4 Grasstree Ct Sunrise Beach QLD 4567

This development application has shown significant flaws in the process, including far too many time extensions, without the need for full DA review. Since approval the context has changed significantly.

The land was allocated for community benefit a long time ago. Now there is significant community opposition to this development for ecological (endangered species) and social (traffic and disaster response) concerns.

If more time is needed the DA should be updated for greater community consultation and response to areas of community concern.

This development should not be extended in time. It should be called in for community review. It is neither appropriate for its location size scale height and will cause traffic road issues and has significant ecological issues on a sensitive site.

As a long term resident of Noosa I have seen many changes. I understand change must happen as part of our society improving to meet demands of a growing area. However, the preservation of some natural habitat of significant importance also contributes to how well a society can flourish. Yes we have beautiful parks, a wonderful botanic garden and amazing nature trails. This aligned with the support given to tourism in terms of free buses, a beautiful beach or two, a magnificent river is the perfect combination. However when it comes to our natural habitat we are falling short within our Council boundaries. Particularly with the endangered black glossy and it’s dwindling habitat. I understand there is an offset site but this won’t truly be ready for 10 or more years. The high care for the elderly is important as trips to doctors, specialists and hospitals are regularly needed. Retirement living (over 55s which is what the larger land parcel is ) accommodation can be located out of areas where natural habitat is important for wildlife. There are many examples throughout Queensland where village buses run regularly and most at these retirement villages have vehicles. I therefore do not support the extension to the larger 5 hectare lot at Grasstree Court Sunrise Beach.

Noosa Shire Council - please stand up for what is right and do not allow this to continue. Residents have actively petitioned for this development to be stopped. Please ensure there is sufficient community consultation before approving this development application. We should be protecting the community and the amazing ecological system that we live in.

Stop destroying sacred Gubbi Gubbi country. Our birds are endangered and will be in the brink of extinction because of the church. This always was and always will be aboriginal land.

The habitat of threatened species such as the glossy black cockatoo at grass tree court is critical to their survival. So not clear this habitat , it is a crime against humanity and nature..we are part of nature not better than it..find somewhere else that is already cleared to build this retirement village.

The majority of current Councillors have told us - repeatedly, at Council meetings and on many other occasions - that if they had the chance again to give this development approval or not - knowing what they now know about the Glossy Black Cockatoos habitat and local community opposition - they would NEVER let it go ahead.
So here is their chance to be true to their word! We are all watching and listening...

Noosa Shire Council - this is SO wrong! Stop destroying natural habitats that are ESSENTIAL to an already endangered native species. Stop making decisions with you wallet & start using your noggin’
ALWAYS was, ALWAYS will be aboriginal land

Please immediately stop the destruction of wildlife habitat at grass tree court. Too much natural environment has already been destroyed on the Sunshine Coast. We cannot continue like this, we are facing a faunal extinction crisis in Australia and exactly these kind of clearings are contributing to the decline of our flora and fauna at an alarming rate!

NO, NO and NO!!!! Come on Noosa Council, you finally have an opportunity to do something about this, after saying for so long that your hands were tied. Listen to what the community wants and most importantly WHAT WE DON'T WANT! I was under the impression that the land wasn't to be cleared until just before construction was to commence and now, a week after clearing, they want an extension. How convenient. They knew prior to clearing that they didn't have the funds to build, hence why Construction was put "On Hold". Why wasn't the application submitted prior to decimating this land? If you grant this extension, it will only allow them to clear lot 9 only to sit barren for years. Sunrise Beach already has major traffic issues. I'm not even going to mention the Biosphere, because that is just a label that hasn't existed in Noosa for years. I don't know anyone that has ever supported this application, and I certainly don't know anyone that would agree to an extension now. So this is your time to shine Council, show the community that you care more about the greenspace than you do about the greenbacks!

Please do not permit any further extension. Given the community response to the desecration that has already occurred, the threat to bird and wildlife, the traffic congestion that development here requires, any extension would be regarded as arrogant and dismissive of the community. We choose to live in the Noosa shire for the environmental beauty. Protect it. Don't destroy it.

I have lived in Marcus Beach for 30 years and have seen the compete annihilation of the our threatened native species, including koalas, echidnas, glossie reds and other wildlife life through the overdevelopment of housing and infrastructure. Despite the best intentions our nature corridors are now just weeds and the wild life has all but disappeared. We need to take more care of these areas. Please listen to the public voice for the preservation of crucial habitat in Grass Tree Court, Sunrise Beach, which is a vibrant natural ecosystem with abundant wildlife. There must be alternative sites that will have less impact. It is crucial we start to look after our local environment and treasure its benefits or in the future we will be living in wastelands. Noosa Council please rekindle your reputation for caring for our environment and looking to our future sustainability.

Noosa council
Please, please, please put an end to this devastation in our area. Most of us have lived here for so long because of what sunrise beach gives to us and that is beautiful habitat with beautiful animals, stop letting this happen, this is not the Noosa we were and who ever is allowing all this to happen should hang their heads in shame. No extension and stop before it’s too late

This is the opportunity that was missed previously to stand up for the values that underpin the special character of the Noosa region - and the “notable balance” that was recognized by UNESCO in awarding a Biosphere Reserve status. We all know this development wasn’t approved by this council and the importance and character of the area has changed dramatically since then. There are other areas that are possible for this development should it be seen as a necessary for the human community however the cost to natural world is too high here and the community clearly and strongly supports you in denying this extension as a first step to rolling back a pre-approved development using the regulatory tools at your disposal.

As a local Sunrise Beach resident, this application and the works that are underway are already causing traffic issues and interruptions to pedestrian foot traffic with no consultation with the surrounding businesses and residents. I am the P&C President at the neighbouring high school to this development and we have not received any correspondence or communications notifying us of the impacts to the students and their welfare. I noticed children from the school last week crossing the road to get to the bus stop (that had to be moved to make way for the development works) cross a busy side road in front of a driveway to the local shops. This crossing area had cars and trucks going through it and was a very dangerous area for children to be walking through. Is the development going to make sure the children are safe to get home, walking by this building site daily full of trucks and machinery that is undertaking major earth works.
There has been very limited consultation, only a handful of streets received letters about this development when the whole of Sunrise Beach is impacted. Why are they not being asked to consider the whole suburb on their correspondence and include local groups such as the P&C. For the sake of the neighbouring children attending Sunshine Beach High, the primary children that walk daily past the site to attend St Thomas More and Sunshine Beach Primary, I feel this development needs to reconsider its position and start to talk to the community more. A zoom call is not the answer. The developers need to engage with the people and start to them listen to them. We have had enough.

Amanda Avery

In this day and age of the basic understanding that we humans are removing essential habitat at far too great of a rate in very unique and essential biodiversity places the Noosa Shire Council needs to stand up and limit if not halt the destruction at Grass Tree Court.
We are all well aware of this battle between the Uniting Church of Queensland, their off shoot company arm building and managing aged care facilities the vulnerable glossy black cockatoos, their unique feeding habits and the relationship the local glossy black cockatoos hold with 4 Grass Tree Court. This is a time of saying enough is enough...no matter what part of the world we live in. Noosa Shire Council does not own the Sunshine Beach glossy black cockatoos but they most surely are the caretakers of the Sunshine Beach cockatoos. Save their food source at Sunshine Court for all of us who visit Noosa Shire and gain health and pleasure from seeing them feed, drink and fly over Sunshine Beach in 2022 and well into the future.

This is the Council's opportunity to right the wrongs of the past and stop further destruction of habitat. The proponents were given the opportunity (wrongly) to go ahead and have not proceeded in a timely manner. Given the reforming since of Noosa Council as a separate entity, isn't this the perfect opportunity to demonstrate some greater environmental credibility.
It's time to walk the walk.

Please listen to the community and for all the reasons that you already know do not approve this extension.
Jennifer Sadler

I am no longer a resident of Noosa but lived there for about 18 years and have been (in the past) part of the never-ending battle to stop the environmental degradation of the Noosa area by developers and other vested interests who see no value in nature and the environment itself but only in human control over and benefit from the natural environment.

The de-amalgamation of Noosa Council from the Sunshine Coast Council was a wonderful achievement. The people of Noosa wanted their Council back, the Council that was renowned Australia wide, for that strong environmental principles and development controls that have made Noosa an icon. Surely that is what is needed now, a Council that will fight for the glossy black cockatoos and the Grasstree Court natural environment and not bow to pressure from developers whoever they may be.

I have been a resident of Sunrise beach for over 20 years. Watching the destruction of this beautiful and valuable eco system is devastating for residents and for the beautiful animals that live here including the endangered Glossy Black cockatoos. Come on Noosa Council. We need to preserve this crucial habitat in Grass Tree Court, Sunrise Beach. Once its gone, its too late! Action needs to be taken as soon as possible. Listen to the people, and do not approve the extension.

Please Noosa Council, it’s time to protect Gubbi Gubbi country. Is that not what the Biosphere is about?
Please listen to the community and do not approve this extension.

Noosa Council, as a ratepayer, grandmother, long term member of NC Volunteer Bushcare Program, I implore you to take this window of opportunity and refuse to extend any time frame on the Uniting Church Aged Care building application at Grasstree Court. You have always said it was 'out of your hands' but now it isn't. You have the power to stop this. What happened to the unique remnant Wallum Woodland on Lot 6 MUST NOT happen on Lot 9. The community are devastated and traumatised by having to bear witness to this ecological crime. Please Noosa Council DO THE RIGHT THING. Read the latest IPPC REPORT on the importance of biodiversity. I naively thought that the removal of topsoil (and biodiversity within it) was going to be gently lifted and removed intact to the offset site. What happened on Lot 6 was brutal and I would be amazed if any seeds survived the earth shaking (literally) destruction of crucial habitat. The offset is just Green Washing and there are no long term studies to prove that offsets work. Apparently, when the offset is 'complete' the destruction of lot 9 can legally proceed. What does 'complete' even mean???? It should mean that the site has proved itself to be an equivalent Feed Forest and Nursery site for the endangered Glossy Black Cockatoos. I am totally opposed to Noosa Council allowing this inappropriate development to proceed by granting them another extension. Noosa needs some affordable housing for young people, not another exclusive retirement lifestyle village for the over 50's. No other age group demands the right to live in ageist seclusion. This development will not benefit the community as a whole. I believe Lot 9 should stay intact and become part of the National Park.

This is unique habitat which cannot be replaced by offset planting of casuarina trees. It is a combination of hundreds of plants, animals, birds and fungi taking probably hundreds of years to develop.
Please do not allow this to proceed.

To wantonly destroy any natural habitat is barbaric. To have abetted this current destruction at Grasstree Ct is to abandon all pretense at environmental concerns. All the previous decades of dedicated work to create a shire with the highest environmental credentials has been destroyed. The greed, and truly grotesque hypocrisy behind this destruction shame us all by making us deeply ashamed of our council.

Dear Council staff and Councillors

Please do not extend this approval. It is very old now, (2011) and a new lot of considerations has been raised by the community. We have a different Council and hopefully, a more environmentally friendly agenda. A new development assessment needs to be done and as you know, this is why time limits are put on developments.

Approval wasn't even given by our Council. Things have changed and the locals do not want a development of this size on the site. When the Sunrise Estate was built the animals and birds retreated to this area. We need to keep this area as a wildlife corridor for the few remaining birds and animals that live there. I regularly see echidnas moving along, recently spotted a large kangaroo bounding along between Eenie Creek Road and Girraween Nature Reserve and of course all the birds.

This is a pretty isolated spot for aged care people and there are literally no facilities for them. All access would have to be via bus or car from their relatives. They need somewhere with better access to shops and social activities so they can walk or scoot to provide them as are able with a degree of independence. The existing shops provide nothing in the way of groceries. You can't even go for a cup of coffee. There is a doctor, a liquor store and bakery. Also an overpriced chemist without any stock. Council has failed to secure decent tenants for years now.

There is also a bushfire risk at Grasstree Court. Sunrise Beach had a large grass fire in 2008 where people along the corridor between the Sunrise Estate and Noosa National Park were hosing from their decks and yards. There was an area of approximately 200 metres burnt along the backs of the fences. About 900ha of scrub was burnt out. Do we want elderly people in such an area?

There is very poor access for emergencies at this site. There are 3 schools and at times the traffic is banked up on the single lane roads in either direction. How an ambulance would access the site is a question that needs to be answered. Is it the developer's intention plough northwest through the Noosa National Park corridor to link up an access road to Eenie Creek Bridge? That area itself is an extremely sensitive wetland as we all learned when the bridge was built. I hope this developer is aware that is a "no go" zone.

If Noosa is truly to remain a Biosphere Reserve we need to respect the needs of the natural world aside from our own. Our footprint in this area is large enough. Please do not extend any development of this type and find a more suitable area for Bluecare and Lend Lease to provide this facility. No doubt it is needed, but not in this spot.

The damage that this development will do is absolutely irreparable and the fact that it has gone this far is deplorable from all involved. There is still an opportunity for the Noosa Council to actually listen to its constituents and halt this devastating destruction now. I speak to people around the world and Australia who are in awe of the land and wildlife which we are blessed enough to have here, particularly the rare and endangered Glossy Black Cockatoo, and to willfully destroy it is unforgivable. Simply growing those trees in another spot has been proven to be an ineffective solution.

Leave a legacy you can be proud of and protect our beautiful environment and native animals before it’s too late. This is supposed to be a special Biosphere Reserve and it’s being sold off and destroyed piece by piece. Do what you know is right.

Please listen to your community. This development is wrong on so many levels. It is a safety issue. It is a traffic issue. It is an environmental catastrophe. Delaying it proves there is no immediate and pressing need for this development in the area. It must be stopped.

There is barely enough time for you guys at Noosa Shire Council to actually live and govern by your stated principles which are supposed to uphold environmental values and bio-sphere accreditation. I simply ask what has happened to those values and principles? I actually know the answer to that but I, like many others, over 60k pax in fact want to hear it from you.

I am a resident of Sunrise Beach for around 16 years. We live in this area because it is leafy and green and full of wildlife. On any given day I have at least 5 species of birds in my back yard at any time not to mention the frogs, lizards & marsupials.
No more approvals, no more extensions. Preserve our backyard.
Please listen to the residents.

