19 September 2024

Councillor Briefing and Workshop Session Meeting NO. 2024(09)]

Councillor Briefing and Workshop Session Meeting NO. 2024(09)

19 September 2024

Report

COUNCILLORS’ ATTENDANCE:

Councillors Pye Augustine, Jacob Madsen (via audio-link), Deputy Mayor Nicole Jonic (via audio-link), Paul Tully, (via audio-link), Marnie Doyle, Andrew Antoniolli and Jim Madden  

COUNCILLOR’S APOLOGIES:

Mayor Teresa Harding

OFFICERS’ ATTENDANCE:

Chief Executive Officer (Sonia Cooper), General Manager Community, Cultural and Economic Development (Ben Pole), General Manager Asset and Infrastructure Services (Matt Anderson), General Manager Corporate Services (Matt Smith), General Manager Environment and Sustainability (Kaye Cavanagh), Chief Financial Officer (Jeff Keech), Project Officer, Local Business and Investment (Naomi George), Acting Chief of Staff – Office of the Mayor (Jodie Richter) (via audio-link), Infrastructure Strategy and Planning Manager (Mary Torres), Team Lead (Transport and Traffic) (Berto Santana), Manager Infrastructure Strategy (Tony Dileo), Deputy General Counsel (Allison Ferres-MacDonald), Resource Recovery manager (David McAlister), Acting Manager Strategy and Performance (Haiden Taylor), Manager Capital Program Delivery (Graeme Martin), Manager City Design (Nathan Rule), Strategic Planning Manager (Garath Wilson), Transport Infrastructure Officer (Sally Peters), Manager Natural Environment (Phil A Smith), Leasing Manger – Nicholas Street Precinct (Melissa Annis), Precinct Governance Manager – Nicholas Street Precinct (Mitchell Grant) and Principal Treasury Analyst (Beth Anderson) (via audio-link)

EXTERNAL ATTENDANCE:

Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce – Neil Coupland (President) and Leila Stewart (Executive Assistant)

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA

During discussion on Item 9 titled Nicholas Street Precinct Property Management Update Councillor Andrew Antoniolli made a declaration.

Officers’ Reports

1.           Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce 2024-2025 Opportunities and 2024 to 2026 Partnership Agreement with Council

Ipswich City Council continues to have a productive working relationship with the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce (GSCC).

GSCC will discuss the opportunities for Ipswich in the coming year or two.

The renewal of Partnership Agreement with GSCC is also the subject of this Mayor and Councillor briefing session.

MATTERS ARISING:

Councillors in attendance noted the presentation from the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce.

The GSCC provided feedback on the partnership with Council, for Council consideration and action as necessary.

Attachments

1. GSCC Partnership Agreement Proposal ⇨

2.           Ipswich Central Second River Crossing

The purpose of this session is to provide an update on the Ipswich Central Second River Crossing, including a brief recap of the planning completed to date and items for consideration in determining the way forward. 

MATTERS ARISING:

Councillors in attendance noted and discussed the information presented on the Ipswich Central Second River Crossing.

DISCUSSION

Councillors in attendance discussed funding options for the project, including funding from the State and Federal Government.

3.           Strategic Regulation and Local Law Review (3 Step Approach)

This is a report concerning the opportunity to take a strategic approach to regulation in the context of the upcoming local law review. It follows a recent report being endorsed at the meeting of the Regulation Advisory Committee (and subsequent adoption of minutes at the 13 September Finance and Governance Committee Meeting and 22 September Council Meeting). A three-step approach to the local law review is proposed, with the development of a regulation policy as a first step.

The three-step approach is set out below. Steps 1 and 2 can be done concurrently, together with data and information gathering for Step 3. Step 1 needs to be completed to provide direction in relation to Step 3:

Step 1 Development of a Regulation Policy (sets Council’s strategic position for regulation and would replace the current Compliance and Enforcement Policy)

Step 2        Repeal the current Local Law-Making Process Policy and replace with a ‘process’ that is more contemporary/modern and aligns more closely with the direction of the Local Government Act 2009. This process would be made public on Council’s website. A supporting Local Law-Making Procedure will be developed to clarify the roles and responsibilities within Council (staff) for the development, making and revision of local laws. This will also include a scheduled approach for updating/amending local laws on a regular basis. Councillor consultation will also be incorporated within the Procedure.

Step 3 Comprehensive Local Law Review – Creation of a new suite of local laws. Creating a new suite of laws will be more efficient than amending the current suite. This is explained further in the report.

