IN a battle between acoustic experts over the likely noise levels created by the controversial dog breeding and kennel proposal between Amigh Road and Steve Irwin Way in Landsborough, Sunshine Coast Council has again expressed its concerns about the development being able to meet acceptable community noise standards.
In a letter responding to an independent noise analysis commissioned by the council, the original acoustics expert engaged by the planning consultants working on the Diamond Valley Kennels Pty Ltd application disagreed entirely with the independent expert’s conclusions that the application was unsuitable and not approvable.
However, in an apparent acknowledgement of a possible issue with excessive noise, the developers appear to have reduced the scale of the dog kennel component. Updated design plans have been submitted indicating that the kennels would be reduced from the original 200 boarding dogs to 48. No reduction is indicated in the scale of the dog breeding component. As well, 2.5m acoustic barriers are proposed to be built around both facilities.
However, council’s development planner Jeff Dodd wasn’t swayed, stating that even with these changes “it has not been demonstrated that the development is capable of being operated without causing adverse community noise impacts”.
Mr Dodd has asked the planning consultants to provide the council with more information addressing ten significant issues by no later than 5pm on August 5.
Considering the tone of the council’s communication about the development proposal so far, if the information isn’t forthcoming or is insufficient, the question will be whether the council’s development planners recommend the application be refused.
With more than 410,000 submissions to the council objecting to the development during the community submission phase in 2020, this possible outcome is likely to be widely applauded.
The reports and correspondence for the application (MCU18/0311) can be viewed on council’s development assessment website at https://cutt.ly/zm00wA2