For so many very valid reasons this abhorrent and unwanted development must be called in and halted immediately and forever.

I am a local rate paying resident who has chosen this area for my family home, and to raise our children in this abundant biosphere location. Spotting the glossies is imprinted in our families upbringing as a unique and magnificent part of our life here. To allow the destruction of their home causes obvious and recognised irreversible damage to their future presence here. Sadly, blue care developments are reknowned for being treeless due to the easier and more cost effective development practices of Lend Lease. Planting new trees does not help the Glossies If this development is allowed to proceed without consideration for all that’s expressed above, this area and development will certainly be a very sad day for many of us locals - we really love our wildlife here and sincerely hope all consideration will be taken to preserve their environment by the people who influence such decisions

As a concerned Sunrise Beach resident, I totally oppose Noosa Council granting an extension to this development application. For years I have heard from all Councillors that this historical development approval would not be approved today, knowing what we do now about the ecological importance of this site for the vulnerable Glossy Black Cockatoos.

Our community has been denied any say in what we want our suburb to look like with NO community consultation other than a small ad in a newspaper more than ten years ago. Yes, we have had the Mayor, CEO and other Councillors walk the site with us, but they have always claimed their hands were tied. This application for an extension is the perfect opportunity to cut those ties and to actually listen to the constituents you are paid to represent.

Since the initial development approval and the subsequent extension in 2018 Noosa Council has declared a climate emergency, we have experienced unprecedented fires and floods, a global pandemic and the world is going through the sixth mass extinction crisis. We have a community that stands united against this development, and we need our Council to stand with us. Please hear our voices and don't approve this extension without further community consultation.

Here we have a pristine ecological site that is located right next to a cluster of schools that can provide so many educational opportunities to help foster the natural curiosity of our youth and to re-engage them with the natural environment. It is the perfect environment to establish a new connection with the First Nations people who have been displaced through colonisation – allowing them to re-connect with the land that was stolen from them.

All stakeholders promote their sustainability credentials on their websites, from the Uniting Church stating that ‘Nature has a right to the protection of its eco-systems, species, and populations in their inter-connectedness’ to Lendlease’s claim that “Our founder was an early pioneer of corporate responsibility, with a vision that was guided by two simple principles – doing the right thing and leaving a legacy for future generations”.

This is the perfect opportunity for Noosa Council and all the stakeholders involved to turn words into action and show that they truly believe in a more visionary and sustainable future and make the break from the destructive past.

The decisions we make now will impact this community for decades to come. Please give us the opportunity to be part of the discussion.

The need for this land to remain vegetated with native endangered species feed trees is greater than the need to build a housing development on this site. The proposed aged care facility can be designed & built on another site. Our community has been educated to understand feed trees like the ones on this site can not be rebuilt/ regrown at another location to facilitate the local endangered glossy red cockatoo population that currently feed there. We are in a critical period on our planet - Our shire council has declared a climate emergency and is recognised as a world biosphere reserve. To provide an extension of currency for this development approval would devalue the Noosa Shire ethos & environmental considerations in the planning process at all levels of government.

Developers have already cleared enough critical habitat in the area. If this continues to go on, we won't be able to distinguish between Sunshine Coast and Brisbane. By the time we reflect on what we have done, the wildlife will be gone and it will be too late to start over.

Australia has already seen the largest extinction rates, out of any of the developed countries in the world. Enough is enough. Leave the native habitat left on the coast alone.

I do not agree to this extension. Noosa is losing it's charm and natural beauty. It'll go from a paradise of koalas and exotic birds to nothing but tourists and bin picking turkeys.

This development application has shown significant flaws in the process, including far too many time extensions, without the need for full DA review. Since approval the context has changed significantly.

The land was allocated for community benefit a long time ago. Now there is significant community opposition to this development for ecological (endangered species) and social (traffic and disaster response) concerns.

If more time is needed the DA should be updated for greater community consultation and response to areas of community concern.

Dear Noosa Council, enough is enough, please deny this extension and stop the destruction of crucial flora in Grasstree . Although not local to the immediate area I am a rate paying resident of the Shire and due to the social media circles I follow I note this destruction is spoken about world wide . This is the opportunity to take action where action was not available to you before .

This development application is not relevant to the needs of the community. Council has shown preference to increasing their profits over the sustainability of fundamental natural vegetation parcels. Vulnerable species (namely the endangered glossy black cockatoo) have been identified to use this parcel frequently. Without this, they and other at risk wildlife will consequently die.

Inappropriate or outdated Development applications should not be approved. Otherwise further land misuse will go ahead, and council mis-management will be at fault. Listen to the needs of the community!! We do not approve of this development

Please DO NOT go ahead with the development at Lot 4 Grasstree Court for these reasons:
• it is an important habitat for fledgling glossy black cockatoos, an ENDANGERED SPECIES;
• the community doesn't want it;
• it's a beautiful area that serves the local community for recreation & education;
• it's overloading an already restricted traffic infrastructure;
• it's fire plan is dangerous, especially for those who'd be residing in said dwellings;
• it's tarnishing Noosa's long fought for reputation as a biosphere, an environmental haven where nature is preserved & not needlessly destroyed;
• the community doesn't want it.
Thankyou.

Please stop this destruction. What will be left of our endangered species if we keep destroying their habitat? The people have spoken and you ‘the council’ have not listened. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

The glossy cockatoos need their home as much as we do. Australia is exterminating our native species at a high rate. Environment care equals social care. People before profit.

Dear Noosa Council, This development should NOT be extended in time, but called in for community review. There is significant community opposition for this inappropriate development to be stopped. As mentioned by others, since first given approval, the context has changed greatly and there is now the opportunity to make better decisions and which reflect community opinion. And as the majority of current Councillors have advised that if they had the chance again to give this development approval or not, they wouldn't let it go ahead. Here is that chance!

The development will undoubtedly increase road traffic – adversely affecting the ambience of the area for local residents and increase safety concerns including for pedestrians, especially school students attending the nearby 3 schools. There are also concerns with regard to disaster response and not least, the significant ecological issues of this land in Gubbi Gubbi country. The preservation of this natural habitat is crucial for the endangered the Glossy Black Cockatoos, and it is home to various other native species living there. The flora and fauna cannot simply be moved to an area to ‘replicate’ Grasstree Ct.’s biome, but the proposed retirement accommodation / care facility can built anywhere (such as already cleared land) and would be much better situated close to doctors, specialists and a hospital.

The character of the Noosa region, recognized by UNESCO in awarding a Biosphere Reserve status is an important consideration. Noosa’s character and natural habitat being maintained are key concerns for residents, who do not want the amenity of the area resembling that of suburbia in a big city and they recognise the importance of keeping sites such as Grasstree Court available for wildlife and our future generations. It has never been more important to preserve areas of land to protect the future of flora and fauna, especially with the increasing number of endangered species.

The investment in keeping this site as is, is far greater than building accommodation that be constructed on land that has already been cleared in the region.

With regard to the proposed extension to development approval at Grasstree Court, Sunrise Beach.
Firstly I find it staggering that the proposal was approved in the first place, given that it is known to be prime feeding habitat for an iconic threatened species.
It is well known that Glossy Black Cockatoos are very fussy with selecting their feed trees and offset sites are very likely to be unsuccessful, resulting in the localized extinction of the species and further decreasing their population.
The council will be failing in their duty to maintain biodiversity and act in the interest of the approximately 62000 residents that signed a petition against the development.
Regards
Rob Collins
Diploma Applied Science

Every building extension granted is a reduction in ecology, biodiversity and aesthetic attraction to Noosa region. Now, more than ever, our environment must be actively protected from damaging building permits to ensure holistic interests of the public are maintained, including beneficial flora and fauna crucial and iconic to the region.
As a return resident to Noosa, I see more and more of what makes the region so special disappear with every visit.
Poor government and agency management is costing public interest from a multi-faceted perspective, with emphasis on tourism and environmental function
Our Glossy Black Cockatoos deserve a voice, this is ecological murder. Shame

Please preserve this unique habitat
for the Endangered Glossy Black Cockatoos as well as other precious wildlife.
Your Council prides itself on biodiversity and preserving our environment so
Please do the right thing by the community and preserve this unique habitat for future generations to enjoy.
Also, this land is near schools and gives a wonderful insight to nature for the children and adults alike. It is such a unique asset for any community and should be preserved as such.
Sunrise Beach is such a beautiful area and this unique block of land is such an asset!! Please preserve it, not destroy it!!
Thank you for taking my comments into serious consideration.

We implore you to STOP the senseless destruction of Grasstree Court, Sunrise, in Noosa’s UNESCO Biosphere, and save the Vulnerable Glossy Black Cockatoos from Extinction!!!
Studies and investigations clearly show that Grasstree Crt has been the home of 88% of SEQld Glossies, since the 2018/2020 fires! They have no where else left to raise their young! Yet bulldozers have already demolished Lot 6 of their vital Allo-Casaurina feed trees last week! The Uniting Church Qld have put their Blue Care development on hold!
It was an inappropriate, rushed approval that happened 12 years ago with no proper Community consultation or Ecological report done. …and way too many extensions have been inappropriately given.
The children and the community are crying!!!! They do not want this!
We implore you to STOP this ECOCIDE!
Stop the destruction of Lot 9 Grasstree Court and Save the Glossy Black Cockatoo from extinction on the Sunshine Coast!

Destroying this remnant forest is criminal.

This development should never have been allowed to begin. Now, with rumours circulating that the United Church doesn't have the money to actually move forward with the proposed build, the destruction of this critical habitat should be stopped before any more land is destroyed. Noosa Council should be ashamed that they flout the title of being a biosphere while allowing this kind of environmental destruction.

Please do not allow any more natural habitat be bulldozed. It is distressing that the endangered glossy black cockatoo habitat has already been impacted unnecessarily. We need to protect endangered flora and fauna before it is too late. I speak as an avid bird watcher, long term resident of the Sunshine Coast and a citizen deeply concerned by the impacts of human actions on our environment.

Noosa Council do not grant this extension. Clearly the community has voiced its objection through the petition, the presentation of material to that supports the concerns raised at the destruction of this native habitat and the negative impact it has on the local community, and the shire at large. Noosa council is in a position to do the right thing, do not continue to support flawed decisions of the past.

Please start being responsible for the remnant areas of forest left. It is time to protect these areas for our flora, fauna and future.
Listen to your community when they tell you their thoughts. Once it's gone, it's all gone forever

I’m 16 and love the place there are so many near threatened and endangered plants there and there just going to kill then all.
I beg to who every to please stop. Please.?

Grasstree Court, Sunshine Beach. 21 to 25 March 2022. I have witnessed every day of that week the destruction by the Uniting "Church"/Blue Care property developer of a pristine 0.8ha forest, critical feeding home for the survival of vulnerable to extinction glossy black cockatoos. An offset site was devised which our fussy glossies could use from in between 10 to 15 years. Who is going to tell them to be patient that long, if they survive?
This destruction was to make place for a nursing home while a much better located swap site in need of rehabilitation had been "passively" offered by Noosa Council, but ignored by the developer.
Shame on you Uniting Church if you suggest that you are protecting God's living creatures and the environment. Your God is not my God then.
Further more the almost 5ha pristine forest across the road, also main feed place for many endangered glossies, that was sold by the Uniting “Church” to LendLease will soon be felled to make place to a retirement village when this could have been done at the Council swap site which is a great open space with views and easy access already built.
To my understanding these 2 sites were sold cheap to the Uniting “Church” and approval to develop was done more than 10 years ago by Sunshine Coast Council. It was again approved in 2019 after minor changes by Noosa Shire Council.
Why did our Council declare Noosa Shire in a Climate Emergency in July 2019 if we keep following antiquated laws that were made when we were not even talking about Climate Change? Climate Emergency requires emergency measures, not such leniency.
LendLease development has to be stopped and re-evaluated for its high risk of fire danger for the seniors that would live in the retirement village with only one escape road that would be highly congested in case of bushfire like the ones we had to suffer in the past 2 years.

Below is the sad story of poor ringtail possums caught in the destruction of the 0.8ha site.
On the first day of the destruction a mother possum and her little one were dislodged from a tree that was being felled by the “jaws of death” machine and we have a video showing one of the 2 jumping from the tree to the ground. The wildlife spotter tried to catch it but the possum was terrified by the machine’s noise and the people witnessing the scene and shouting for the machine to be stopped. He told us the day after that they were seen re-united (if it was them) with a heat detection scope. in the second part of the site that was meant to be felled the following day
On the second day of destruction, an adult possum, terrified by the noise of the tree felling “jaws of death” that were closing on him was jumping aimlessly from branch to branch under the watch of disturbed magpies/butcher birds until the machine stopped and the noise stopped for a while (i have photo evidence of this). He managed presumably to get over the fenced area for safety, for the time being. The place where he was spotted was left for the day and felled the morning after, while he was hopefully safe.
I am not blaming the machine workers and wildlife spotters who tried to do their job properly in difficult conditions but I am definitely blaming the Uniting “Church” developers for their lack of consideration and judgement in destroying this high level of diversity flora and fauna forest while we are in a Climate Emergency.
I really hope that Noosa Council can grow some teeth and can stop the LendLease disastrous, biodiversity and human life threatening development of Lot 9 and also realise that overpopulation and overdevelopment are not sustainable in a Climate Emergency.

Dear Noosa Council,

RE: Application Number 132008.1128.05

With reference to Section 12 of the Local Government Act 2009, a Councillor must represent the current and future interests of Noosa Shire residents. Hence, this comes with greater community participation in the decisions and affairs of local government. Therefore, to serve its community effectively, Council constituents need to fully understand the views of the people they represent. This means the conduct of a transactional form of communication (as opposed to linear) between Councillors and residents regarding issues of genuine concern needs to be carried out.

Therefore, Council, as you would be aware, due to the recent unfolding events, concerned Noosa residents are urging Council members to reject the extension of a development application lodged on 24 March 2022 at the next Council meeting.

