MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
The 4456 meeting of the Brisbane City Council,
held at City Hall, Brisbane
on Tuesday 9 December 2014
at 2pm
Prepared by:
Council and Committee Liaison Office
Chief Executive’s Office
Office of the Lord Mayor and the Chief Executive Officer
[4456(Ordinary) meeting – 9 December 2014]
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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
THE 4456 MEETING OF THE BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL,HELD AT CITY HALL, BRISBANE,
ON TUESDAY 9 DECEMBER 2014
AT 2PM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS i
PRESENT: 1
OPENING OF MEETING: 1
APOLOGY: 1
MINUTES: 1
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: 2
QUESTION TIME: 7
CONSIDERATION OF COMMITTEE REPORTS: 19
ESTABLISHMENT AND COORDINATION COMMITTEE 19
A DESIGN AND CONSTRUCT AGREEMENT FOR THE MULTICULTURAL PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE 34
B REPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING ON 13NOVEMBER2014 35
C DRAFT HEMMANT-LYTTON NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN 36
ESTABLISHMENT AND COORDINATION COMMITTEE (Special meeting) 37
A AMENDMENT TO THE SCHEDULE OF FEES AND CHARGES 2014-15 43
INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE 44
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – INNER- CITY MOTORCYCLE PARKING 48
B PETITION – SOUND BARRIERS TO REDUCE NOISE FROM TRAINS AT BANYO STATION 49
C PETITION – RELAX PARKING RESTRICTIONS – CORK STREET, YERONGA 50
D PETITIONS – PEDESTRIAN CROSSING ISSUES – MONTAGUE ROAD NEAR VICTORIA STREET, WEST END 50
PUBLIC AND ACTIVE TRANSPORT COMMITTEE 51
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – ACTIVE SCHOOL TRAVEL PROGRAM 2014 55
NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE 56
A DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION (DISTRIBUTOR-RETAILER) UNDER SUSTAINABLE PLANNING ACT 2009 (SPA): PRELIMINARY APPROVAL UNDER S242 OF SPA 2009 TO VARY THE EFFECT OF THE PLANNING SCHEME FOR BRISBANE FOR MATERIAL CHANGE OF USE, CARRYING OUT BUILDING WORK AND RECONFIGURATION OF A LOT FOR RESIDENTIAL, CENTRE ACTIVITIES AND PARK PURPOSES. DEVELOPMENT PERMIT FOR RECONFIGURATION OF A LOT TO FACILITATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF STAGE 1 (SUB-STAGES A-D) AND STAGE 2 (SUB-STAGES A-D) AND CATEGORY 1 CORRIDOR (STAGE 1X) 277 MOUNT NEBO ROAD; 170 BROMPTON ROAD; 203 CANVEY ROAD; 113, 166, 170, 257 AND 266 ROSS ROAD; AND 390 LEVITT ROAD, UPPER KEDRON HUNTSMAN PROPERTY PTY LTD 82
B PETITION – REQUESTING COUNCIL REFUSE A DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION FOR THE PROPOSED FOUR-STOREY, HIGH-DENSITY RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT AT 7, 9, 11 AND 15 DURHAM STREET, COORPAROO 87
ENVIRONMENT, PARKS AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE 89
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – FREW PARK 96
B PETITION – OPPOSING A PROPOSED DOG OFF-LEASH AREA FOR SANDGATE-BRIGHTON BEACH 97
C PETITION – REQUESTING THAT COUNCIL INSTALL SPECIFIC PLAY EQUIPMENT, FENCING, A SHADE SAIL AND ADDITIONAL SEATING IN THE PLAYGROUND UPGRADE AT GIBSON PLACE PARK, HOLLAND PARK 98
D PETITION – REQUESTING THAT COUNCIL NOT CHANGE THE CLASSIFICATION OF KING GEORGE SQUARE FROM A SQUARE TO A MALL 99
E PETITION – REQUESTING THAT COUNCIL PROVIDE A SHADE STRUCTURE OVER THE PLAYGROUND AT CURLEW PARK, SANDGATE 100
F PETITION – REQUESTING THAT COUNCIL PROTECT HEMMANT’S RURAL LANDSCAPE AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 100
FIELD SERVICES COMMITTEE 101
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – PROGRESS ON THE GREEN BIN SERVICE 102
BRISBANE LIFESTYLE COMMITTEE 103
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – BRACKEN RIDGE AND PARKINSON POOLS 105
B PETITIONS – REQUESTING COUNCIL INSTALL A NEW SKATE FACILITY IN TOOWONG/TARINGA 106
C PETITION REQUESTING COUNCIL TO INSTALL A SKATE FACILITY AT QUINN’S STREET PARK, BALMORAL 107
FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE 108
A COMMITTEE PRESENTATION – STATE OF THE ECONOMY 111
B PETITION – COMMERCIAL CINEMA AT THE PROPOSED WYNNUM CENTRAL STATE SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT 112
CONSIDERATION OF NOTIFIED MOTION – SPECIAL APPRECIATION: 113
PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS: 115
GENERAL BUSINESS: 116
