3.3.1 Strategic outcomes

1. Gladstone is a world class industrial city that balances the impacts of major industrial development with community and environmental well–being.
2. Major industries of state and global importance locate in Gladstone mainly in the Gladstone State Development Area and the Gladstone strategic port land.
3. Supporting and local industry locates in identified industrial places in the Gladstone urban area, Calliope and Boyne Island/Tannum Sands.
4. An adequate supply of industrial land in industrial places is available across the region within designated industrial places.
5. Industrial development occurs in a range of small and large lots that reflect site area requirements for a range of industrial activities. It must also be well serviced, connected to major transport links, transport routes and other key infrastructure and avoids adverse impacts on sensitive uses.
6. Major electricity, bulk water infrastructure and pipeline corridors including into the Gladstone State Development Area, Gladstone Power Station and Gladstone Port are protected from encroachment by development that would compromise their integrity and function.  
7. Gladstone's CBD is the principal centre for business, government, entertainment and cultural activities.
8. The region's major shopping centres must reflect true mixed use centres in providing for a range of entertainment, community and residential uses and not just retailing.
9. Business, and centre activities including retail uses occur in the region's mixed use centres and in urban revitalisation neighbourhoods only where in the Mixed use zone. They are not supported in residential zones. Development within these areas ensures the viability of the region's hierarchy of centres is maintained.
10. Neighbourhood centres are limited to providing convenience level services for the day to day needs of surrounding local residential neighbourhoods.
11. Specialised centres provide for non–traditional centre activities such as showrooms, outdoor sales and bulky goods retailing. New specialised centre uses occur in the Specialised centre zone and not in other zones.
12. Agricultural and rural land uses are a valuable economic and social resource and are conserved and sustained. Fragmentation of this resource is not supported.
13. Agricultural land classification (A and B); intensive rural activities; stock routes; and intensive recreational activities in the Awoonga Dam catchment and bore areas are protected from incompatible land uses.
14. Tourism occurs in mixed use centres and the Gladstone CBD through short term accommodation and in integrated tourist resort complexes and associated facilities on the islands of Heron, Quoin and Lady Elliot. Other smaller scale tourist uses in rural and coastal townships (such as Agnes Water and Seventeen Seventy) and rural places are appropriate where associated with rural and coastal attractions.
15. Extractive industry development occurs only in key resource areas in the Extractive resources and minerals overlay and in parts of the Rural zone where resource extraction activities minimises and mitigates impacts on surrounding areas and the environment.

3.3.2 Elements

A gateway for industry

Industry occurs at the right locations – the Gladstone State Development Area for major high impact or land intensive development, Gladstone Port for industry needing harbour and port access and specific use and industrial places within Council's jurisdiction for industry meeting the needs of the region and supporting major industry. Gladstone's road, rail, and port infrastructure provide the opportunity for a multi–modal inland port for freight and logistics purposes to be established subject to further investigations on location, servicing, access and environmental values and hazards.

New industry areas are located only in the Industry Investigation zone or in the Medium impact industry zone in the Red Rover Road precinct. Development in these areas, as expressed in structure plans, must have:

• appropriate infrastructure, services and transport connections
• a range of lot sizes to facilitate industry land uses
• footprints that minimise impact or risks from environmental constraints and hazards, and
• an appropriate interface to adjoining areas.

Local industry elsewhere in the region (including at Boyne Island Tannum Sands (near the Sewage Treatment Plant), Calliope and Agnes Water) serves local needs in defined industry zoned areas that can be serviced and with good access.

A range of lot sizes and types is provided for different industry with infrastructure and services, and design provisions tailored to specific localities to achieve this diversity. The Low impact industry zone is located within urban areas and characterised by smaller lot sizes. Larger lots are provided in the Medium impact industry zone on the fringe of Gladstone city.

The viability and ongoing use of specific use and industrial places is protected by avoiding encroachment of incompatible uses into areas including major pipelines, major electricity and other infrastructure corridors servicing the Gladstone State Development Area, Gladstone Power Station and Gladstone Port.

Likewise, major industrial development including that within the Gladstone State Development Area and Strategic Port Land areas incorporate buffers within their development areas to minimise and mitigate impacts on adjoining land.

A gateway for local business

The Gladstone region has a diverse and growing economy underpinned by commerce, business and retail functions in a range of centres. It provides development and business opportunities in education and training, particularly leveraging off the presence of Central Queensland University and the mining and energy sector.

The region's mixed use centres and urban revitalisation neighbourhoods occur in the Neighbourhood centre, Centre, Principal centre, Mixed use and Specialised centre zones. Business and centre activities occur in these zones and are not supported in residential zones as this is inconsistent with the form, function and amenity of residential neighbourhoods.

Mixed use centres incorporate a variety of uses which varies depending on the role and function of the area. The intent for these areas is that they are not dominated by a single use such as retail, but rather include a range of retail, commercial, entertainment and community uses which increases activity during and after regular business hours.

Other than in the Neighbourhood centre and Specialised centre zones, permanent residential uses are also encouraged in a variety of forms.