Witnesses of a Council representative crying at a gathering along Grasstree Court this year suggests this topic is impacting more than concerned residents and independent environmental scientists. And, of course, the 63,000 people who signed the petition to save this critical habitat.

It would be negligent of Council to continue its failure to act in the public interest on this matter by granting an extension to this development application. The community deserves to be heard.

Maxine Hitchen stated very clearly at a Noosa Council meeting in 2021 that community engagement with a key stakeholder was completely inadequate, despite this stakeholder stating the opposite on its ecological management plan. Alarm bells should have rung there and then for Council to intervene and take responsibility in serving the needs of its electorate (and future generations). But especially in a climate emergency, which was declared by you, Noosa Council, in 2019; an emergency requiring urgent action by all levels of government.

As stated by Ecological Australia in its Noosa Biodiversity Assessment Report in 2016 for Noosa Council:

“Whilst some of Noosa’s biodiversity values will be able to adapt to climate change through distribution and behaviour changes, many species and ecosystems are particularly vulnerable because they are at their distributional or physiological limits.”

With bulldozers clearing critical habitat in this UNESCO Biosphere they could never be more vulnerable.

Your hands are not tied. The only victims here are the vulnerable species who will be soon endangered (or possibly extinct) due to your inaction.

But it is not too late for you, Council, to discuss residents’ concerns on the extension of this development application. Otherwise, once this unique biodiverse area is all gone, that’s it.

Carefully consider our Indigenous community, our future generations, our environment.

And consider the schools nearby where children will continue witnessing the surrounding ecocide.

The power is in your hands…for now.

As a local resident of Noosa council I am appalled to follow the progression of this development for many reasons.
Firstly, I strongly object to the clearing of 5.8 hectares of remnant forest in sunshine beach. The area is rich in glossy black feed trees. The fussy and vunerable glossies are currently being studied by various organisations in Australia. Studies have shown the Noosa area is home to specific allocasurinas required to feed some of the remaining hundred of glossies.
Secondly, I object to the additional residents in this area. An area of significant congestion which results in parents being unable to attend school drop off or pick up due to T intersection gridlock at the end of Ben Lexen road and Eenie creek road.
Thirdly, I object to the changes proposed to the existing fire trail and other disaster management issues that will result from the increase in residents in this area. Our recent fires have shown us the catastrophic events that can occur.
Fourthly, I object because this development has not received the due community consultation during planning. The planning applications are from 2011 and do not reflect the current desires of residents in the Noosa area.
Finally, I object because the community does not support this development. In fact, they strongly oppose it. 63,00 people have signed Spencer’s petition in disgust.
We do NOT support this development.
We want the community to be heard. We request a land swap at the grass tree site.
We request Noosa council out the environment first over big business.
We ask you to make a stand and protect the future of these birds. If we do not take action extinction is a serious possibility.
The community will support you in your decision to stop this development.
They will respect you for it

This extension should be rejected. The destruction that is currently occurring has irrevocably damaged the habitat. Trees are literally being ripped out of the land with no consideration of the habitat or to the wildlife.
Brown land should be sought to redevelop or build upon. There is absolutely no consideration by Noosa council to the calls of the local electorate to cease the destruction of this important land site.
Noosa council have advised there are other areas make up for the loss of this habitat and a small area set aside to be used to rebuild the habitat however what is being set aside in insufficient and the decision to allow this construction is not justifiable to your electorate. I am calling corruption of local council in this instance

I am appalled by this development. Why is this irreplaceable feeding and roasting ground for the endangered Glossy Black Cockatoos being destroyed? 88% of Noosa Shire Glossies have been recorded at this site. When will we start protecting our biosphere?
There was no community consultation at any stage of this development, Noosa residents reject this!!!!! Over 63,000 have signed Spencer's petition. The community will support your decision to end this madness.

Regarding the development by the Uniting Church in Sunrise Beach
I can not believe this is happening in our neighbourhood!! This council should be ashamed at the deplorable destruction of native habitat. I thought we lived in a biosphere!! What a joke… What’s next?? High rise buildings at Tea Tree bay??? The utter eyesore of the construction at the moment is disgusting… Shame on you Noosa Council

This development application has shown significant flaws in the process, including far too many time extensions, without the need for full DA review. Since approval the context has changed significantly.

The land was allocated for community benefit a long time ago. Now there is significant community opposition to this development for ecological (endangered species) and social (traffic and disaster response) concerns.

If more time is needed the DA should be updated for greater community consultation and response to areas of community concern.

The destruction of the endangered black cockatoo habitat is a direct blight and direct reflection on the current Noosa Council & their pro development values; including the Mayor, the Councillors and the planning staff who are failing to listen to their community and allowing this to happen. Their local community does not support this development and seeks to protect this habitat. So please do something to show you are listening to your community and DECLINE this extension application.

It is a crime that Sunrise has this week lost Lot 6 an area of .8 hectares of trees precious habitat and the most significant area of Glossy Black Cockatoos area in the Noosa region.
The fact that Lot 6 is now a paddock brings tears to the eyes of our Community.
For the Church to now ask for an extension after being implored at the very least to allow for this precious breeding season to go ahead speaks realms.
It is No to an extension and should be shouted No at the top of our voices.

I absolutely agree, this is a disgrace that Noosa Shire Council approved this application. The hippocrisy of a ‘biodiverse’ spruiking council is a sham when other sites can be explored.

This development application has been extended many times without a full DA review. Additionally, a new Environmental approval would be required as ecosystems change over time, and since initial approval the context and environment have changed significantly.

The community is opposed to this development and destruction of feeding habitat for a bird listed a vulnerable under Queensland legislation.

Considering that the Uniting Church requires additional time, more community consultation should be required as well as a new ecological survey, although the company was permitted to clear the feeding habitat for these birds, and clearing aged Xanthorrhoea species while applying for a new DA.

Hi Noosa Council, please listen to the community who trusted you in the first place and do not allow any extension of any sort for the Uniting Church's application - which should have been revoked in the first place! You can stoll stop the irreversible destruction of crucial wildlife habitat and unique ecosystem. Please listen to your people!! I implore you to stop this non-sense as soon as possible!

I believe Noosa Council have been played with enough by these developers.
This is an attempted smack in the face to Council and community.
Over 62,000 people worldwide have condemned this development due to its impact on Glossy Black feeding grounds.
Please refuse this extension.
This whole episode has a sense of the bizarre to it and our development rules must be changed by Council and the State Government.
Never again!

I've lived in Noosa my whole life. Every weekday, I passed Grasstree court on my way to school. Now when I pass grasstree court, I feel nothing but sadness and anger. As I've grown up here, I've witnissed this area turn into more and more of tourist hot spot. So much destruction and devastation of precious animal habitats for the sake of pure greed. Please, open your hearts to our voices. Nobody wants this. You, the council have been given another chance to put an end to this. I beg of you to take it. You know the cost if you approve the continuation of this awful development.

Do people realise just how BIG this development will be?
C:\Users\meroekhb\Desktop\Place Holder\DA_106-PDF_1- MASTERPLAN
The first stage is for 102 Bed Aged Care Facility
the Following stages will be for 15 x 2 bedroom units,
54 independent living apartments
54 independent units
The size of this development will impact not just the environment, but local traffic will become gridlocked.
To quote from LendLease's website:
We know that the decisions we make today, affect the lives of people tomorrow, and
environmental responsibility is key.
If the destruction of trees of Glossy Black Cockatoos & Koala habitat, with a promise to plant more trees in the future, constitutes environmental responsibility then the planet really is in trouble. In my opinion, these statements are just eyewash.
If LendLease & Blue Care upheld their PRINCIPLES for caring about the future & the environment, then they would not destroy the environment now.
I cannot understand how the destruction of UNESCO listed Biosphere sites is acceptable.
LendLease implies that it has consulted widely with the community - please show when this was done & just how many community & neighbourhood groups were involved.
Council should NOT let this development proceed!

This development should not be extended in time. It should be called in for community and council review. It has significant ecological issues on a sensitive site and is not appropriate for its location size scale and will cause traffic road issues. The fire risk needs to be reassessed with the knowledge of the Peregian fires.

Councillors this development can be stopped by you now. Listen to the people no one wants it! 60,000+ signatures on the petition to stop it. Please do the right thing! The vulnerable Glossy Black Cockatoo habitat at Grasstree Court should be stopped now before any more clearing takes place.

Please reverse any permits for this development. It was never a project that had comminity backing - more than 62,000 people are against the destruction of our black glossies habitat (as per Change petition). It is also going to contribute to more chaos when there are fires.

The community has spoken on this issue and it is up to the elected representatives of Council to listen. This extension must be rejected, it is flawed on so many levels.

The glossies will STARVE !!! Everyone knows they aren’t birds that can just go fly to some alternative trees.
Yes✅Development needs to happen.
But FAR OUT noosa council how can you sanction something that’s going to cause these birds to suffer from death by hiunger?!???

No! No extension! Now is your chance to actually listen to what the community want in saving the unique Glossy habitat.

Australia remains the only developed nation on the list of global deforestation. This is council’s opportunity to set an example of how Australia can turn that around and how Noosa can ensure the continuation of UNESCO Biosphere status.
In consideration of the need for aged care facilities, I need to point out that the design of this facility and location seems to be targeting a high income market and not necessarily those truly at need. As put out by the UN sustainability development goals, one of the key areas to address biodiversity loss is the need for transformative change and stresses that,
‘Regional and global scenarios currently lack and would benefit from an explicit consideration of the views, perspectives and rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, their knowledge and understanding of large regions and ecosystems, and their desired future development pathways. Recognition of the knowledge, innovations and practices, institutions and values of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities and their inclusion and participation in environmental governance often enhances their quality of life, as well as nature conservation, restoration and sustainable use. Their positive contributions to sustainability can be facilitated through national recognition of land tenure, access and resource rights in accordance with national legislation, the application of free, prior and informed consent, and improved collaboration, fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use, and co-management arrangements with local communities.’

Frankly, I’d consider the ‘environmental management’ that has been facilitated by United Care as being a bare minimum for this particular development. Planting new trees does not come close to replacing the habitat that is being destroyed- a pristine habitat that has been around for longer than any of us. Planting of trees has failed in many corporate attempts to offset climate impact and biodiversity loss, but it is a nice feel-good marketing story that can be used to sell-in the benefits of this village. It has come to my knowledge that the trees marked to keep were not in fact the trees listed- the feed trees for the glossy blacks which I sense means the people hired were not knowledgeable in the field.

My concern is not solely for the glossy black cockatoo, but for the loss of an overall pristine habitat that will be gone forever if this development goes forward. With a transformative change in the way that we address urbanization, we could find alternative solutions to address the need for aged care facilities. The development plan as it stands is a short term view of human needs and not taking into consideration the need to protect our natural habitats before it’s too late. There will be no Aged to care for if we continue on this path of flatten, destroy and construct. Biodiversity is key to our survival as a species. Yes ‘the project is not a controlled action under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act)’ but ‘A number of reviews, audits and assessments of the Act have found the Act deeply flawed and thus not providing adequate environmental protection. As of September 2020, the Act is undergoing an independent statutory review led by Professor Graeme Samuel AC.’ United Care, however could make a difference and from a long term viewpoint of not 5 years ahead, but 10 or 20 or 50 years ahead. This development will hardly accommodate the needs of the elderly within a longer timeframe with population increase and extreme climate conditions worsening. The solution can’t continue to be to destroy more and more habitat to develop more facilities. It is simply not a sustainable solution. Transformative systemic change in the way we develop is what would benefit our elderly and future generations.

This development project could be a catalyst of change for the better if a land swap we’re to be honored.
(Daughter of a concerned long term resident of Noosa)

Please listen to the community, this development is unwanted and inappropriate for this site. The damage to the feeding trees and possible negative impact this would have on the population of vulnerable Glossy Black Cockatoos should reason enough. The flawed ecological reports and deceit in their processes, the fire risks, the blocking of a fire trail, the closing of a community road, the impacts to local traffic are all legitimate reasons for council to not approve this application.
Please represent the communities wishes and refuse this application.

To Noosa Councillors and staff,

As an almost 20-year Sunrise Beach resident, I was disappointed that this proposal was accepted by the then Sunshine Coast Council at the time.

Since the initial development approval, the population of Noosa and particularly Sunrise Beach, has grown significantly. Surrounding streets like Ben Lexcen Drive can barely cope with the increased traffic of residents heading out to work and Noosa residents heading into the area to attend the three neighbouring schools in the morning or the afternoon.

Adding this 260 person "residential aged care and retirement living complex" plus staff in this same area will result in increased bottlenecks that our small suburban streets already cannot cope with. How will emergency services access this complex, particularly during peak school times? Also, have we considered what will the impact be on students' concentration and mental health of frequently hearing emergency sirens entering and departing this complex?

By far the most important consideration has to be the impact of this big development on our native flora and fauna. We pride ourselves on our United Nations Biosphere status and being the first council to declare a climate emergency in Australia. We now have the opportunity to overturn this aged care complex (which as outlined above is already located in a very congested area) and protect key breeding areas and habitat of the black glossy cockatoos and other native flora and fauna.

Noosa is fast losing so many suburban trees with so many people from cities moving into the area who cut down these trees to build bigger homes, usually unsuited for the Qld climate. If we lose this large expanse of bushland, where will our native flora and fauna find a suitable area to feed and breed away from people?

Interestingly there is no mention in Blue Care's marketing for this complex of Noosa's Biosphere status so they clearly do not uphold these important values that the Council and most long-term residents do. Indeed, their actions have been far worse. They have been aware of the black glossies for many years but have demonstrated little interest in planting enough trees for these fussy eaters to replace those that they are removing.

Noosa Council, please overturn this extension and uphold the values that long-term residents fought so hard for - the right to self-govern and protect our region from becoming another built-up area. Most importantly, please protect our native flora and fauna that can't speak up for themselves.

If not, then please consider the inappropriateness of 260 aged residents and staff in an already congested area next to three schools with 1 small suburban street to service this already very busy area.

If you do permit this development to proceed, Councillors, I hope you will do the right thing and come speak to residents and address all the many and varied issues being raised across all these comments and concerns being raised. Do not hide behind the original SCC decision anymore.

