The aesthetic look and feel of Noosa could be permanently destroyed and the Noosa planning scheme effectively neutered if two large development applications are given the go-ahead – one of them being potentially the biggest unit development ever presented as an application in Noosa.

Under the state government’s new State Facilitated Development (SFD) pathway, supported by both major political parties, and designed to turbocharge supply of so-called affordable housing, the two applications are to be assessed under its fast-track, 30 business day approval method.

The process offers a tokenistic window for response from councils and the community, the closing date for which is September 23 as the state government’s pre-election caretaker period begins on October 1, from whence it cannot make any development decisions.

To meet the state’s SFD criteria, the applications must include a 15% component of ‘affordable’ housing. 

The first application for 195 units at Lanyana Way in Noosa Junction was submitted by GCMT Properties, owned by extensive Junction landowner and Noosa Junction Association vice-president Michael Tozer, and Graeme Connor of Kingscliff, and which proposes a 195 build-to-rent unit complex with commercial and retail space and onsite parking.

The Tewantin application is lodged by Poinciana Blue, owned by Bruce Bairstow of Noosaville, and has proposed a development of about 40 mixed, build-to-sell and build-to-rent units with onsite parking on Poinciana Avenue and Sidoni St.

These developments would thus yield 6 and 29 ‘affordable’ dwellings respectively.

Noosa mayor Frank Wilkie, on receipt of the news, checked with council planning staff on whether the applications had ever been lodged with council, and was advised they had each been through pre-lodgement meetings with council only – and on a significantly smaller scale.

Pre-lodgement meetings allow prospective applicants to receive advice on the application’s compliance with the Noosa Plan and what steps may be required to ensure approval before committing to the cost of applying.

Mayor Wilkie said while council had agreed on the need for affordable housing in the shire and across the state, information about the SFD process was lacking – and the two proposed developments in Noosa are unprecedented.

“We acknowledge there needs to be more truly affordable housing for people on low to moderate incomes – but that means providing them at a subsidised rate that keep them artificially lower than the market,” Cr Wilkie said.

“It’s unrealistic to think that just by increasing supply you’ll reduce the cost of accommodation in Noosa because demand is so high. 

“There was a recent report that Noosa is the most expensive property market in Queensland with a median house price of $1.3 million, purely because it’s an area of high demand – and will remain so unless we trash the joint by overpopulation and destroy its amenity.”

“Every dwelling in Noosa is affordable to someone: what’s missing is a meaningful definition.”

Franki Wilkie, Noosa Mayor

Mayor Wilkie said it was likely the Lanyana Way application would involve building heights at “six storeys or even eight”, and expressed concerns that Noosa’s roads would not cope with the extra traffic generated.

He said it was “understandable” why the SFD would be attractive to applicants.

“It seems you can put in any application and have no regard to our planning scheme, so long as 15% of your development is ‘affordable’ – and ‘affordable’ may not survive the first purchase.”

Independent Noosa MP Sandy Bolton said she had already booked a meeting with the housing minister next week to “obtain details”.

As I said in Parliament when the bill that allowed this was being debated, yes, we need affordable housing, however we also need our community alongside in these efforts, and each project must be individually assessed with full community consultation,” Ms Bolton said. 

“We will keep everyone updated including on our efforts to ensure any projects that utilise this pathway are genuinely affordable for our residents and workers, and not just labelled as such

Sandy Bolton. Noosa MP

Noosa Parks Association’s Tony Wellington said “a very dangerous precedent” was being established with the SFD. 

Developers who don’t want to be judged under local planning instruments, for example those who wish to breach building height restrictions or avoid providing adequate car parking, can now simply ignore the local government and direct their application to the state for determination,” he said.

“Not only local governments, but also local residents are being dudded. The democratic right to influence local planning decisions has been whisked away.”

Tony Wellington. Noosa Parks Association

Analysis – Alan Lander.

Be careful what you wish for, it seems. 

Noosa’s willingness to share in alleviating the affordable housing crisis now threatens to backfire on it in a detrimental and possibly long-term way.

The state’s proposal to assess two major development applications – in what could be the first of many, bypassing Noosa Council – leaves many unanswered questions about the future of planning in our shire.

Here are some immediate questions Noosa residents will want answers to:

‘Affordable’ housing: Is the definition used in the fast-track process the same as the industry standard, where purchase or rental cost is a maximum of 30% of gross household income?

Re-sale of affordable accommodation, whether rental or owned: What guarantees are in place that ensure an ‘affordable’ dwelling cannot be bought one week and re-sold the following at a massively increased price by interstate/international speculators already largely responsible for Noosa’s shortage of rental properties through massive STA proliferation?

‘Affordable’ housing eligibility: We are all aware that affordable housing is needed to accommodate our emergency services personnel, our hospitality staff, older women escaping domestic violence, and so on.

But who handles the selection process? And will other groups such as international or local students, or migrants or refugees also be eligible?

SFD eligibility: Given SFD is designed to alleviate an affordable housing shortage, will it mainly be the ‘big boys’ in the development industry who gain access to the fast-track process.

Will it be open to other applicants – or will the SFD function as some sort of express-service supermarket checkout where application size matters most?

What of the future of state intervention to local town plans, and setting precedents: Assuming the need for affordable housing recedes in the future, will state intervention in town planning remain?

If not, will development applications revert back to the town planning instruments applied by local councils?

For example, will high-rise development in the Junction, which the proposed Noosa Junction development will almost certainly deliver, be reined in at some future date??

Will developments approved through the SFD that are in severe conflict with council’s town plans set a new precedent that allows all future developments to be assessed against the SFD, even though its use-by date may have passed?

A new role for local government: Again, assuming the SFD has a limited shelf life for the duration of an affordable housing shortage, what does a local council in a population growth area do in the meantime? 

The primary function of local government is land management, and zoning that land to meet the aspirations of its residents as reflected in its planning scheme. 

Will a council’s planning approval function end up simply assessing applications for sheds, carports and driveways from here?

The future, and determining ‘community values’: The SFD is no minor amendment to business as usual – it is a wholesale attack on communities who, some might say, have principles too parochial to ‘modern’ Queensland, which is enthusiastically embracing a massive net gain in its population.

The Noosa community helped set the community framework for the Noosa Plan, and the state government is now attempting to take that plan and our community out of the equation.

A minority of Noosa residents may celebrate this change, but I suspect the vast majority will be shaking their heads in sorrow at this news. 

For what it’s worth we can make our feelings known via the links below, and by asking what our political candidates are doing to defend what we know of as ‘the Noosa brand’.  

Comment on the Noosa Junction development application.

Comment on the Tewantin development application.