Article by CAITLIN ZERAFA and published in full at Sunshine Coast News
A new online resource is set to provide additional “transparency” for the community as Noosa’s short-stay regulations continue to divide residents.
It comes a month after a community group submitted a petition to council outlining the concerns of a “growing number” of Noosa residents.
New data has been revealed showing the impact of Noosa Council’s short-stay local law since it was introduced in February 2022.
Noosa was the first council in Queensland to introduce the framework as a way to regulate and manage the ongoing use of private homes for holiday letting.
It followed calls to address the impacts on permanent residents and residential amenity.
However, the law, which has resulted in more than 2500 properties being approved for the use, has been met with criticism from community groups and residents since its enforcement.
Noosa Council has now unveiled a new online dashboard to help the community monitor the operation and regulation of the local law.
The Short Stay Local Law Snapshot will provide data on current approval numbers, how many compliance notices and fines have been issued, number of applications refused, the suburbs with the most approvals and how many calls to the short-stay hotline.
The statistical dashboard, on council’s website, will be updated quarterly.
The petition was tabled to Noosa Council on January 18 by Residents Against Unregulated Short Term Rent Approval (RAUSTRA), which labelled the implementation of the local law as “stumbling and generally unsatisfactory”.
RAUSTRA was convened during development of the local law to ensure residents’ concerns were heard with the opportunity to brief councillors.
According to the petition, the group welcomed the adoption of the local law and participated in the council’s 12-month review, required by the state government.
However, now RAUSTRA is claiming the initiative was “tokenistic”, outlining a list of concerns pertaining to the laws.
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