Thank you Spencer, Maxine and the many vocal supporters for tirelessly raising this issue.

I am absolutely appalled and distressed by this whole debacle. The Uniting Church, The Queensland Government and The Noosa Council must all Share the blame with the developers for the wilful destruction of this precious habitat, not just of Glossy blacks and koalas but all the other hundreds of species who have inhabited that precious land for centuries. There is so much land here that could accommodate the proposed retirement village. I hope that generations of Noosa residents will boycott The Church and remind them of what they have done.

Onus now back on Council.
All we have heard is “It can’t be Stopped. Our hands are tied” “Legally we can’t do anything”
Strange isn’t it?
Maybe the God the Church Trust claims to serve has shown us all that now there’s a clear legal avenue under the Planning Act that gives Council power to represent the residents who have been outraged at the destruction of habitat all for the sake of profit. Church profit and Lendlease profit.
The Community has not been consulted no matter what the developer claims. They don’t need an aged care facility in a cul de sac that comes with risk to their lives in a firestorm. Residents don’t want hundreds of extra cars per day entering Ben Lexcen creating congestion over what all ready exists. Even traffic projections show unacceptable numbers coming and going from proposed retirement village. Where anyone here or overseas is free to buy in for a million or more. It’s not for residents. It’s also lock and leave creating holiday let potential.
Councillors have stated throughout this backlash from residents that many mistakes were made over this long drawn out saga. They’ve said we’d never approve it now. Acknowledging times have changed. Community standards and expectations have changed. We understand how profits made by Lendlease are not taxed in Australia. You only have to Google their legal challenges to the ATO.
This money making arm of the Church wants to profit from our area to prop up development inland.
We’re being screwed and we know it.
So now we can all witness how this will unfold with the currency of the DA expiring in December.
To fulfil the approval Church would need aged care up and running with people living in it by this December. They’ve already had a one year extension due to Covid. They’ve assured Kerri Coyle they don’t have cost blowouts. They’ve had over 10 years to build. They’ve missed the opportunity given to them. Now residents say time is legally up.
Lawyers can argue whatever points they like. The Planning Act needs to be adhered to just as we’ve been told.
Return lot 9 to the Nature Refuge it was.
Build your development somewhere appropriate where it will be needed. Not at Sunrise Beach.
New studies would be required for any extension. 2018 studies are legally flawed being done after bushfire on lot 9. The other one in January 2021 is not acceptable to current standards of methodology.
Council can easily reject application on grounds of Community outrage and out dated unacceptable studies used to fulfil referral conditions in DA.
There can be NO EXTENSION GRANTED.
Time for Council to walk the talk.
Barbara McPhee
Noosa Heads
Ratepayer

Dear Noosa Council, please do NOT support the extension of the Uniting Church development approval for their aged care facility at Grasstree Court, Sunrise. Since this application was originally approved the environmental, social and cultural context of Noosa has changed significantly. Overdevelopment and Loss of habitat are impacting on our plant and animal species at escalating rates and we are losing vegetation at a rate that seriously risks the beauty and amenity that is Noosa. Loss of this vegetation also represents a step back in efforts to ameliorate the broader impacts of climate change in general. Finally this project does not have the support of the local community. This application should be asked to pass the test of community consultation Please do not approve the Uniting Church application to extend it’s DA without a fair and reasonable community consultation period and a serious review of the environmental impacts. We need to protect Grasstree Court and not support further destruction of this area which is vital to our Fussy Black Cockatoo population. Many thanks for your kind and serious consideration.

Hello from Brisbane,
I have been watching the destruction of treasured native forests and important habitat and food trees for the beautiful Australian Iconic species of Glossy Black Cockatoos up there in Grasstree Court and am incredibly saddened. Please, please do all that you can to stop any further destruction of this vital habitat.
Sincerely,
Debra Jorgensen

Please refuse the extension, this development is clearly not supported by your community and will have an irreversible impact on the pristine habitat of this unique area. Protect the beauty that is already at risk due to the detrimental actions of the developers. It is your responsibility not to escalate the biggest problem we are all facing as a collective. Climate change is happening now and the effects will be endured by you and your families councillors - in the not too distant future at this rate! You are not exempt. How will you explain to your children and grandchildren you chose not to stop this destruction? Please listen to your well informed locals and action a land swap now!

Dear Noosa Council,

RE: Application Number 132008.1128.05

With reference to Section 12 of the Local Government Act 2009, a Councillor must represent the current and future interests of Noosa Shire residents. Hence, this comes with greater community participation in the decisions and affairs of local government.
Therefore, to serve its community effectively, Council needs to fully understand the views of the people they represent. This means the conduct of a transactional form of communication (as opposed to linear) between Councillors and residents regarding issues of genuine concern needs to be carried out.

Hence, as you would be aware, due to the recent unfolding events, concerned Noosa residents are urging Council members to reject the extension of a development application lodged on 24 March 2022 at the next Council meeting.
It would be negligent of Council to continue its failure to act in the public interest on this matter by granting an extension to this development application.

The community needs to know it is being heard.

Further, it would also be in the public interest for a new ecological study to be conducted on Lot 9. It would be deemed irresponsible to rely on an ecological study that was conducted shortly after a bushfire at the site in question. Before this study was done, it has been reported there were endangered frogs and three-toed skinks in this area. Therefore, without an urgent, renewed study, referral requirements for state and federal bodies must be considered invalid.

In addition, the delay in providing a full DA history of the interactive mapping of this area suggests that Council may not be providing a transparent service to its electorate.
And knowing the outrage of Noosa Shire residents over this development proposal, why would Council approve the extended period with Uniting Care Representatives on 21 March without community consultation?

In 2021, Maxine Hitchen stated very clearly at a Noosa Council meeting that community engagement with Bluecare was completely inadequate, despite this stakeholder stating the opposite in its ecological management plan. Alarm bells should have rung there and then for Council to intervene and take responsibility in serving the needs of its electorate (and future generations). But especially in a climate emergency, which was declared by you, Noosa Council, in 2019; an emergency requiring urgent action by all levels of government.

Since then, the community has fallen victim to flooding and fires. The horrendous bushfires of 2019 that impacted properties and critical infrastructure traumatised Noosa Shire residents. Further, increasingly unstable weather patterns may pose a real risk to aged care residents at this future facility. Hence, the community would deserve an independent bushfire risk assessment done to reassure Noosa residents (and future aged care residents) that the facility is safe and poses no real fire risk, nor danger to life.

However, ultimately, despite the damage already done to this site, the community would deserve a land swap, as requested regularly by residents.

Witnesses of a Council representative crying at a gathering along Grasstree Court this year suggests this topic is impacting more than concerned residents and independent environmental scientists. And, of course, the 63,000 people who signed the petition to save this critical habitat.

As stated by Ecological Australia in its Noosa Biodiversity Assessment Report in 2016 for Noosa Council:

"Whilst some of Noosa’s biodiversity values will be able to adapt to climate change through distribution and behaviour changes many species and ecosystems are particularly vulnerable because they are at their distributional or physiological limits.”

With bulldozers clearing critical habitat in this UNESCO Biosphere they could never be more vulnerable.

Your hands are not legally tied. The only victims here are the vulnerable species who will be soon endangered (or possibly extinct) due to your selective inaction.
Conserving the remaining area would provide the scope for our youth to have easy access to an ecological, educational hub at Grasstree Court, both during and beyond school. And considering the poor access to mental health services continues to fail in meeting the needs of our youth in Noosa, this hub would be an important step in the right direction.

But it is not too late for you, Council, to discuss residents’ concerns on the extension of this development application. Otherwise, once this unique biodiverse area is all gone, that’s it.

Carefully consider our Indigenous community, our future generations, our environment.

And consider the schools nearby where children would continue witnessing the surrounding ecocide.

Please put your community’s voice first. You were elected to democratically serve us – not corporations’ interests.

The power is in your hands…for now.

Thank you.

Regards,
Jacqueline Trewin
Sunrise Beach Resident

This extension should not be approved there has been enough damage done to our wildlife and the environment already.

To Noosa Shire Councillors,
I am a Sunrise Beach home owner and am truly appalled by the development to date and want to protest any extension. There is already too much traffic in this small area with 3 schools accessed most days, and the addition of 240 more residents crowded into an ecologically sensitive area is unbelievably short sighted. We narrowly missed the last major fire event, and it would be criminal to place elderly residents in danger with such a narrow exit.

On top of this, the land is critical habitat with mature feed trees for glossy black cockatoo, something that is not replaceable. Some 60000 people signed a petition asking for this to stop. Surely there was degraded land in our area to place this development.

Our community clearly does not want this development where it is going, and it is galling that our wishes have largely been ignored nor were we consulted.

I am seriously concerned about the impact this development will have on our wildlife, and ask that council reconsider the need to destroy habitats for yet another retirement village in the Noosa Shire.

There are plenty enough buildings of worship, might be time for this church to think about being at peace with nature and not destroying it.

Development that destroys nature corridors goes against all the original green belt and population cap planning by previous councils. I am disappointed that nature and our wildlife’s homes are being destroyed around the national park and my childrens school area. This destruction is changing the face of Noosa but not in a good way. If we can speak for the trees and animals, who will?

I agree with everyone above, many of which have put into words far better than me that you have to say NO! For once and for all listen to your electorate and protect what is left of our beautiful habitat. Hasn't the church done enough damage to the black glossies feeding trees, when will it be enough. How on earth can we be living in a biosphere when you don't put our protected species first.

Seriously Noosa Council our roads are already soooo busy and Ben Lexen has enough traffic from the 3 schools around the area . You are then going to push extra cars wanting to get to David low way that can't go left pass schools as traffic jammed so you will be use Oriella cres which is defiantly can't handle more traffic in peak . We do not need more trees cut down and land cleared destroying wildlife habitat for something that will not work in this area .please council come and have a look at traffic for yourself in peak times and have a think about another 400 projected cars that they have estimated every day .
Please look after our community.

Please stop the destruction of the Glossy Blacks feed trees and habitat. You are destroying the environment that makes Noosa so special. A wasteland of what was previously a thriving piece of bush land is a disgrace. Shame on the Council and the heartless Church. Have some courage and save what is left before it is too late.

This development must not go ahead. This is not the right site for an aged care facility.

Just say NO to this ecocide and listen to the 62000+ signatories against this development.

Hi councillors. This has been a difficult journey with this development. I know some of you personally wish you could have done more, but the fate was determined by the past ....
Now we have a chance to change that. We divided ourselves away from the Sunny Coast so we could determine our own way within our own Council. We wanted to do things the way WE do things in Noosa.
So now is the time we collectively stop this from going further. This is a pivotal moment, and I plead with you to vote with your hearts.

I urge the Noosa Council to oppose the application for an extension on the Grasstree Crt development. Every once in a while individuals in positions of authority get an opportunity to stand up for those who don't get to speak for themselves - the native flora, fauna, and the human inhabitants who care deeply about the former but have very little power to offer them and their crucial habitat protection. This is an inappropriate, insensitive development which is not in the best interests of anyone but the developer. I urge anyone in the council who hasn't done this to walk along the firetrail to the west of the site and then imagine the scale of the clearing and what will be lost of this fragile wallum woodland. Please climb through whatever hoops it takes to do the right thing by the 62000 people who signed the petition against this development.

Please do NOT support the extension of the Uniting Church development approval for their aged care facility at Grasstree Court, Sunrise.
This development is wrong on so many levels, from the destruction of irreplaceable feed trees for the endangered glossy black cockatoos, intentionally destroying a biodiverse ecosystem, increasing traffic congestion to the endangering of human lives due to the threat of fire. Clearing of Lot 6 was distressing enough for the Noosa community and should have been stopped. Lot 9 needs to be saved.
Please take note of the petition that has gained over 62 000 signatures and listen to the outcry of the community who have opposed this development in this location. The Council now has the power to stop this unsuitable development by refusing the extension of the DA. The community that the councillors represent, will be taking note of how this is handled.

To all Noosa Shire Councillors: there are so many voices speaking up for the wildlife that cannot; there are so many of us who feel our responsibility towards this land and all who live on it. We're speaking up not because we are paid to, not because we are voted into this position of authority, but because we have a moral obligation to do so. That and a whole lot of common sense: it doesn't take a study, a survey or a degree to understand the impact of this development on the traffic in this area.
Please can the people who are voted into this position by us, to represent us, speak up for us? Please say no to this development.

My two Bob"s worth . Having observed and reported on the local Glossies for over 25 years , and been involved with the High School and various Bushcare group plantings of Allocasuarina Littoralis , i can confidently state that i have not seen any successful use of any mature female trees. I must also draw the distinction ,that any and all female trees are "feed trees " as many abundant other trees, adjacent to known feed trees are not used , because of the food characteristics of the selected ones. Furthermore , there is no reference to any specific scientific study of offset sites for Glossy Black Cockatoos in Queensland . Retention of a few token trees on site is meaningless ,as they need their companion male trees to fertilise their flowers, and in the density that the existing forest provided . Arrogance indeed
Glosssy Bob Carey .

I respect the right of individuals to peaceful protest, but I am concerned by the misinformation the protest groups are spreading. I care about All God’s creation.
I believe it is important to provide accommodation and care for the elderly in our community and would like to express my support for the aged care development and their extension application.

This is exactly the kind of facility we need in this area. With an aging population we need to make sure we are providing suitable facilities to care for our elderly.
I am comfortable that there is provision for the glossy Black Cockatoos in the form of 1,000 trees, plus additional trees for the community and would like to see this development go ahead.

There is a high social need for this precinct. The precinct addresses the shortage of aged care beds in Noosa, allowing people to remain in the local area they already call home alongside their family, friends, and existing medical specialists. Reflecting recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the aged care home is designed to operate like a small household, offering residents a greater quality of care and lifestyle - a first for Noosa.
The precinct development results in the removal of 56 she oaks, however, 1000 will be planted on the nearby Girraween Nature Refuge, resulting in a nett benefit to the area.

