The transition of a Sunshine Coast rural area into a long-term growth corridor has hit a speed bump after the state government stymied a council move to rezone it.
The Sunshine Coast Council has favoured Beerwah East, 5200 hectares of land between Steve Irwin Way, the Bruce Highway and Roys Road, as a future growth area.
But the Director-General of the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning has told the council it must remove an emerging community zone from the Beerwah East development area in its draft planning scheme and replace it with a rural zoning.
In a letter to the council, John Sosso stipulates the zoning amendment as one of a number of conditions of departmental approval for the council’s new draft planning scheme to move to the next phase of becoming reality.
A map within the 2014 planning scheme that is still in use by the council shows the Beerwah East development area as predominantly rural.
Although the draft planning scheme has not been made public, the Director-General’s letter, which has been uploaded to the ‘Have your say’ section of the council’s website, indicates the council intended to zone it as emerging community.
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Mr Sosso’s letter says an area of land at Beerwah East that is not subject to native title can be zoned as emerging community and that other changes must be made to maps and tables reflecting the zoning amendment.
In his reasons for the conditions, he says they will “ensure negotiations with relevant stakeholders in Beerwah East are not prejudiced by pre-emptive zoning”.
Mr Sosso says the conditions will “facilitate a small early release area that is not subject to native title”.
The Kabi Kabi Aboriginal Peoples Corporation was granted native title last year for more than 300,000 hectares of land and water on the Sunshine Coast, including the Beerwah East land, which is currently under a 99-year forestry lease.
The Director-General says the proposed planning scheme provides for a coordinated and integrated land use policy for the Beerwah East development area that is “consistent with state government’s long-term planning and investment decisions”.
Mr Sosso says the conditions will also ensure the strategic framework for Beerwah East “do not prejudice or pre-empt any state government transport infrastructure decisions”.
Sunshine Coast mayor Rosanna Natoli said the council’s next step was to review the state government-imposed conditions and their implications for the proposed scheme.
“Council understands that the conditions imposed cannot be easily understood without the full context of the proposed planning scheme,” Cr Natoli said.
“However, council does not intend to publicly release the proposed planning scheme until such time as we have considered and made all the necessary changes.
“This process takes time as the proposed planning scheme is a complex planning instrument. A range of changes will be necessary to address the conditions imposed.
“Once this step is complete and council is confident to move to the next stage of the plan-making process, council will be implementing a robust community consultation program.”
Cr Natoli encouraged people to read the state government’s conditions on the ‘Have your say’ section of the council’s website, and to familiarise themselves with the details of the draft planning scheme when it is released for public consultation.
