AGENDA - Sunshine Coast Council

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Strategy and Planning Committee Agenda 16 February 2011 iv avoid significant impacts to native habitat including fragmentation, attrition, or removal of vegetation or significant habitat features; 5.8.2 v) For the Rural Settlement Zone—detached housing on large lots— i is the dominant building form, to the general exclusion of other uses; ii incorporates designs that respond to, and are integrated with site characteristics including steep slopes and native vegetation; iii offers a relaxed rural lifestyle for residents; iv contributes to the rural or semi-rural character and amenity of the area; v may be located in close proximity to working farms or other rural industries; vi offer convenient access to Tewantin via sealed roads; vii include associated home-based businesses on large lots such that neighbours are not impacted upon; and viii are dominated by native vegetation and landscaping; The application raises some significant concerns in relation to Overall Outcome 5.8.2 a), primarily due to the relatively small size of the site (2.01ha) and the limited buffers available to surrounding premises. The tower will exceed the height of existing vegetation, between it and nearby lots, by approximately 15 metres and will be highly visible from Lot 30 SP136462, Lot 22 SP213298 and Lot 11 SP148 to the west and southeast of the site (see lot layout plan included in Attachment 2). Further afield, and in all other directions, it is acknowledged that only filtered views or the top of the tower will be available due to vegetation in the area. The visual or amenity impacts on premises further afield are not considered significant. Although conditions could be applied to relocate the tower to provide increased buffers to the nearby allotments, the limited height and density of existing vegetation within these buffer areas is such that the impacts would not be significantly reduced. Overall Outcome 5.8.2 v) generally excludes most uses, other than detached housing, within the zone. As such it is reasonable for residents within the zone to expect new development to create limited impacts on the rural residential and visual amenity they enjoy. It is also noted that the tower use is inconsistent within the entire Cooroibah Locality. The application material generally submits the following grounds to support the proposal: “… to improve mobile phone coverage and broadband access in the Cooroibah locality a telecommunications facility is required in the area. Unfortunately within this locality there were no compatible zones to locate the proposed use which would still achieve adequate mobile phone coverage for the area. This site represented the most appropriate location to minimise any adverse effects while providing coverage to the surrounding area.” It is recognised that if new telecommunications facilities are to be sited within the locality, a conflict with the planning scheme will be unavoidable. However, in this case, the issues of inappropriate site selection and visual and residential amenity impacts on nearby premises are too significant to support the development. Additional Applicable Codes Infrastructure Uses Code Health & Safety The applicant has provided a summary of the maximum cumulative radiofrequency and electromagnetic energy levels at ground level emitted from the proposed telecommunications tower, assuming full power usage. Page 142
Strategy and Planning Committee Agenda 16 February 2011 The summary indicates the proposed tower will emit a maximum electromagnetic energy level from the tower of 0.45% of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency’s regulated acceptable maximum radiation levels. The proposal, therefore, does not raise any significant concerns in relation to the health effects of radiofrequency and electromagnetic energy emissions. Co-Location Opportunities The Infrastructure Uses Code requires towers to be co-located with existing Infrastructure Uses, where practical. The applicant has provided a coverage map of the existing towers within a 20km radius, which confirms that there are no nearby towers to allow co-location. The amended development proposal submitted by the applicant has addressed council’s concerns in regard to this aspect by increasing the tower height by 5 metres. This will allow both Telstra and Optus antennae to be co-located on the tower and avoid the risk of an additional tower in the area. Visual Amenity The Probable Solution of the Code requires that any tower is co-located on an existing telecommunications tower; AND the height of the tower does not exceed 25 metres where on land in the Rural Zone. The proposed telecommunications tower is to be located in the Rural Settlement Zone and is 30 metres in height. There is no mention within the Code for acceptable heights within the Rural Settlement Zone, as towers were not envisaged to occur on smaller rural-residential-type lots. The tower raises significant concerns with visual amenity impacts on nearby premises, in particular the three adjoining or adjacent allotments. With very little existing vegetation available to screen the tower from these properties, this issue cannot be adequately addressed by conditions. Landscaping Code The conditioning of increased landscaped buffers and new plantings to address amenity impacts on nearby premises would be insufficient, due to the substantial length of time involved for visual screening of the 30 metre high tower to take effect. Driveways and Carparking Code The proposal does not raise any concerns with regard to this code and can be conditioned to comply. Traffic and Transport Considerations The proposed tower will be accessible via an internal access track. There are no further traffic or transport considerations for the proposed development. REFERRALS Internal Referrals The application was referred to the following internal specialists: • Operational Works Assessment Branch; and • Economic Development Branch. Page 143
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AGENDA - Sunshine Coast Council

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