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS OF WHICH DUE NOTICE HAS BEEN GIVEN: 120
[4456(Ordinary) meeting – 9 December 2014]
- 122 -
PRESENT:
The Right Honourable the LORD MAYOR (Councillor Graham QUIRK) – LNP
The Chairman of Council, Councillor MargaretdeWIT (Pullenvale Ward) – LNP
LNP Councillors (and Wards) / ALP Councillors (and Wards)Krista ADAMS (Wishart)
Matthew BOURKE (Jamboree)
Amanda COOPER (Bracken Ridge)
Vicki HOWARD (Central)
Steven HUANG (Macgregor)
Fiona KING (Marchant)
GeraldineKNAPP (The Gap)
Kim MARX (Karawatha)
PeterMATIC (Toowong)
David McLACHLAN (Hamilton)
Ryan MURPHY (Doboy)
Angela OWEN-TAYLOR (Parkinson) (Deputy Chairman of Council)
Adrian SCHRINNER (Chandler) (Deputy Mayor)
Julian SIMMONDS (Walter Taylor)
Andrew WINES (Enoggera)
NormWYNDHAM (McDowall) / Milton DICK (Richlands) (The Leader of the Opposition)
Helen ABRAHAMS (The Gabba) (Deputy Leader of the Opposition)
PeterCUMMING (Wynnum Manly)
KimFLESSER (Northgate)
SteveGRIFFITHS (Moorooka)
VictoriaNEWTON (Deagon)
ShayneSUTTON (Morningside)
Independent Councillor (and Ward)
Nicole JOHNSTON (Tennyson)
OPENING OF MEETING:
The Chairman, Councillor Margaret de WIT, opened the meeting with prayer, and then proceeded with the business set out in the Agenda.
APOLOGY:
337/2014-15
An apology was submitted on behalf of Councillor Ian McKENZIE (Holland Park) - LNP, and he was granted leave of absence from the meeting on the motion of Councillor Ryan MURPHY, seconded by Councillor Kim MARX.
MINUTES:
338/2014-15
The Minutes of the 4455 meeting of Council held on 2 December 2014, copies of which had been forwarded to each councillor, were presented, taken as read and confirmed on the motion of Councillor Ryan MURPHY, seconded by Councillor Kim MARX.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Mr Scott Throssell - The Fig Tree Pocket Local Plan
File number: 137/220/701/207
Chairman: I would like to call on Mr Scott Throssell, who will address the Chamber on the Figtree Pocket Local Plan. Orderly, would you please escort Mr Throssell in.
Mr Throssell, you have five minutes. You can sit or stand, whichever you prefer.
Scott Throssell: Thank you, Chairman, Councillors. I would just like to talk about the Figtree Pocket Local Town Plan. It actually dated back in 2000 when Jim Soorley and David Hinchliffe were in office and June O'Connor was the councillor the Walter-Taylor Ward.
So it was a very long time ago and one of the key components of this plan was a vegetation corridor and also fencing that couldn't be more than 75 per cent transparent and could not be higher than 1.5 metres. So after this plan was released, it wasn't enforced by Council. So basically what happened, a developer would come in, build the development, put in the vegetation corridor, the land would be sold, people would build their houses, they would clear the vegetation corridor and then build a solid brick wall.
The Council had no way of enforcing it. I did bring some photographs. There's two photographs of two houses that were built just after the Town Plan. One is like a Spanish villa and the other one is bush housing in Gunnin Street. You can tell there's no vegetation corridor.
So in about 2007, I and another resident's had enough and we were a bit concerned about the Seven Oaks Cerebral Palsy League were going to develop the land, very concerned about that they weren't going to actually enforce the vegetation corridor. So we wrote to the Lord Mayor and urged him. I even spoke here seven years ago about it, 18 September 2007. So we questioned the Lord Mayor and writing letters about it to enforce the vegetation corridor. He actually admitted that it wasn't a good plan and that there was no way they could enforce it.
So posted to him again and in March 2010, the Lord Mayor—actually it was signed by the current Lord Mayor, Graham QUIRK as Deputy Mayor, saying that what they envisaged to do was use a culvert—a covenant, sorry, a vegetation covenant on the area so they could enforce the 10-metre vegetation corridor. So that was fair enough.
So the development happened. What happened, the Cerebral Palsy League built a brilliant centre, much better than the old one. They installed all the vegetation corridors in there and the one at the Cerebral Palsy League centre is still there and I've got a photograph of it showing a perfect example of the vegetation corridor in the local Town Plan.
