Unit development proposed for Pomona

from Cooroy Rag 6 July 2022 edition

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A GROUP of Pomona residents are upset that a proposed residential development is not open to community consultation. However, the town planner says this is not required.

Pace Planning Principal Town Planner, Brooke Wildin, said that the proposed development for 20 units and 38 car parking spaces at 11C Church Street is using the land according to code and therefore does not require public notification that is only applicable to impact assessment applications.

“The land is zoned medium density under the Noosa Plan 2020. Multiple dwellings are a consistent use for the medium density zone and the application is therefore code assessable.

“Consistent uses are what Council will support in a particular zone, so no public notification is required for code assessment for this reason."

But Pomona Community Advocacy and Action Advocate and local resident, Nick Cooke, said that they feel like they’ve been “shut out”.

“A lot of residents are angry. They feel like they’ve been shut out.”

After discovering the development wasn’t impact accessible, Nick said that he organised a public meeting at the Lawson Shed.

“We had 30-40 residents turn up at the meeting and Brooke and her husband Andy Snedden (Pace Planning Senior Environmental Scientist) came to answer questions.”

Brooke said that she fielded calls from the floor and was able to provide more information about the development.

“There are no high rises proposed, despite the community thinking it's a ‘high density’ development.

“The designs are low set and ‘adaptive’, meaning it allows equitable access to persons who are disabled or aging, meaning people in the community will have the option to transition from big homes into something smaller.”

Brooke said other benefits of the development include upgrading the road frontage with curb, channelling and footpaths, riparian revegetation, and new native landscaping, together with rehabilitation plans for the waterway.

“The development has been modelled using Council’s flood modelling with their specialists. Because there is no curb and channelling on Red Street, the development will capture and manage stormwater to pull it away and improve the flow into the creek,” Brooke said.

Nick said that Brooke “explained a lot” at the meeting, including revealing new information about the development, something that left residents “angry”.

“I think people left a little more angry because new information came out about the development.

“They’re going to have to increase Church Street to 4m wide to accommodate the development. Drainage is an issue. The area was assessed on a low annual rainfall. Earlier this year we had 1500mm of rain in Pomona in three days.

“The site also has a biodiversity, waterways and wetlands overlay, koala priority habitat overlay, moderate to severe bushfire hazard overlay, moderate to severe flood hazard overlay and moderate to severe landslide hazard overlay. In no way is it suitable for such a development,” Nick said.

Noosa Council has requested an information request response from Pace Planning.

“This is a normal part of development application as-

Concerned residents at the meeting at the Lawson Shed.

sessment. Council information requests are part of the assessment to tidy up the final design for approval.

“We are also providing the concept operational works of street frontage upgrades and stormwater designs.

“Once we get our information request response back to Council, it will be available via Council’s website and Council has 35 days to make a decision and release its decision with the approved plan. Council can still request further information if needed," Brooke said.

Nick said that because Council doesn’t have to consult the community over this proposed development, he is creating an online petition to “do it for them”.

“We know it is not impact assessed, and Council doesn’t have to do a community consultation, so we are going to create an online petition and do it for them.”

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