As a resident of Sunrise Beach, I strongly object to any further extensions on the currency period for this development. Uniting Care has had more than enough time to do their worst and now it is time for Noosa Council to take strong action. I am very concerned about fire safety, traffic management and harm to the vulnerable flora and fauna species as a result of this development. The reports which accompanied the original DA in 2011 are now completely out of date and should not be the basis of any further extension approvals.

In this climate emergency you have a duty of care to protect remnant habitat and save this important place for future generations. No more excuses, please stand up for this community. I ask Council to seriously look at options for a land swap or buy back of the land. We have already lost so much on Lot 6 but there is time to seek a better outcome for the environment and this community.

I have had the pleasure of attending Sunrise Uniting Church since helping to fund the building with a dozen brave souls some 30 years ago. We have seen many people young and old pass through our portals and it has given peace and security to many.
Many members are now in the twilight of their years and need the safety and security of a modern, well equipped care home; as do many other Coast residents who are unable to live unaided.
We are fortunate to have a reliable and experienced provider which has carefully planned a home fit for the heroes of the older generation, who have worked hard and long to make Australia a home fit for heroes.
These heroes have also helped to make Australia into a safe, secure and caring society. Many can no longer care for themselves and need a place to go where they can receive good, comprehensive attention from professionals. These brave Australians have also cared for the environment and the animals and birds with which they share this planet. There are many more birds and animals, locally now than there were 20 years ago and the habitants of the proposed facility will, as now take, care of the flora and fauna to keep the gifts with which we have been provided.
Come on residents of Sunshine Beach, let us work together to meet all the needs of society and wild life with which we have been blessed in this beautiful place.

I have had the pleasure of attending Sunrise Uniting Church since helping to fund the building with a dozen brave souls some 30 years ago. We have seen many people young and old pass through our portals and it has given peace and security to many.
Many members are now in the twilight of their years and need the safety and security of a modern, well equipped care home; as do many other Coast residents who are unable to live unaided.
We are fortunate to have a reliable and experienced provider which has carefully planned a home fit for the heroes of the older generation, who have worked hard and long to make Australia a home fit for heroes.
These heroes have also helped to make Australia into a safe, secure and caring society. Many can no longer care for themselves and need a place to go where they can receive good, comprehensive attention from professionals. These brave Australians have also cared for the environment and the animals and birds with which they share this planet. There are many more birds and animals, locally now than there were 20 years ago and the habitants of the proposed facility will, as now take, care of the flora and fauna to keep the gifts with which we have been provided.
Come on residents of Sunshine Beach, let us work together to meet all the needs of society and wild life with which we have been blessed in this beautiful place.

Growing up in sunrise beach and attending the high school next to this soon to be development, I strongly object this plan to clear this land for a retirement village. Not only is the plans for this structure severely flawed, but the habitat found on that land is vital for many animals survival. By going ahead with this plan you will be murdering innocent animals which call that area home. It is selfish and greedy. By all means create an aged care facility to support the elderly in this community, but the area chosen is not the place to do so.

Dear Councilors

I support an extension. Blue Care have already been through due process, and have bent over backwards to ensure remediation for any habitat lost. The remediation will ensure more casuarina trees after development than before. An extension will mean a good job rather than a rushed job.

Noosa area is already short of aged care facilities, and as the population ages we will need more. The development will also offer year-round jobs outside the tourism sector. I feel there is a degree of nimby-ism from people who are happy to live in homes built on once pristine bushland - but we need to provide habitat for our elderly humans too.

The faith background of Blue Care is irrelevant - but seems like a lightning rod for aggressive secularists to further attack the project. Blue Care will care for humans regardless of colour or creed.

We have been so fortunate to have this areas as a known food habitat for the vulnerable Glossy Black cockatoos, so close to human habitation. Unfortunately the significance of the site for these birds was 'glossed' over in the original Ecological Assessment and development approvals were granted based on partial evidence and information. Furthermore the area includes intact wallum woodlands and heathlands, some areas of which have recovered from clearly some decades ago, and there is a rich diversity of plant life and related birds and fauna drawn to this area.
There is no evidence that the offset planting of seedlings of food trees works - the time required for the plants to mature and fruit is estimated to be 7-10 years, and where do the birds go in the meantime?
There are many other plant species that grow in this woodland and it is devastating to see them all clear-felled with so little respect or consideration (or even offers to the community for plant rescue). The design of the development in no way is in sympathy with the existing natural environment and saving a couple of food trees and some grasstrees is tokenistic at best.
This area should be preserved and part of the reserve and national park that it backs on to (and appeared until recently to be part of), with appropriate educational and informational signage installed to help raise awareness about these special habitats and the creatures that live within them.
The proposed development is inappropriately sited for other reasons as well. The addition of hundreds of extra residents, cars and traffic feeding directly onto Ben Lexcen Drive, which is already dangerous and congested at school hours, is going to create further traffic nightmares.

Given the approval was given to this proposed development back in 2011, surely enough time has elapsed for Blue Care & Lend Lease to have built their Aged Care Facility & Retirement Village. Obviously the ‘need’ expressed in their DA hasn’t been as financially evident as purported!
In addition, the impacts of Climate Change on shrinking habitat across Australia has pushed glossy black cockatoos into SEQld & Noosa Shire in particular. As a Biosphere & a local Council who presents itself as ‘different by nature ‘ Noosa Council has been gifted this opportunity to correct a previous disastrous decision & prove to its citizens, visitors & future leaders that our natural environment, vegetation & wildlife are truly valued , not just given lip service! Not only does this development destroy habitat of an already endangered species, it presents itself as being concerned for the glossies, their feed trees & protective habitat, by ‘trialling’ the planting of thousands of tubestock allocasuarinas around the Shire , in the mistaken belief that they will in the future provide for the glossies! Firstly I, like Bob Carey have planted many a allocasurarina littoralis over 25 yrs of bushcare in Noosa Shire, but with little to no success ! Even if My efforts had been successful, what I’d have produced is isolated feed trees NOT invaluable habitat.
Habitat provides for a variety of vegetation species, supporting each other & a variety of wildlife that finds suitable homes for a myriad of insects, spiders, amphibians, reptiles & various bird species including glossy black cockatoos which are being pushed towards the brink of extinction by this development! It’s also the position of this habitat that enables endangered species of plant life to exist here in the Grasstree Ct precinct, close to Noosa’s wallum nature reserve .It seems to me that if another Retirement Village is required to meet the needs of aged residents of Noosa, other more suitable sites could be sourced that don’t need to destroy this precious precinct , nor add dramatically to an already busy Ben Lexcen, (especially if evacuation for bushfire or any reason might be required )with Sunshine Beach High & Primary schools nearby, as well as Thomas Moore Primary , the Flexi school & Child Care facility emptying into the same road network which already comes to a standstill at peak times.
I urge Noosa Council to seriously consider refusing this application for extension & consider if possible, negotiating instead with the developers for a successful land swap, to protect this much valued Habitat for today’s residents & the generations to come !

As a member of the sunrise beach community I strongly object to this development. It has already been established as an extremely flawed plan that will place the residents at risk to fires, destroy essential glossy black habitat, and is ALREADY 2 million dollars over budget.
Over 50,000 people have shown their objection to this development through Spencer’s petition and every person that I have told about the development has expressed similar views. Students of the schools nearby which I attended in the past have also expressed their concerns for its proximity to the school. Traffic is already terrible and the community uses the area for recreation, not to mention the devastating environmental effects this will have on the Noosa biosphere.

As a resident of Sunrise Beach, I am opposed to any development of this site as it is host to vulnerable flora and fauna for which we all have a duty of care to protect what is remaining for future generations. While the proposed development traffic management plans are out of date and such a high residential density will have a negative impact to traffic in the area. Aged people in our community deserve more support however it should not be at such a cost to the local environment. The development must not proceed.

I will be ninety in August. I have been waiting for the Grasstree Court aged care home to be built for a few years now. I have been living across the road from the Sunrise shops for over 22 years and I want to stay in the area that is familiar, and where my friends are and where I am familiar with bus timetables etc. As I become more frail I realise I can no longer live alone. I look forward to the care I will receive in the Grasstree Court home.

Please stop this destruction of this vital habitat for wildlife and fauna, for the black glossies, for future generations to be witness to this natural environment. Please listen to the 62,000 signatures asking for it to stop, please listen to Spencer a wonderful young man, caring about what is being lost if this continues, fighting for his and other generation to come, for all of us. Noosa has a Biosphere Reserve status, part of this is wildlife sustainability, loosing this area for the Black Glossies and other wildlife isn't implementing this.

This planned development has gone through all the usual protocols set by Noosa Council, it was approved years ago. There are many, many older Noosa people who need the development, there will be many employment opportunities for local people to be involved. The economic impact will be positive, Noosa is expanding and is people-focused. Let us get on with this part of the Noosa Plan.

Please listen to your electorate & stop the destruction of the Glossy Blacks feed trees and habitat. You are destroying the environment that makes Noosa so special. Its disgraceful. How can we be called a biosphere when money seems to trump the environment at every turn. The traffic is insane already around Sunrise & the 3 schools in the vacinity. Our infrastructure is already at breaking point. Stop cramming more people in at the expense of our environment. Shame on the Council and the heartless Church. Have some courage and save what is left before it is too late.

I support, without reservation the application to develop and build an aged care facility at 4 Grassmere Court Sunrise Beach
I was heavily involved in the building of the church at Grassmere Court Sunrise Beach over 20 years ago and have been involved with the church and local community ever since. The church shares a need to look after its people and the community in which we reside.
The congregation has aged, me with it, and we find it increasingly difficult to care for ourselves. At the same time the number of people seeking aged comfort and support has increased dramatically in the Noosa area.
DEMAND has now outstripped SUPPLY for aged care support and the Council needs to support older people who have contributed to Noosa's successful growth.
Personally, I have had to leave the place, Sunrise, that I have loved for the past 25 years and take up residence in the Domain Retirement village in Noosaville.
We need this facility at Sunrise, your parents need this facility, please help us to build our home and do you know what? We love animals and birds as you do and we will love to live with our feathered friends and take care of them - we have trees in our village
NO GIFTS TO COUNCIL STAFF

Noosa council while I understand more accommodation is required this is not the area to do it. Noosa Biosphere needs protecting. People live here because they love nature. They don't want it to be built up like a city. This habitat is extremely important to the endangered glossy black cockatoo and is the home of many other species which have been displaced over time due to development. Please reconsider and give wildlife and their habitats a chance before it's too late.

I am so encouraged that the local area will be used to provide more aged care accommodation for our growing senior population. It is so difficult to know where the future lies for our needs, I love the surrounding bush and look forward to being 'within' it for our years ahead.

Dear Noosa Shire Council

I have holidayed in the Noosa Council area for many years and lived there after I retired. Family responsibilities now see me living In South Australia.

I support the Uniting Church proposal for aged-care and retirement living facilities at Grasstree Court, Sunrise Beach.

The proposal's opponents aim to preserve, as bushland, the whole site and to save every tree which might provide provide food for glossy black cockatoos.

I'm satisfied that Uniting Church representatives have bent over backwards to consult, and have modified original plans so as to preserve more of those trees. Further, the church has undertaken to plant offset trees elsewhere in Noosa.

Noosa urgently needs more, quality aged-care facilities for its many ageing residents.

The project has been most recently delayed by the 2 year impact of Covid and by the need to respond sympathetically to the recommendations in the report of The Royal Commission into Aged Care.

I urge Councillors to agree to the requested application for an extension.

This development should not be extended in time. It is very clear the community disagreement to this development. It is neither appropriate for its location size scale height and will cause traffic road issues and has significant ecological issues on a sensitive site. This development goes against everything residents of Noosa stand for and what we hear from Council and the Noosa Bisosphere.

I have lived in Sunrise Beach for 25 years and have watched our Glossy Black Cockatoo habitat shrinking year by year. Grasstree Crt has become the last remaining refuge for our vulnerable Glossies and other flora and fauna. It is a remnant forest that has evolved to become the perfect nursery and feeding ground for Glossies. It is thick and safe and has plentiful food. It cannot be replicated. As a bushcare volunteer who has planted many Casuarinas... I have observed that very few of these planted trees actually become food trees, even after 7 to 10 years of growth. I fear that the offset site will not be successful, particularly being placed over a potentially toxic dump site!
I have also observed in recent months many other trees being cut down in Sunrise Beach... some of these were Glossy feed trees in parks!!! Tall gums and Paperbarks are also being removed that have been known favourite roosting trees for Glossies. This is increasing competition amongst all birds for the trees that are left. I have witnessed distressed Glossies being chased away from feed trees and roosting trees recently by Currawongs and Crows. Their alternatives to Grasstree Crt are no longer available to them.
The Uniting Church, knowing that they were going to apply for an extension, have gone ahead and bulldozed Lot 6 during the Glossies breeding season despite our pleas to delay clearing till they were ready to build. They clearly have no regard for our community or our precious wildlife.
Noosa Council have said that mistakes were made in the past and the development should never have been approved This is your chance to right past wrongs. Deny the extension and offer them a land swap instead. Or at least demand a new ecological study be done before approval can be considered. I voted for you to represent me. Please, I implore you, do the right thing for me and my community and my beloved Glossies! Do not be swayed by their claim they have spent 6 million already. I'm sure they will make more than enough profit from selling their retirement homes to compensate for their losses if they were to start again at a new more suitable site. Please show some gumption and stand up to them.

It is hard to believe in this day and age, unsustainable developments like this one, flawed in their very essence, are allowed to happen. It is concerning that the council and developers chose to uphold historical permits without reviewing any aspect, going against the opinion of 60,000 rate payers. It is concerning that today in 2022 we can actually remove a remnant forest which are techniqually protected by federal government mind you, and withit remove the largest remaining population of an iconic, native Australian cockatoo. It is shameful, to say the least, what has taken place here at Grasstree ct and we will not forget it.

Those of us who witnessed the clear felling of a living habitat at Grasstree Court
also witnessed the consequences of man’s GREED; IGNORANCE and ARROGANCE.

