A MAJOR overhaul of Redland City’s planning scheme has moved a step closer after councillors endorsed significant changes shaped by public consultation including winding back proposed restrictions in the Raby Bay canal estate and abandoning a planned neighbourhood centre at Victoria Point.
The revised residential and non-residential City Plan amendments will now be sent to the planning minister for approval before they can be formally adopted.
The changes followed a month-long consultation that attracted 42 submissions on the residential package and seven on the non-residential amendments.
Cr Rowanne McKenzie said while the amendments had been before council for several years, the most important outcome was how they had evolved through community feedback.
“I do want to highlight the public engagement and the changes that have been made in response to that consultation,” she said.
She said consultation included public notices, fact sheets, libraries, customer service centres, social media, Council’s Your Say website, direct contact with affected landholders and industry groups, and face-to-face meetings with planning officers.
The consultation webpage recorded about 1,800 views.
Community interest focused largely on proposed changes affecting the Raby Bay canal estate and a new neighbourhood centre at Colburn Avenue, Victoria Point.
Following submissions, council officers recommended retaining the existing two-metre setback from revetment walls rather than increasing it to 2.5 metres.
References to vessel lengths will also be removed from standard drawings after officers determined they had been included in error, while new engineering requirements to protect revetment walls will remain.
Cr McKenzie welcomed the strong response from residents, particularly those in the Low Density Residential (LDR5) precinct.
“I really appreciate that community becoming very actively engaged in that consultation and sending in their feedback,” she said.
She said there had been significant support for retaining the 600sq m minimum lot size and the existing two-metre setback along revetment walls.
The consultation also prompted council to abandon a proposed neighbourhood centre at 312 Colburn Avenue after submissions questioned the need for additional commercial land.
The site will instead be zoned medium-density residential.
The amendments also update planning rules for rooming accommodation, secondary dwellings, dual occupancies, rear lots, home-based businesses, frontage widths, emerging community areas and canal estate development as part of implementing the Redland Housing Strategy 2024-2046.
Cr McKenzie said another key change gave greater flexibility in emerging community areas by removing a prescriptive requirement to achieve 25 dwellings per hectare.
She said the amendment recognised environmental constraints affecting many of those areas while still supporting a mix of housing types.
The non-residential amendments introduce planning provisions for self-contained camping sites on eligible rural properties, recognise craft breweries within the planning scheme, update driveway crossover and bicycle parking standards, revise basement flood immunity requirements and strengthen waterway, infrastructure and rear lot access provisions.
Eligible rural properties could accommodate up to five self-contained recreational vehicle sites, subject to strict limits on length of stay, setbacks and waste disposal.
The amendments replace earlier City Plan changes initiated in 2022 and 2023 after council withdrew those packages last year to align them with the Redland Housing Strategy and other planning reforms.
If approved by the Planning Minister, council will decide whether to formally adopt the amendments into the Redland City Plan.
