily access a table directly from the bus, he said.

Ironically, Noosa Council itself employed the venue to distribute ‘free’ coffees to local residents during May and June this year as part of a state government-funded ‘wellbeing’ grant to engage with residents post-Covid and those affected by a major landslide which cut off a number of Black Mountain residents. The endeavour attracted hundreds of locals to the venue, most arriving in private vehicles and parking on-site.

The refusal additionally impacts Bus Stop Espresso’s coffee supplier, Cooroy Coffee, which operates from the same Mary River Rd premises, which may also have to cease operations due to a neighbour’s complaint about the smell during coffee roasting periods, which according to Mr Noy, are about 16 hours a week.

The roaster initially operated in a neighbouring property down the road and moved to the site to join with Bus Stop’s other endeavours, such as honey and eggs produced on site, and a range of recently planted fruit trees for the same endeavour, all of which – apart from the coffee roasting – are deemed “appropriate” for sale in the zoning.

Bus Stop Espresso, which has been open for more than two years, has utilised a former Victoria omnibus built in 1948 as the delivery vehicle for coffee, other drinks and snacks along with being a tourism attraction, but intended to transfer that into a roadside stall, currently under construction.

But ‘roadside stalls’ do not allow the selling of prepared food and drinks, such as Cooroy Coffee.

The report reads: “While [Bus Stop Espresso] will not compromise biodiversity values or rural productivity capacity, the proposed food and drink outlet does not meet many of the Noosa Plan 2020 requirements.

“[It] is not a rural activity or rural enterprise, rather, it is an urban activity and such uses are intended to be located in business centres to contribute to their vibrancy.

“[It] also does not value-add to the goods produced on site and is operating as the primary use of the site, with the roadside stall a very minor component … also [it] has only a limited tourism focus, largely catering to locals living in the area.

“As such there is no overwhelming need for the use to locate on the site or particular circumstances relevant that warrant the proposal.

“The coffee shop is also adversely impacting on residents’ amenity who bought into the area for a quiet, rural lifestyle, with a number of nearby residents submitting valid objections to the application.

“There is also insufficient on-site car parking to meet the current parking demands of the use, which has the potential to increase with the changes proposed by the applicant. The request to include a food and drink outlet is therefore recommended for refusal, and the applicant advised the food and drink outlet must cease operating from the site.”

The item was briefly discussed at Tuesday’s (today’s) Planning and Environment meeting of council and has been referred to council’s General Committee meeting on Monday.

Summary of the latest Noosa Council report.

This application seeks retrospective approval to operate a food and drink outlet in association with a roadside stall approved at 201 Mary River Road, Cooroy.

The applicant also seeks to expand the approved range of goods sold on site, expand the roadside stall building, provide seating for up to 12 people, with onsite car parking to be increased to 4 spaces.

The site has an area of 2.67ha, is zoned Rural under the Noosa Plan 2020 and is located approximately 2.1km from the Cooroy town centre.

The roadside stall, bus and seating area are located to the front of the site, in amongst the existing vegetation. While the proposal will not compromise biodiversity values or rural productivity capacity, the proposed food and drink outlet does not meet many of the Noosa Plan 2020 requirements.

The proposed food and drink outlet is not a rural activity or rural enterprise, rather, it is an urban activity and such uses are intended to be located in business centres to contribute to their vibrancy.

The food and drink outlet also does not value add to the goods produced on site and is operating as the primary use of the site, with the roadside stall a very minor component.

The proposed food and drink outlet also has only a limited tourism focus, largely catering to locals living in the area. As such there is no overwhelming need for the use to locate on the site or particular circumstances relevant that warrant the proposal.

The coffee shop is also adversely impacting on residents’ amenity who bought into the area for a quiet, rural lifestyle, with a number of nearby residents submitting valid objections to the application.

There is also insufficient on-site car parking to meet the current parking demands of the use, which has the potential to increase with the changes proposed by the applicant.

The request to include a food and drink outlet is therefore recommended for refusal, and the applicant advised the food and drink outlet must cease operating from the site or relocate to a more suitably zoned site should they wish to continue operating.

Additionally, the request also includes changes to and deletion of a number of the existing conditions of approval. These changes predominantly relate to the provision of food and drink and onsite dining, and as such, are commensurate with the requested food and drink outlet use, not the approved roadside stall use.

The changes to the conditions are also recommended for refusal, with only the change to the proposal plans to reflect the as constructed development on the site is recommended to be supported.