GREED: Hectares of BIODIVERSE land has been ‘rubber stamped’ to be carved up and sold to the highest bidders.
IGNORANCE: All current scientific information on rampaging climate change has been
denied. Biodiversity is the only solution to reversing perilous climate change.
ARROGANCE: Assuming that a highly complex Wallum Woodland can be re-created at an offsite area. We cannot re-create nature and a poor attempt to do so only denies future generations of any ability to study and benefit from the original.

There is an opportunity for councillors and developers to find a better site for a retirement village.
Overwhelmingly, the community wants its leaders to prioritise preservation of LIVING
VULNERABLE HABITATS and demonstrate some real STEWARDSHIP of our planet.

My thanks to Noosa Council Members for their hard work dedicated to this wonderful area. Regarding this petition - not only are the leading protesters wrong in their facts but also wrong in encouraging school age children to disrespect church members as they drive from the church. The church coffee group , that patronises the Sunrise bakery, has now been identified and targeted by leaders’ children on a Tuesday morning.

As a ninety one year old member of the Uniting Church at Sunrise I not only endorse the extension of time for the ongoing work but heartily endorse the following observations submitted by one of our members.

‘I write in support of Uniting Care’s submission to Council for an extension of time to complete the construction of the 102 bed Nursing Home at Grasstree Court, Sunrise Beach.

In the early 1990s Noosa Shire Council sold this land to the Uniting Church Queensland Synod on the understanding that a church & community centre, a manse, a nursing home and a retirement village would be built on this land. The church & community centre and the manse were constructed and now Uniting Care wish to proceed with the other two parts of the development. In 2006 a Girraween Master Plan was developed for Council but was never publicly released. It identified the Grasstree Court area as the most degraded area of the Girraween Estate.

* The Glossies protesters claim that the affected area is the major feeding area for glossy black cockatoos yet research over several years by Dr. Justin Watson (an environmental ecologist) has identified feeding trees over several areas - many trees identified and colour coded for frequency of feeding are situated at the bottom of Lot 9 adjacent to the National Park and in the church reserve behind the existing buildings - areas which will never be cleared.

* The protesters also claim it to be virginal bush land. One only has to walk through the southern area off Grasstree Court to see the rubbish that has been dumped there over many years by irresponsible locals.

* The protesters claim that the watering hole would be destroyed for the birds. Another fallacy as the watering hole is in the creek which runs through the National Park and is not on Uniting Church land.

* To claim that the development approval was solely the fault of the Sunshine Coast Council is also a fallacy. As stated above the Noosa Council has been involved in the process right from the very start when they sold the land to the church with the understanding that development would be in four stages.

The current project has been held up due to circumstances beyond the control of the developers. Redesigns had to be undertaken as a result of new government COVID guidelines, delays in the supply of materials, repositioning of buildings to allow some of the feeding trees to be preserved and waiting for approvals gained from both State and Federal Government bodies as well as waiting for approval by the Gubbi Gubbi elders. These have all contributed to delays.

Uniting Care have tried to extensively engage with the protest group to find common ground - but all to no avail. The protesters are determined to oppose a project which is for the common good of elderly citizens in our community. There is an urgent need for nursing home facilities as our population rapidly ages.

The local Uniting Church is totally in favour of the development. It is a community development we have been anticipating for over 20 years. We find it appalling that a small protest group can step in at the last moment and try to deny us this worthy project. For over two years we have had to silently suffer insults, vandalism, intrusions onto our land and recently hinderance to congregants exiting our church’s carpark.

I urge the Council to allow this extension of time to Uniting Care who have done all in their powers to develop this site with honourable intentions.’

Good afternoon Councillors,

The majority of these comments seem to think that this development is coming from rich developers looking to make a profit.

This is Bluecare! They do so much for our community and ensure that our elderly can be cared for with dignity and respect. This is an absolute need for the community and I strongly support the application for this development.

I support BlueCare's application for extension of time on this development at Sunrise Beach.

I have read through most of the submissions so far, and there seems to be little knowledge of the careful and strong environmental measures being activated by BlueCare. See bluecaresunrisebeach.com for frequently asked questions.

I respect the persistence of BlueCare in addressing the shortage of aged care accommodation in the Noosa area.

I respect the steps BlueCare has already taken towards rehabilitating a site endorsed by the Council within Girraween Nature Reserve - three hectares of degraded land about a kilometre to the south-west of the Grasstree Court site. They have engaged a Sunshine Coast firm, Biodiverse Environmental, to recreate glossy black cockatoo habitat over a period of five years. The rehabilitation site is in the centre of a larger area where the cockatoos are already feeding, and there are 25 glossy black feeding trees in that larger area. (A video on the Bluecare site gives detail on how the degraded 3 hectares will be restored.)

As well as the above, there are other feeding trees in the grounds of Sunshine Beach High School, near Peregian Beach, and at Rainbow Park. No doubt there are others in the Noosa area.

Since November, 2018, when its environmental proposals were approved, BlueCare has been collecting cones of she oak trees. For every casuarina tree removed from the development site, they are planting eight trees at the rehabilitation site. Ultimately, there will be 800 casuarina trees planted at the rehabilitation site with a good expectation that some will mature into feed trees. In addition they are planting 4000 casuarina trees to be distributed to local community groups and schools, including Burgess Creek bushcare group. The intention of BlueCare is that there will be many more feeding trees in the area, increasing the food source availability. BlueCare also has approval to salvage 400 grasstrees.

The Noosa Biosphere website notes that there are no known nesting sites for the glossy blacks in the Noosa Biosphere, but that there is evidence of breeding. There are no identified nesting sites within the proposed development. Glossy blacks nest in big old trees with hollows, and there are none of these on the development site at Sunrise Beach.

I believe BlueCare has been a responsible corporate citizen in putting in place very significant environmental measures to compensate for its development at Grasstree Court. Its plans for the future retirement village and this aged care community include landscaping with native plants. If only all property developers who cleared land would contribute as much to the regeneration of the environment, then the world would be a better place!

I wonder how many of the 63000 on-line protesting petitioners are local, and I wonder how many of them are aware of BlueCare's detailed environmental measures. BlueCare is to be congratulated for investing so much energy in this area when its priority is providing for the needs of an ageing population!

BlueCare's application for extension of time must be approved!

I strongly object to this proposed development, please listen to the 63,000 signatories who have signed the petition, 63,000 people can’t be wrong can they?!

You claim to be a Biosphere, well actions speak louder than words! Stop this awful development..it really isn’t a good look!

Our nature has to be prioritised, please protect the remaining habitat at grass tree and elsewhere in Noosa shire as a priority to all our well being. Habitat like this protects us from extreme weather events and connects us with all the important elements of life - it is proven to benefit our mental health and provides insulation against high temperatures or heavy rains. Please follow the scientific evidence to make decisions. There are alternative sites where buildings or derelict lands can be repurposed for this type of project. Too much has already gone.

I’ve been a resident of Sunrise Beach for 17 years and during this time have seen a continuous rise of road and pedestrian traffic at peak hours since the construction of an additional school and an increase of student numbers in the local schools. I believe the infrastructure of Ben Lexen Drive and surrounding roads are not built to cater for a further expansion of population numbers in this already congested suburban area. Consequently, the endangered Glossy Black Cockatoos and fellow native wildlife that live here have been suffering destruction of their habitat over the years. Hearing the constant cries of
displaced glossies every time their bushland is destroyed is distressing. Please preserve now what’s left of the precious flora and fauna at Grasstree Court and surrounding areas for our future generations, before we lose it forever. Noosa enjoys being home to many endangered species but is rapidly losing sight of this privilege due to rapid progress without proper consideration of the fragile environment in which all creatures live. Please listen to our community and do not approve this extension.

I stronglly object to the Bluecare development proceeding at Grasstree Court, Sunrise Beach. An extension of time should not be granted. If more retirement living accommodation of the proposed type is required for Noosa locals it should be placed in an area which does not require clearing of habitat, especially habitat frequented by endangered species such as the Glossies. It will take many many years to establish a comparable habitat suitable for the Glossies to thrive in, replanting elsewhere is not the solution.

I am ashamed of the clearing that has already taken place at Grasstree Court, it sickens me to walk in the vicinity. How can this be allowed to happen in 2022?

Council, please listen to the community who have already voiced their views through the online petition and act accordingly, ensure that the development does not proceed at Grasstree Court..

I am ashamed of the clearing that has already taken place, it sickens me to walk in the vicinity of Grasstree Court. How can this be allowed to happen?

I support this development because our community needs more aged care facilities. I am currently searching for my parents and it is very challenging, with very limited choices.

It is unfortunate that this piece of social infrastructure is currently being targeted by people who believe the loss of trees & threat to cockatoos, should override the importance of homes for our aging population. What they do not acknowledge is that to address the loss of habitat, Bluecare will undertake a 5 year re-vegetation program that will replace the trees at ratio of eight to one. This is a much better outcome for biodiversity!

Let's stop with the misinformation and get on with supporting Bluecare to provide better quality accommodation for our parents and grandparents.

I would like to add my voice objection to the terrible destruction of the Glossy Black Cockatoos habitat at Grasstree Court.
People must remember that not only humans need a place to live but our wildlife,which day by day are facing extinction, also need a home,
This must surely be seen in the first stage of the knocking down of our Glossies home & feed trees which is now on hold till a later date.
How was this allowed to happen????

I would like to post my SUPPORT for this Blue Care development at Sunrise Beach. It is increasingly important that welcoming and beautiful places are created for our elderly to live, where they can feel at home and part of a community. There is a critical shortage of these retirement living options, especially in the Noosa area. Blue Care is also donating 8,500 trees to the community as well as planning 1,000 trees on a council-owned rehabilitation site to make sure that there is a largely positive impact to the surrounding environment. This is a wonderful outcome that Blue Care should be very proud of!

I strongly urge Council to not permit the request to extend the approval time for this development for these reasons:
* this is clearly an overdevelopment of an environmentally sensitive site, which is likely to result in severe impacts on local traffic flows.
* the development should not be be allowed to proceed on a green field site. It could be readily built on an alternative, existing site with better access to community facilities.
* the inadequate provision of alternative habitat for the Glossy Black Cockatoos is likely to lead to their local extinction.
Council listen to the strong concerns of your ratepayers and the 63,000 people who have signed Spencer's petition and respond by rejecting this application for development extension.

To Noosa Shire Council
To whom it may concern - I am a greenie and committed in many ways to looking after
the planet and the lovely Australian animals in particular that we have been gifted with.
I am also a member of the Tewantin Uniting Church (memberhsip for about thirty years)
When I became a member of the Tewantin Church we always had close contact with
the Sunrise church as we do today. The land had already been purchased by Blue Care
and the plan was always to build a nursing home on this land. Bluecare is a registered
charity that helps many people in the world. My own husband before he died had visits
from blue care nurses in my home to help me in the final stages of his illness.
I am saddened that the trees have been removed from the nursing home site but I cannot help but feel that Noosa Council would not have allowed this to go through if
there was not a pressing need for nursing home accomodation.
Two of the church members living in the Sunrise area have actually seen the black
glossies feeding from trees in their backyards which seems to negate the theory that
they will not fly somewhere else to feed.
My husband and I owned land on the Dath Henderson Road on the way to Cooroy and
there were black glossies in that area.
As far as us residents of the Noosa area go our land has been cleared at least for the
building of our houses, even though the vegetation and rainforest trees may still be
around our houses, and most people are comfortable with that for their own dwelling.
Maybe the protestors think that the elderly who are no longer able to care for themselves should be euthanased.
There has been a suggestion that alternative land could be found for this project;
however who will pay? Will the council when it has already approved this site?
Bluecare is a charity , not a corporation and as such it cannot afford to pay twice for
the architects and planners to redo plans on a different site.
I am supporting the extension of time for the project.
Yours Sincerely

The largest scientific consensus on land use has reported that globally we can no longer have collective benefits from destroying remnant or healthy habitats like those surrounding grass tree (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220207155629.htm)

Noosa can lead Queensland in science and community based policy by preventing further loss to the beautiful bush land at this site. I support those asking to halt further work at grass tree court. The value of the remaining healthy habitat in Queensland is beyond any other need. We witness this through the increasing damage from storms that habitats would have been able to absorb more easily historically before their removal. Repurposing already damaged sites or urban spaces are viable alternatives. Please protect what is left around grass tree court.

I support this development by Uniting Care / Blue Care. Noosa Shire currently has a lack of quality Aged Care facilities and this development will provide much needed relief and respite for people requiring this service.

Uniting care provides world class care and should be applauded for the restoration of habitat to the Noosa Area. As a resident of Noosa Shire who is dealing with elderly parents, we desperately need this development to go ahead.

I’m going to stay anonymous.
Noosa Council had a vested interest in this development moving forward.
It owns an adjoining shopping centre with further development potential for increased rents. It’s like owning a bank and authorising a printing press going next door.

As I read these comments it is with no surprise that I note, those with affiliation with the church will at all cost uphold their defence of a religious institution above the pragmatic view of an angry community, whose wish is to protect and advocate custodianship of irreplaceable natural flora and fauna and in gods words ‘protect all creatures great and small’.

The community has no desire to withhold the necessary requirement of aged care that we will all need in an ageing society but NOT on this site. There are alternatives.

I’m struggling to comprehend the levels of corruption regarding this development. This is the destruction of an endangered eco system that only exists in two other locations. “The site being developed is regional ecosystem 12.2.13 which is classified as endangered. As stated by the Queensland Government this RE is ‘Floristically rich. Subject to sand mining. Naturally restricted to Noosa, Stradbroke Is and one location just south of the Elliott River.’ Regional ecosystem details for 12.2.13 | Environment, land and water | Queensland Government (des.qld.gov.au)”

From what I understand its foreign investment, and also understand the offset site is an old landfill site, how could this possibly be happening?