Then the same old story happened again. The land was sold, people built their houses, the 10-metre vegetation corridor was removed, they planted what they wanted but there was no solid walls. So that was a major—probably major win on it. Then during June—so I waited for the Council to act, they didn't act so I wrote a letter to my local Councillor, Julian Simmonds, on 2 June and pointed out that these people had removed the vegetation corridor and I'd like the Council to act.
So the Council launched an investigation. So I wrote in June 2012 and they finished their investigation on 16 August 2013, one year and a half later. They pointed out that yes, that some people had broken the covenant on the properties and he said that they had sent out notices to six properties, they have 20 days to provide a reasonable excuse of why they haven't maintained the covenant.
So that was August last year. I've also included photographs of all those properties there and nothing has happened. So in the year and a half after they found they'd broken it, Council still hasn't enforced the vegetation corridor on it. So there were actually four photographs showing it. One of the houses looks like a football field, not one tree on it. So I waited.
Then another property got sold and someone built on it. But this time they built a fence and it was a quite unusual fence. So I wrote a letter to Julian and said, you know, I think this is breaking the local plan law and in December, a Councillor inspected it and they told me it was compliant and it sort of threw me because it wasn't 75 per cent transparent.
So I took a while to think about it and then I wrote a letter in March this year—
Chairman: Mr Throssell, your time has expired. Would you please take a seat and we will get a response.
Mr Throssell: Okay. Thanks.
Chairman: Thank you. Councillor COOPER, would you like to respond?
Response by Councillor Amanda COOPER, Chairman of the Neighbourhood Planning and Development Assessment Committee
Councillor COOPER: Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and I thank Mr Throssell very much for coming in to address the Council Chamber this afternoon.
Yes, as you said, I believe that you addressed the Council Chamber on 18 September 2007 and outlined your concerns about some applications and the enforcement of the Figtree Pocket Local Plan. Specifically you were concerned about clearing or altering of vegetation within a vegetation corridor on a number of properties. As you are aware, the Figtree Pocket Local Plan outlines acceptable outcomes for development regarding that vegetation corridor.
So the specific conditions are it is AO5.1, AO6.1, and AO6.3, referring to certain streets within the area and regulating how native vegetation should be maintained within those particular locations. There has been, I believe, quite a bit of dialogue between yourself and Council regarding the vegetation corridor on two development applications. So I think it was the Cerebral Palsy League. That was 698 Figtree Pocket Road and 710 Jesmond Road. Both of those applications, I think you had spoken to Council about those.
I think you made submissions to Council or certainly made comments to Council and despite that being outside the public notification period, the officers were keen to address in the development conditions the concerns that you had put forward. So you have also been speaking to the local Councillor, Councillor SIMMONDS. He has been a very strong advocate about these particular matters and I understand that there are not only the local plan has provisions but there are specific provisions with the development approvals that have been issued.
So those particular development approvals include provisions for that vegetation corridor. They are condition 24 and condition 25. So one was a covenant mirroring the conditions and acceptable outcome at 5.1, 6.1 and 6.3. Then there was the second relevant condition which was the environmental protection zone that were acting together in concert to achieve that particular outcome. So that is in order to protect native vegetation and mature vegetation as well as protecting development or prohibiting development within that 10-metre corridor.
So I understand that the CARS officers, the Compliance and Regulatory Services officers, responded to your concerns and investigated the area. As you pointed out earlier, they found six properties were in breach. Of those six properties, three had minor breaches and the owners received a letter notifying those owners of the requirements and asking them to rectify, all of which complied: I am advised.
Some property owners were not aware of that covenant and were certainly keen to understand exactly what their obligations were and to further rectify their breach. There are three that have been classified as serious breaches and the officers are continuing to investigate further and they are preparing to issue a notice to rectify or reinstate native vegetation.
So the officers, the CaRS officers, certainly do endeavour to respond to complaints made by the public and they believe that they have responded to the best of their ability to your particular complaints. So as I believe the then Deputy Mayor, Councillor David Hinchliffe, said to you in the Chamber in 2007, Council and officers do take these matters very seriously and are trying to the best of their abilities to ensure that the local plan is complied with with these sorts of matters.
Unfortunately, as you have noted, some people are unaware of these provisions but I would suggest to you that each person in this city is obligated to know what the conditions are relating to their own property and they should be mindful that they have to comply with those requirements of Council. So there is still abilities and still further investigations that Council will be undertaking but I think you certainly have been a strong advocate for these issues and I appreciate you for putting your time and energy towards those and making sure that Councillor SIMMONDS and Council is aware of those matters because I have seen the extensive dialogue between yourself and Councillor SIMMONDS and I note that he has followed up with officers very diligently on these matters.
So thank you very much for your ongoing vigilance on behalf of the local area and certainly Council officers continue to ensure that these conditions are enforced. Thank you very much for coming in this afternoon.