Phases, key milestones and draft timeframes are included in the report including consultation (councillor and community) and decision gates. Following the briefing on 19 September 2024, the next key steps for all Councillors are:

Steps 1 & 2 (Regulation Policy and Local Law-Making Process): Workshop in October/November on development of the regulation policy with presentation of other Councils approaches, best practice, and key strategic questions for exploration in the workshop.

Step 3 (Local Law Development): Workshop in late November/early December to present and explore data from Council systems (service requests etc) and on key strategic questions.

MATTERS ARISING:

Councillors in attendance noted and discussed the information presented on the 3 Step Approach for the Strategic Regulation and Local Law Review.

4.           Strategic Priorities

This forms part of the regular strategic priorities workshops for the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Councillors to meet with the CEO and ELT to discuss strategic priorities, opportunities, challenges and risks.

This workshop will focus on a number of key topics raised for further discussion during the 2024-2025 Annual Plan and Budget Build process including:

·     Waste and recycling subsidy schemes – presentation on possible incentive and subsidy schemes for waste and recycling including tip vouchers. (see separate report included in agenda titled Resource Recovery – Resident Subsidy Scheme Options)

·     Infrastructure Planning – long term investment and prioritisation of infrastructure investment (Briefings and workshops item) LTFF and allocation of residual capital budget for year 2/3 of program)

·     Revenue and Efficiency Opportunities – present further detail on current opportunities being pursued in addition to providing an opportunity to explore other opportunities.

MATTERS ARISING:

Councillors in attendance discussed strategic priorities, opportunities, challenges and risks.

5.           Resource Recovery -  Resident Subsidy Scheme Options

The attached paper provides an analysis on various Residential Resource Recovery Subsidy Scheme Options. This follows a request from Council to provide further guidance and options around items such as “waste vouchers” and other possible residential support schemes.

After analysing 10 main options this was condensed down to four viable options based on three primary criteria:

-      Impact on traffic flow

-      Estimated costs to the ratepayer

-      Impact on / Support to the Resource Recovery Strategy

It is recommended by Ipswich Waste Services that four highly rated options could be done either separately or in some combination:

-      Specific number of free green waste disposal weekends (4)

-      Compost bin rebate program

-      Reduced entry fee for pensioners

-      Enhanced kerbside large item collection services

Post discussion with ELT it is proposed to take this paper to a Council briefing session. Upon further direction Resource Recovery officers will provide more detailed analysis and outline potential timelines, of confirmed options.

MATTERS ARISING:

Councillors in attendance noted and discussed the information presented on the Resource Recovery Resident Subsidy Scheme Options.

6.           New Planning Scheme

The post consultation version of the Ipswich Plan 2024 was submitted to the state for review on 9 February 2024, after a Council resolution of 25 January 2024 to forward the draft planning scheme to the Planning Minister for consideration and approval to adopt.

Following public consultation, changes were made to aspects of the planning scheme’s regulatory framework for the management of flood risk, waste activities, the Springfield Structure Plan, tables of assessment, zoning (particularly character residential areas and centres) and the Reconfiguring a Lot Code, as well as other minor administrative changes.

As part of that review, required changes and suggestions to the post-consultation version of the scheme were received from the Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works on 12 March 2024. These amendments concerned the application of overlays, specifically the biodiversity, bushfire and flooding overlay, the waste activities code, and general alignment of the draft scheme with the objectives of ShapingSEQ 2023 – the regional plan for South East Queensland.  Further refinement and discussions on these matters of state interest have been ongoing and likely to result in a suite of Ministerial conditions on the scheme.

In addition, conversations have been ongoing regarding the Springfield Structure Plan. These matters remain as the outstanding items for determination by the Department which require resolution before the final version of the draft scheme can be presented to council for adoption.

This report and workshop serves as an update and briefing on the status and nature of these issues with the Department and an outline of next steps including likely conditions as part of Ministerial approval of the revised draft.

MATTERS ARISING:

Councillors in attendance noted and discussed the information presented on the New Planning Scheme.

7.           E-scooter Pilot Proposed Expansion - Ipswich Central

This report concerns the electric scooter (e-scooter) pilot scheme. In particular, the report discusses the proposal to expand the pilot into Ipswich Central.

MATTERS ARISING:

Councillors in attendance noted and discussed the information presented on the E-Scooter Pilot Proposed Expansion in Ipswich Central and a report will be presented to Committee and Council for a decision on the proposal.

8.           Off-site Stormwater Quality Improvement Program - Councillor briefing for new policy and update to Voluntary Off-site Stormwater Quality Improvement Payment

The State Planning Policy 2017 requires applicable development to improve the quality of stormwater running off development sites by meeting targets for the reduction of key stormwater pollutants. In-lieu of partially or fully meeting these targets on development sites (i.e., on-site), developers may volunteer to pay a fee to local governments to inherit their stormwater quality improvement responsibilities. Local governments must use these in-lieu fees to deliver projects off development sites (i.e., off-site) at other locations in their jurisdictions. These projects must achieve an equal or greater stormwater quality outcome relative to what would be achieved by meeting responsibilities on-site.