Noosa National Park is what it is today because locals in the 80s fought to save it from becoming like Alexandra Headland and thank goodness they did. it is the natural environment that makes Noosa so special. Locals now have spoken again and are seeking to preserve this special habitat for future generations to enjoy.
A couple of other points -
The ‘offset ‘ trees purportedly plants will not help the black glossy cockatoos, it takes 7-10 years for mature sufficiently to become feed trees
The proposed location is right next to several schools, which bring noisy kids riding bikes and skateboards up and down Ben Lexcen Way, and general teenager carry ons - not many aged people will enjoy this (Noosa Council will be recipient of these complaints too…).
The traffic on this street is already so congested, removing the slip road already has already impacted this road and local amenity to access the shops and school, this will only get worse with the addition of so many more homes and units (yes, the elderly drive)
Most people would like to see facilities for an aged/retirement home, just not in this location for reasons outlined above.
As a long time Sunrise Beach local I request Noosa Council please decline this application, preserve our local amenity and pursue a land swap. Keep Noosa special for the future generations to enjoy,

This extension request should be approved on the basis that the development will deliver positive environmental impacts as well as meeting the demand for aged-care in the area. The re-veg work the developer has undertaken to date is considerable and will offer many benefits to the community.

Myself and my wife are like many people living in the Noosa area- approaching or reaching old age. At present we are able to look after ourselves but commonsense tells us this situation will come to an end in the next few years. This is why the area needs more quality aged care facilities and the one being constructed at Grasstree Court will be ideal. The construction of this facility has been discussed and argued about by every level of government for some years, has been given full approval and now should be allowed to proceed to its completion without any delay.
Maybe those protesting should check with all the aged care providers in the district and check how many people are on their waiting lists.

I would like to strongly oppose this extension to currency period. With all due respect to the Noosa Council, this development should never have been approved in the first place and is strongly opposed by not only the local community, I have had people message me from overseas asking what can be done to stop this development. This is not a good look for Noosa. This DA was approved incorrectly via the EMP that has the bushland down as non-remnant vegetation. This is remnant forest and a big reason the environmental considerations were allowed as it was based on an incorrect assessment. This IS (or was at time of submission, has now devastatingly been cleared) a remnant forest and disgraceful that LendLease would clear this land while still awaiting approval for an extension. I would also like to point out that the Glossy Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami lathami has been nominated and is currently being assessed and will be considered by the Committee and the Minister for the Environment for
inclusion in the Finalised Priority Assessment List for the assessment period commencing 1 October 2022 to be included in the EPBC Act list of threatened species. It is highly likely this will be approved. This will make the South Eastern Glossy Black Cockatoo listed on the EPBC act. It is currently listed as Vulnerable under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992 and New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. I believe the nature conservation act listing needs to be given consideration to development applications and not just EPBC listings. I believe the Noosa Council is already aware of the myriad of reasons why this development on this particular site is a tragic example of progress no matter the cost. The endangered ecosystem, remnant vegetation, grass trees over 100 years should be listed as a heritage site. And most of all the importance of this area to a Cockatoo that has population numbers dwindling fast. This species IS at risk of extinction. The Noosa region is profoundly lucky to have a species such as these still visiting a suburban area and should have been celebrated not destroyed. Can the old TAFE at Tewantin be considered as a land swap for this development or the half cleared land out on McKinnon Drive that is sitting stagnant? There is also the land near Noosa Springs that is mostly smothered in invasive grass species? Celebrate the beauty that is Noosa, keep what is special. This is why people flock here for holidays. Population numbers need to be capped we do not want to live on a Gold Coast or even a Maroochydore. And neither does our dwindling wildlife. After the clearing 6 Grasstree court, time will only tell how long the GBC continue to visit this neighbourhood and the outcome from such a destructive development. If a retirement/aged care home is so needed build it somewhere else. Please protect what is left.

I support the extension of time for Blue Care Nursing Home to go ahead. I am a member of the Sunrise Uniting Church and love the bush and birds in the area especially the Glossy Black Cockatoo. I have seen them in our memorial garden next to the church.
The Noosa Council and Blue Care are preparing to plant or have already planted Casuarina trees in a rehabilitation site in Girraween very close to where they presently feed. Please let the Blue Care Nursing Home have an extension of time. Wendy

Blue Care's Nursing home project should go ahead as demand for quality aged care facilities continues to grow, particularly in the Noosa Shire. Approval is just that, and while time lines can change due to any number of reasons, there is no valid scientific reason to stop the construction of this project. I agree that the Blue Care Nursing Home be granted an extension of time subject to recognised local government conditions.

Stepping back and weighing all of this up, surely this development should be allowed to proceed. Blue Care is a not for profit organisation who's entire existence is based around caring for vulnerable people and families. It cares deeply for the environment and our traditional people, and it has gone way beyond what a commercial "for profit" organisation would have done to to keep everybody happy with this development. It has done that because it wanted to, not because it had to. To see the rug pulled out after all the work, planning and significant expenditure, to me seems to be an unconscionable waste of the precious resources of this highly regarded not for profit organisation. Have we forgotten that the aged care sector is under resourced and struggling to deliver the care that our precious mum's and dad's deserve in the last months of their lives? Surely looking after our aged and vulnerable is a top priority for the community. Here is an opportunity to make a real difference in a much needed sector, in a way that if you look at the facts will contribute more to the environment than it takes away. Please approve this extension of time.

I like so many senior citizens in the Noosa Shire fully support the Blue Care development.
Many are desperate to downsize and move into affordable independent units or care
and unfortunately this is the only possible option coming up in the near future. There is five star accommodation available but completely outside the budget of most senior citizens who have lived in the area for so long.
Blue Care together with the other community services provided by their Uniting Church affiliates Life Line, Uniting Care have an unblemished record of meeting community needs and it would be a pity if the Council turned their back on this group they have been encouraging to meet a growing need for so long.
Affordable housing and low cost care should be one of the top priorities of Council and this applications presents the opportunity to achieve this. As highly respected operators I am certain the measures taken to address the cockatoo issue will be more than sufficient to preserve their habitat.

I moved into Noosa Council area because of its "green credentials". Please Noosa Council, show that you still care for our natural environment and for all the reasons already stated DO NOT extend this application. It is flawed in so many ways and alternatives are achievable. At least save this small, (and getting smaller), pocket of important habitat for our glossies and other species.

The Noosa Shire Council should approve this extension request and development as to better address the severe shortage in aged care accommodation in the shire. This high-quality, well-considered aged care precinct proposed is much needed to support the aging community of Noosa. It will provide the necessary facilities to allow the community to remain where they love whilst ensuring they have the care required to maintain a high quality of life. As a senior health care provider often providing locum services here, I see a great need for developments like this in such an area that greatly lacks the facilities to support the future of its communities.

Blue Care have taken great measures to consider the environmental impacts of this development, and have taken action to offset this.

At 7.30am on Saturday morning (9 April 2022) a large flock of glossy black cockatoos flew overhead, screeching. I live nearby Hasting St and have never in 20 years experienced this. These rare endangered birds are clearly disturbed by the aggressive destruction of their habitat and feeding trees.

Please Council, admit you are wrong. Please find an alternative solution for the old peoples home. Think outside the square. Allow them to build up, not out. Or offer them an alternative location, how about the abandoned arts tafe at Tewantin?

We are after after all, a biosphere.

I agree that the Blue Care building extension date should be granted so that the Aged Care project can be completed.
Because of Covid time and materials shortage has added to their delay.
This project will help many older people requiring assisted living.

I support the extension of time for Blue Care Nursing Home to go ahead. I am a member of the Sunrise Uniting Church and love the bush and birds in the area especially the Glossy Black Cockatoo. I have seen them in our memorial garden next to the church.
The Noosa Council and Blue Care are preparing to plant or have already planted Casuarina trees in a rehabilitation site in Girraween very close to where they presently feed. Please let the Blue Care Nursing Home have an extension of time. Wendy

Noosa Councillors and staff,

I appreciate there are many residents in our community looking for appropriate and affordable aged care options in our community for themselves and their parents and hence are advocating for this development. This site is NOT the right fit for this 260-person residential community.

Unfortunately, this site is inappropriate for two key reasons: (1) it is an important feed site for the endangered and fussy black glossies and home to many other native animals as well as (2) a highly built-up area with 4 schools all feeding into a very narrow suburban street. The full-time population of Sunrise Beach has grown exponentially since my family and I bought and moved into the area almost 20 years ago. This site is no longer appropriate for a 260-person plus 170 staff aged care home as per their own website.

In addition, it has been over a decade since the United Church/ Blue Care acquired the land and they have not demonstrated any interest in providing appropriate alternative feed sources for our local and iconic black glossies until local residents vocally raised the issue.

What saddens me more is Blue Care have started advertising in our local paper about their efforts as though a 1 page advertisement will appease local residents. Please note, there is no mention of the Noosa Biosphere status, the environment in general or even any environmental aspects related to the build (solar panels, water tanks, fire safety etc) on the Blue Care Sunrise Beach development website to demonstrate their commitment to the local environment and the wider local community. In fact, there is no hint of understanding what differentiates Noosa and why most people move here. I encourage people to look at the images of the build, they are cramming as many homes as they can onto this site. This is very much about capitalising on the recent boom in Noosa real estate and the continued demand for regional living. Sadly, I feel Church members and proponents are being misled as this is really a large over 50s resort complex for people wanting to move up from the southern states. Once built, Council you will be dealing with complaints from these residents about the noise and behaviour of being located next to the 2,000+ student SBSHS.

For those proponents pushing the non-for profit status of Blue Care, please note the SMH article dated 13/8/2020 'Non-profit aged care homes are making big money, but crying poor: report' - "Blue Care, the Uniting Church's aged, disability and community care organisation in Queensland, for example, had revenues in 2019 of $1.5 billion, larger than Sydney Airport's, with 39 per cent of it coming from federal government funding. It had positive cash flow of more than $60 million, but a $90 million investment, mostly in property, meant it reported a $30 million loss. Despite this, a related company had $254.5 million in cash on deposit. Other money flowing into and out of related trusts were also unexplained in the accounts, the report said. A spokesperson for Blue Care said it "supports greater financial transparency," and its own accounts met current requirements."

Please Noosa Council refuse this extension for one of the key feeding grounds for our iconic black glossies and other native wildlife. We can not call ourselves a Biosphere when we continue to rip up known key wildlife feed sites, particularly for threatened wildlife - and another approx. 400 cars (260 residents plus 170 staff) on already congested Ben Lexcen Drive.

We may need more aged care homes in Noosa but this is NOT the site. Noosa Council please refuse another extension on this application. Consider our wildlife, the considerable local residents' objections and consider the ramifications of an aged care facility next door to a large and growing high school.

Proponents for the site, please consider all the reasons outlined against this proposal and push Blue Care to find a better site for your needs where it is close to shops, the hospital, away from schools (particularly high schools) and larger arterial roads and won't negatively impact on well-documented threatened species. Finally, do you really want to live next door to a 2,000 student high school?

Good morning, In an article in the Weekend Australian (26.3.22) Dr. Clare Rowe says children should not be encouraged to be anxious eco warriors because it paralyses them! As adults we are inflicting on them pressures and stress, rearing increasingly depressed, anxious and behaviourally our of control children, setting them up for future failure. By exposing them to an adult world of concerns and inundating them with an overload of complex information does not equip them better for the future, it paralyses them! Not only are they not equipped neurologically to process complex issues but they also do not have the context given by experience by which to view such topics.

We are failing their childhood if we bombard them with complex information with which a young mind cannot cope. As a psychologist Dr. Rowe says promoting political agendas is inappropriate and dangerous for children. If we want our children to have the freedom to explore, to learn, to grow and to live we have to unshackle them from the burden of premature knowledge and allow the development of a solid healthy mind that will serve them well into adulthood. Let’s observe the sanctity of childhood and not cheat them out of these precious years. A solid foundation in traditional academic skills is best for young inquisitive minds and children electing not to attend school to fight for environmental action is dangerous. When children are encouraged to skip school it is a sobering reflection on their parents and the lack of value they place on academic learning. Why was the boy who accosted a group enjoying morning tea, accusing them of destroying his future, not in school on a Tuesday? Childhood years are fleeting and precious, let’s not cheat them out of them.

Aged care is one of Australia's biggest issues. We need more accommodation options for our elderly. We need this building to happen in our area. It is time to support the silent majority. The vocal minorities are using social media to splitter this argument. Successful sustainable communities don't just address environmental issues. They address the people's issues, and having a balance of affordable living options will only help make the broader community stronger and sustainable in the future.

As a local, I know there is a shortfall of appropriate housing for older community. This is a very important piece of social infrastructure that must happen. While it is unfortunate that 56 she-oak trees will be lost as part of the development, I commend the developer (BlueCare) for replacing these with 9,500 new trees.

Well expressed JLClark. She oaks do have a shelf life . Plant lots . Pinaroo Park was a feeding area for Black Glossies pre the atrocious invasion of thousands of fruit bats . We never see a black glossy in Pinaroo even though council sign says it’s a habitats . Council has no care for black glossies but lots of care for fruit bats driving the residents of Pinaroo Park vicinity to distraction all day all night. Good luck to you all .

I fully support the request for the time extension for the building for the Uniting Care Nursing Home.

As a Queenslander living interstate wishing to return home to retire, provisions to look after our aging population is a major consideration. Affordable assisted living facilities are lacking throughout our nation.

I fully trust that Noosa Shire Council would have due diligently considered the environmental impact of this development and would have ensured measures were taken to provide a safe and appropriate habitat for the entire eco system impacted.

I support the request for the extension of time to build the Uniting Care Nursing Home.

As a health care professional, I see firsthand how the shortage of aged care facilities affects our elderly and with an increasingly aging population I fear that this is only to get worse. A new Blue Care home cannot come quick enough, with it will also be more jobs and employment opportunities.

As part of the original planning permit provisions would have been made to protect our flora and fauna. I’m sure that the council will ensure that if there is an issue with the Glossies they will address it.

The recent IPCC report tells us very clearly that we must act now to adapt how we live to avoid climate catastrophe. A key take home was that we must avoid cutting down trees everywhere and invest in nature based solutions moving away from fossil fuels (https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_SummaryForPolicymakers.pdf)

Long standing plans to level forests and other healthy ecological habitat must end - we have to adapt to the new knowledge we now have and better protect and restore the planet everywhere. The project at Grasstree had ten to fifteen years to establish the offset site. The trees take at least that long to mature to resilient systems able to offer potential feeding opportunities to our many fauna in and around Noosa. The Noosa Council has a chance to show Queensland how to restore, protect and adapt our lives following the clear scientific evidence and led by community knowledge. Please protect the remaining habitat around Grasstree as a response to the climate emergency. We need to prepare to have less, halt the removal of habitats altogether and start to restore what is gone - please read the report for policy makers from the IPCC, please place this knowledge at the heart of decision making and legislation. I live in and love the natural beauty of Noosa and hope to help protect it for all of us.

