A planning scheme (referred to as Townsville City Plan) is a legal document that guides, enables and regulates how land can be developed. The Townsville City Plan organises Townsville into land use zones, with every property included in a zone.
Overlay maps identify areas that have unique characteristics that require further planning consideration when a development is proposed. The Townsville City Plan contains several overlay maps, including Bushfire hazard, Coastal environment and Flood hazard.
If a property is affected by an overlay any proposed future development must address specific requirements outlined in the overlay codes as it affects the land. Overlays do not impact existing lawfully established uses on a premises and may only apply when materially changing the use of land, some building works, some filling or excavation works or when subdividing land.
The main purpose of the Coastal environment overlay code is to ensure development in the coastal zone is planned, designed, constructed and operated to avoid risk to people and property from coastal hazards, including storm tide inundation and coastal erosion. Development is designed to manage the coast to protect coastal resources and allow for the natural fluctuations of coastal processes as far as possible.
The Coastal environment overlay mapping identifies areas impacted by storm tide inundation and erosion prone areas and the degree to which a property is affected. The Coastal environment overlay maps are found in Schedule 2 of the Townsville City Plan.
Each of the 3 overlay maps in Schedule 2 are the trigger maps for all accepted development subject to requirements and assessable development stated in Part 5.9 of Townsville City Plan.
Important note – online mapping is to be used as an operational tool only, always check the overlay mapping under Schedule 2 of the Townsville City Plan to ensure the most up-to-date information.
The Coastal environment overlay represents natural hazards related to naturally occurring coastal processes. These are the Erosion Prone Area and Storm Tide Inundation and are referred to as coastal hazards as they have the potential to impact on public safety and development along the coast. They are quite different processes. Coastal hazard areas consist of areas at risk from coastal erosion or permanent inundation from tidal water and areas of temporary inundation resulting from a defined storm tide event.
The Coastal environment overlay has been created by the Coastal Hazard Adaptation Strategy (2012), the Townsville City Council Storm Tide Hazard Study (2007) and State data. The mapping incorporates matters of state interest established by the State Planning Policy, including the projected effects of climate change to 2100.
The Erosion Prone Area is the width of the coast that is considered to be vulnerable to coastal erosion and tidal inundation. Erosion prone areas exist over all tidal water on the Queensland coast and on all adjacent land, and are declared under section 70(1) of the Coastal Protection and Management Act 1995.
Coastal erosion is the wearing away of land or the removal of beach or dune sediments by wave or wind action, tidal currents, wave currents, or drainage and may be affected by increased water levels, altered sediment transport patterns, low lying land permanently inundated and cyclone/storm activity over both short and long time scales.
Storm tide inundation is the combination of a storm surge and normal tides and results in large volumes of water being pushed against the coast. This causes flooding of low-lying coastal areas. Storm tide inundation is represented by two categories: high hazard and medium hazard.
High hazard areas recognise the increased threat to public safety and the potential loss or damage to property and structures caused by wave impacts and/or high velocity flows. The high risk area is where a significant discharge of water and/or dangerous breaking waves occurs during a storm event. The inundation depth is 1m or more.
Medium hazard areas still present a significant threat to public safety and potential loss or damage to property, however the inundation depth is less than 1m. Both the medium and high hazard areas represent the defined storm tide event. The defined storm tide event level is Relative Level (RL) 4.5m Australian Height Datum (AHD), within 100m of the coastline or RL 3.9m AHD in other areas. The defined storm tide event is the 1% Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) and includes allowance of 0.8m sea level rise and an increase in maximum cyclone intensity of 10% relative to present day conditions.
Storm tide inundation Overlay Map OM-03-2 – includes ‘Inner city areas’. This area maintains the same medium and high hazard ratings, however, permits varied development responses to address the hazard in the CBD and immediate surrounds.
The following steps are provided to assist you in determining how the Coastal environment overlay may affect your next development.
Step 1: Check your property zoning and identify your proposed use type, for example, Low density residential zone and dual occupancy. (Use definitions are found in Schedule 1 of Townsville City Plan).
Step 2: Refer to Part 5 of the Townsville City Plan and determine the category of development and assessment for the zone which your property is located in. Important note: the category of development and assessment stated for the zone may be changed by the Coastal protection overlay in Part 5.9.
Step 3: Check if your property is mapped by the Coastal environment overlay ( Schedule 2 of the Townsville City Plan contains the overlay maps, but use of the electronic mapping may provide clearer property level detail). Important note: The overlay mapping and code requirements only apply to the part of your property mapped. If you undertake development in the mapped area, you may require approval for your development (see step 4).
Step 4: If your property is affected by the Coastal environment overlay and you are proposing development within the mapped area of your property, check 5.9 Categories of development and assessment—Overlays for the Coastal environment overlay. If your development is listed (for example, dual occupancy) then you will be required to address the relevant provisions of the Coastal environment overlay code.
No. Houses are accepted development subject to requirements in the Coastal environment overlay which means you need only comply with acceptable outcomes code provisions and no application is required unless you cannot comply with the code provisions. If your property is stated as either code or impact in the zone categories of development and assessment (5.5 Categories of development and assessment - Material change of use of the Townsville City Plan) then that category of assessment will prevail and you will require approval.
References: Environmental Planning, Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, ‘Coastal hazard technical guide – Determining coastal hazard areas, The State of Queensland 2013.