Since 2012, Ipswich City Council (council) has operated the Off-site Stormwater Quality Improvement Program (the Program). This program has enabled off-site stormwater quality improvement in the Ipswich local government area. In 2022, a formal review of the Program was undertaken which identified several issues and recommendations to address them. Two (2) of these recommendations require resolution from Council.

1.    The adoption of a new council policy for off-site stormwater quality improvement to ensure consistent decision making in the Program (see Attachment 1). 

2.    An update to council’s Voluntary Off-site Stormwater Quality Improvement Payment, with the in-lieu fee calculated on a new basis and rate to minimise environmental and financial risks (see Attachment 2).

The above will help ensure council can meet its inherited stormwater quality improvement responsibilities in an environmentally and financially sustainable way while delivering benefits to the Ipswich community in the long-term. It will also help maintain council’s position as a leader in off-site stormwater quality improvement in Queensland as reflected in historic awards for off-site projects (e.g., Small Creek) and most recently, the 2024 Award for Excellence in Policy and Education from Stormwater Queensland.

MATTERS ARISING:

Councillors in attendance noted and discussed the information presented on the Off-site Stormwater Quality Improvement Program.

In accordance with section 150EF of the Local Government Act 2009, Councillor Andrew Antoniolli informed the meeting that he has a personal interest in Item 9 titled Nicholas Street Precinct Property Management Update.

The nature of the interest is that a tenant in the Nicholas Street Precinct was a donor to Cr Antoniolli’s recent election campaign with the amount being under threshold of $2000 for the period of the term and is shown his election return.

As no decision making or voting takes place at these meetings and as the subject matter of the briefing is not going to be presented to the relevant Standing Committee or Council for a decision, this declaration is for noting only.

___________________________________________________

9.           Nicholas Street Precinct Property Management Update

The retail, leisure and hospitality market has experienced a tumultuous number of years through and post the COVID-19 Pandemic. As the Nicholas Street Precinct redevelopment major construction phase is due to come to conclusion later in 2024, the opening of anchor tenants like Hoyts cinema and General Public leisure offering is expected to bring increases to visitation, dwell time, sales and provide added impetus to finalising the leasing campaign in Q1 and Q2 of 2025.  Continued activation and footfall increase through various strategies including increased business offerings and other events and initiatives is fundamental to tenant success and sustainable precinct revenue.

Leasing progress has been sustained within Nicholas Street Precinct, with a number of tenancies in the retail assets leased to date, and more expected leading up to and after the opening of key anchor tenants later in the year.  Leasing arrangements have been negotiated reflecting the current occupancy of the precinct and allowing for the future securing and opening of key anchor tenants. 

“Some of the attachment/s to this report are confidential in accordance with section 254J(3)(g) of the Local Government Regulation 2012.”

MATTERS ARISING:

Councillors in attendance noted and discussed the information presented on the Nicholas Street Precinct Property Update.

Attachments

1.    Colliers market update ⇨

2.    CBRE market update ⇨

3.    Shopping Centre Council of Australia - Sales Reporting guidelines ⇨

4.    ATO Benchmarks per category ⇨

PROCEDURAL MOTIONS AND FORMAL MATTERS

The meeting commenced at 9.00 am.

The meeting adjourned at 10.25 am.

The meeting reconvened at 10.49 am with all councillors in attendance.

Councillor Antoniolli left the meeting at 11.58 am.

Councillor Antoniolli returned to the meeting at 12.01 pm.

Councillor Doyle left the meeting at 12.09 pm.

Councillor Doyle returned to the meeting at 12.15 pm.

The meeting adjourned at 12.27 pm.

The meeting reconvened at 1.06 pm with all councillors in attendance.

Councillor Doyle left the meeting at 1.13 pm.

Councillor Doyle returned to the meeting at 1.18 pm.

Councillor Madden left the meeting at 1.21 pm.

Councillor Madden returned to the meeting at 1.25 pm.

Councillor Doyle left the meeting at 2.24 pm.

Deputy Mayor Jonic left the meeting at 2.50 pm.

The meeting adjourned at 2.53 pm.

The meeting reconvened at 3.18 pm with all councillors in attendance except for Deputy Mayor Jonic, Councillor Doyle and Councillor Madden.

Councillor Madden returned to the meeting at 3.34 pm.

The meeting closed at 3.56 pm.