I am in favour of the permit extension.
As a citizen of over 25 years in this region now in my 80’s and looking to downsize I can assure you that affordable housing is very limited. I strongly believe the cancellation of this care facility would be a crying shame especially among our aging population for which ongoing care is essential.
So much time and money has already been spent on finding alternative habitats for the cockatoos, which we should all be grateful for!!!

I would like to ask, plead even, that the Noosa Council oppose the application for an extension on the Grasstree Crt development. This is an inappropriate and poorly planned development, designed with no consideration for the extremely vulnerable and rare flora and fauna on the site. Approval was given when Noosa was part of an amalgamated Council and with dubious efforts at public community consultation for the proposed development. Had, at the time, a proper public and transparent consultation process been undertaken then, for example several community members with much experience and knowledge of the importance of the site to the local extremely vulnerable Glossy Black Cockatoo population would have contributed to a vastly different Ecological Assessment. This was a flawed process at the time and since the original development approvals were given so much more has been learnt about the importance of the site to the GBC population and also the location and importance of several other endangered flora and fauna in the area.
I understand that Councils position has been that it could not re-examine the DA once was approval was given. Councillors have even stated, I believe, that they would not vote for approval if they had the application in front of them today. I also understand that Council has listened to the community and offered Uniting Care suitable locations to swap the development. This has seemingly been ignored by Uniting Care. Council has also put some demands around offset planting again after community concerns were raised. The developer has recently been publicising these offset plantings and implying that they have instigated these measures taken themselves. This blatant PR exercise can only be considered “green washing” and a slap in the face to the Noosa community from Uniting Care. There is no scientific evidence that offset planting works, especially for such site specific birds as the GBC, and this expensive and eventually futile exercise is certainly not designed to help the current population of GBC’s. Where will they feed, mate, raise and nuture their young in the meantime when the feed trees take at least 7 years before producing suitable seeds? If Uniting Care was at all serious about the conservation of the GBC then this offset planting exercise would have been conducted many years before any clearing of the site began. This has clearly not occurred when taking into consideration Lot 6 but certainly can happen for Lot 9 by not granting an extension of the DA.
Uniting Care has done nothing with the site since approval was granted over 10 years ago until very recently which questions their position of providing for a need for aged care facilities. Uniting Care has had more than enough time to develop the site under the original conditions. That they haven’t seems to be more about economic concerns for the development then community services to be provided as originally stated and now it is time for Noosa Council to take strong action.
The opportunity now exists for Council to revisit the decision and to not grant an extension to the development. It is time for Uniting Care to listen to Councils offers of a land swap to a more suitable location and in fact it is time for Council to put this in action. A refusal of the extension to the DA would be a positive first step in this direction.
I understand that the design and planning of the development has also changed from the time of the original approval and is now clearly a real estate type development on Lot 9 and not at all a community service type development as originally given approval for.
The reports which accompanied the original DA in 2011 are now completely out of date and should not be the basis of any further extension approvals. At the very least I would expect that Council ask for, while also conducting their own, current and accurate Ecological Assessments for the site before any consideration of extending the current outdated approval begins.
I would also ask that ALL Councillors please take note of the petition that has gained over 63 000 signatures and listen to the outcry of the local and wider community who have opposed this development in this location. The Council now has the power to stop this unsuitable development by refusing the extension of the DA.
I am very concerned about fire safety, traffic management and harm to the vulnerable flora and fauna species as a result of this development and strongly urge all Councillors to refuse the extension to this development.

To all Noosa Councellors I address you to think hard about the proposed extension of time for Blue Care and decline the proposal. Blue Care have had over 20 years to develope. Many things have changed since that time. Climate, people are more aware of our environment and the Glossies have become more endangered for obvious reasons. I understand we have one of the highest flocks in this area.
It's time to consider our future generations to enjoy these birds and other rare fauna that have been discovered here since various ecologists have been asked to identify and to maintain our Biosphere area.
Very importantly, are the questions of volume of traffic, fire hazard, restriction of emergency access.
Aged Care facilities are needed but I ask a question. Would these facilities be available to just Noosa Shire's aging population or anyone?
I understand Blue Care have refused the opportunity to build elsewhere.
Noosa Council, this now is your chance to show your support to decline and listen to the majority of people who voted for you.
Thank you.

I congratulate Noosa Councilors who had the foresight to set out a Noosa Plan that set aside land for specific purposes, including aged care development. For an aged care complex to be viable, it needs to be in the right location, including access to shops, public transport and community amenities. Grasstree Court is an ideal location.
I am disappointed to see the misinformation and exaggeration that is being spread by protestors. The claim that glossy black cockatoos are critically endangered is incorrect. They are listed in Qld, NSW and Vic. as vulnerable and federally as endangered. Walking between Peregian Beach and Kin Kin over bush tracks and trails, I have seen glossies feeding or evidence of recent feeding.
There is no watering hole on the BlueCare site. Two Gubbi Gubbi people told me the watering hole is near Burgess Creek and showed me in the wallum a spring that flowed towards the watering hole.
The church is accused of killing the glossy black cockatoos but not one has been killed. When the church was built 25 years ago, native trees were planted and maintained to attract glossies, yellow tails and honey eaters. The endangered sign, on the tree that appears on Glossy Team Sunrise's Facebook page, was affixed by me about 5 years ago to a tree in the church car park. It is at such sites like the high school, Aquatic Centre and Bicentennial Hall car parks that the public are most likely to observe glossies feeding.
Certified Environmental Practitioner Dr Justin Watson, a past council member of Birdlife Australia, who has for some years been mapping the potential feed trees around Grasstree Court and documenting the glossies' feeding habits, stated that there are enough mature feed trees in the vicinity of the BlueCare site to allow glossies to continue feeding there.
How many people who oppose the development, have walked through the site and not just the perimeter? Pristine it is not. A young family, who previously lived in the church house, had to be relocated owing to drunken youths' behaviour. Soon afterwards, to the detriment of locals and other shopkeepers, the food store closed. One camp site may still be in use, as drug utensils have been found nearby. A large internal area of Lot 9 contains dead and fallen trees.
Last year the church was broken into twice and vandalised. Lots 6 & 9 survey pegs were torn out and heaped in front of the church door. Mattresses and other rubbish continue to be dumped in Grasstree Court.
If the protest groups are so concerned about the glossies, why have they been silent about the land now being cleared at Noosa Civic and Hopmann Drive? Not only is this a glossy site but also it is a Koala Habitat, with a wooden 'poleway' built under Eenie Creek bridge.
To me, the protests about Grasstree Court seem to be a case of 'Not In My Back Yard."
Noosa needs more aged care accommodation. I strongly urge Noosa Council to support BlueCare's request for a Development Application time extension

I strongly support BlueCare's application for an extension of time for the planned development at Sunrise Beach.

Currently there is a shortage of aged care places in the Noosa Shire.

Briggs & Morta(cited in the Noosa Plan 2020) found that in 2016, there was already a shortage of residential care places and this short fall would only increase over the following decades.

Noosa Plan 2020 zones existing and approved residential care facilities specifically for that purpose and to protect their use into the future from competing interests. The Noosa Plan seeks to make clear to the community the proposed use of the land. The development of the approved Sunrise Beach facility is one of the designated sites.
BlueCare has established significant environmental measures to compensate for its development at Grasstree Court.

The plans for this facility take into consideration the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. The aged care home is designed to operate like a small household that can offer quality care and a desirable lifestyle within a familiar local area.

The Noosa Plan (p9. Part3:Strategic Framework) identifies the development of aged care facilities ans services as part of the Council's strategy to develop an economy less reliant on tourism.

The BlueCare development at Sunrise will make a positive contribution to the community.

After working 30 years in Aged Care I have seen first hand the desperation of families taking care of a loved one who is waiting on a bed in an Aged Care Facility. Blue Care is not-for-profit organisation that has a long history of taking care of societies most vulnerable. As a long term local I appreciate the beautiful environment we are blessed to be surrounded with, and was devastated to see the clearing take place at Noosa Civic for commercial development, however this development is to take care of our Elders and don't they deserve the best possible care by professionals if they require it?

This inappropriate development should NOT be extended in time and should NEVER have been approved in the first place, with no proper ecological report or community consultation done!
I IMPLORE Noosa Council to represent their community (with over 63,000 signatures to Save Sunrise Glossies), by FORCING the Uniting Church/Blue Care to do a LAND-SWAP!
I am appalled that the heartless Uniting Church/Blue Care think they can get away with causing our beautiful Glossy Black Cockatoos to become extinct on the Sunshine Coast, by totally destroying their pristine remnant Allo-casuarina forest, at Grasstree Court, Sunrise!
I am so disgusted that the Uniting Church attempts to justify this destruction by saying they will do offset planting, of a few token trees, on top of an old contaminated Dump Site!! How ignorant, arrogant and heartless they are and shame on the old Sunshine Coast Council for agreeing to it, knowing that Grasstree Court is in part of UNESCO’s Noosa Bioshpere!!
The Uniting Church and past Councillors are all totally ignorant of the Scientific facts that even if the offset planted trees did grow, on the contaminated site, they would take 10-20 years before they mature enough to fruit, to possibly feed the fussy Glossy Black cockatoos. The current several flocks of GBCockatoos, that have been living at the Grasstree court forest since the 2019/2020 fires, will become extinct, possibly starve to death, or move away from our Sunshine Coast, long before these ‘offset trees’ grow for 20 years and fruit.
Not to mention, there is ZERO evidence to show that this type of offset planting actually works. There is no reference to any specific studies of offset planted sites, of Allo-casuarinas for Glossy Black Cockatoos, that are successful! In fact quite the opposite is true. A similar offset planted site occurred in S.A. 20 years ago and to this day the Black Cockatoos have not returned at all!
Please STOP this ECOCIDE!
Please STOP the destruction of Lot 9 of our pristine Remnant, Grasstree Court forest and Endangered Wildlife!
Please STOP this additional contribution to Climate change!
Please help SAVE what’s left of our EARTH for our GRANDCHILDREN!

The assumption is that the proposed aged care facility DA has been extended before by the owners because of economic conditions that impinged on development going ahead. They will have given council specific reasons why they did not proceed since purchasing the site. Perhaps their economic situation has changed and now the site has been cleared in order to shore up and support another extension application, as evidence that the development will finally proceed.

A facility of this type provides the Noosa community with aged care services and significant job creation. However Sunrise Beach has changed since the first DA was approved. The high cost of housing, lack of rental accomodation and shopping precinct in Sunrise Beach and the level of wages paid to aged care workers all suggest that those workers will have to travel long distances. Lack of public transport to Sunrise Beach compounds the problems these workers will face. Car parking in suburban streets will almost certainly become an issue.
Noosa Council must recognise that these developments are now best sited in the shire towns outside major tourist precincts where vibrant communities can take advantage of the new employment opportunities in order to grow and flourish.

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This inappropriate development should NOT be extended in time and should NEVER have been approved in the first place, with no proper ecological report or community consultation done!
I IMPLORE Noosa Council to represent their community (with over 63,000 signatures to Save Sunrise Glossies), by FORCING the Uniting Church/Blue Care to do a LAND-SWAP!
I am appalled that the heartless Uniting Church/Blue Care think they can get away with causing our beautiful Glossy Black Cockatoos to become extinct on the Sunshine Coast, by totally destroying their pristine remnant Allo-casuarina forest, at Grasstree Court, Sunrise!
I am so disgusted that the Uniting Church attempts to justify this destruction by saying they will do offset planting, of a few token trees, on top of an old contaminated Dump Site!! How ignorant, arrogant and heartless they are and shame on the old Sunshine Coast Council for agreeing to it, knowing that Grasstree Court is in part of UNESCO’s Noosa Bioshpere!!
The Uniting Church and past Councillors are all totally ignorant of the Scientific facts that even if the offset planted trees did grow, on the contaminated site, they would take 10-20 years before they mature enough to fruit, to possibly feed the fussy Glossy Black cockatoos. The current several flocks of GBCockatoos, that have been living at the Grasstree court forest since the 2019/2020 fires, will become extinct, possibly starve to death, or move away from our Sunshine Coast, long before these ‘offset trees’ grow for 20 years and fruit.
Not to mention, there is ZERO evidence to show that this type of offset planting actually works. There is no reference to any specific studies of offset planted sites, of Allo-casuarinas for Glossy Black Cockatoos, that are successful! In fact quite the opposite is true. A similar offset planted site occurred in S.A. 20 years ago and to this day the Black Cockatoos have not returned at all!
Please STOP this ECOCIDE!
Please STOP the destruction of Lot 9 of our pristine Remnant, Grasstree Court forest and Endangered Wildlife!
Please STOP this additional contribution to Climate change!
Please help SAVE what’s left of our EARTH for our GRANDCHILDREN!

Dear Councillors

I am writing in order to ask you to stop the Blue Care development at grass tree court, Sunrise Beach.

I moved to the Noosa Shire (Sunrise Beach) two years ago with my family and was devastated to hear about the proposed destruction of critical habit of the glossy black cockatoo.

As a UNESCO biosphere we (Noosa and its residents) must show leadership and protect what we have left - including grass tree court. Nearly every startegic and policy document prepared by the Noosa Council refers to the protection of threatened species' habitat and remnant vegetation - including specific references to the glossy black cockatoo. Now is your chance to come good on these policy documents.

The Bluecare development has been a debacle from day one. The ecological reports are totally inadequate, the offset is laughable, the community consultation has been woeful, the fire management and traffic issues are disasters waiting to happen, and finally, the development approval that should never have been granted in the first place is well and truly out of date and based on antiquated standards.

This is simply not good enough for Noosa Shire which should be leading the way in the protection of threatened species and habitats.
Your sincerely
Kate Davey
Sunrise Beach