The section below describes the region's hierarchy of centres from largest to smallest. Growth or any expansion within these centres:

• occurs commensurate with community needs
• does not impact on the viability of other centres in the region, and
• integrates development with surrounding areas.

The Principal centre – CBD

The CBD accommodates the region's most diverse and intense mix of business, commercial and community activities. It is critical to the economy and the administration of the region and provides the greatest concentration of civic buildings, major offices and cultural facilities. Increasingly, speciality shopping and above ground level residential developments are part of the mix as well.

Major office based employment is concentrated along Goondoon Street, including office and administrative functions of major industry projects and developments. The CBD is also a meeting place, day and night, and has the widest selection of short term accommodation, dining and entertainment facilities in the region. As such, the amenity of the CBD is that of a highly urbanised centre with a range of day and night activities.  New development provides streetscape improvements which encourages active transport and integration of greenery.

Major shopping centres

The region's major shopping centres are identified in the Centre zone. They provide regional and sub–regional retail services. Major shopping centres are to transition into true mixed use centres that are more than a traditional shopping mall to also include entertainment, community and above ground residential uses.

Kin Kora centre

The Kin Kora shopping centre, located around the intersection of Philip Street and astride the Dawson Highway, is Gladstone's largest mixed use centre. It offers a range of services and is well connected by the city's public transport. Kin Kora also services communities at Boyne Island, Tannum Sands and Calliope, which have been reliant on private vehicles to make the longer journey to shop. Kin Kora will remain as the largest retail shopping and mixed use node for the region with a potential expansion of up to 50,000m2 of lettable area and the inclusion of a full line department store.

Gladstone Central

Gladstone Central lies along the western side of the Dawson Highway south of Park Street. It is a narrow and elongated centre that is constrained by sloping land, the Dawson Highway and a rail corridor. These features restrict any further expansion of this centre. Gladstone Central includes a shopping centre / supermarket, cinema, hotel, dining and takeway, speciality shopping and office and medical related services. This mix of uses reflects many of the features of a mixed use centre. In particular, there is an entertainment focus that includes a burgeoning after hours food retailing destination with a number of restaurants and cafes. Future land use must compliment this land use mix and any redevelopment must improve pedestrian on site connectivity particularly to the lower section of the centre. 

Kirkwood Road centre

The Kirkwood Road centre is bounded on the corner or Kirkwood Road, Dixon Drive and Kahler Close and is characterised by an existing shopping centre, service station and food and drink outlet.  The site represents some development potential however any future expansion is to provide lower order retail and/or commercial uses which service the immediate and future Kirkwood community.  No further expansion of this centre is supported beyond the existing boundaries.

Boyne Island centre

There is potential to expand the area in the Mixed use zone, on the corner of Wyndham Avenue and Centenary Drive, east from the existing centre across Wyndham Avenue. Land uses not only provide for traditional shopping and retail but also entertainment, dining and residential that takes advantage of proximity to the Boyne River through improved public access and activity along the river. The Boyne Island centre is further consolidated with a community facility focus with expansion of the library, other community uses and also child care services.

Tannum Sands centre

This centre is intended to consolidate as a more intense mixed use centre that takes advantage of proximity to the Tannum Sands beach, Turtle way and proximity to the hotel through dining, entertainment above ground residential and tourism support uses. Tannum Sands also has the potential to include a health and well–being hub immediately south of the shopping centre that encourages a mix of allied health and medical activities, aquatic facilities along with aged care and retirement living opportunities.

Calliope centre

The Calliope centre is built around two centres being the larger northern centre and the historical southern centre. The northern centre is most dominant in terms of provision of retail and commercial floor space. This is captured in the Centre zone to ensure it transitions into a true mixed use centre. The older historical centre serves only the southern end of the town by providing local convenience retail as identified in the Neighbourhood centre zone.

Agnes Water centre

The existing town centre at Round Hill Road and Captain Cook Drive is the focus for retail activities within Agnes Water. This town centre does not have the capacity to support the moderate population increases anticipated over the life of this planning scheme. An expansion of this centre east across Round Hill Road in the identified Emerging community zoned land provides opportunities to strengthen the retail offering with an additional supermarket and mixed–use development (including residential and community facilities) in a larger but still compact centre. This opportunity for centre expansion is to meet projected growth needs and enables future centre development and associated centre land use activities to be located centrally within Agnes Water. It removes any need for commercial zoned land on the fringe of the urban area that was included in previous planning schemes and has never been developed. In addition to the Agnes Water town centre, creative industries and local enterprises generally requiring larger sites are supported in a creative enterprise precinct in the Rural residential zone at the western end of Bicentennial Drive towards Round Hill Road. This is not a mixed use centre as it does not support shops or finer grain centre activities which are to be located in the town centre.

Neighbourhood centres

Neighbourhood centres only provide for convenience level needs for surrounding residential neighbourhoods. They are limited to a small grouping of shops and fine grain retail activities, and are located in the Neighbourhood centre zone. Outside of urban areas, the Township zone provides a similar function in the region's coastal and rural townships albeit at a much smaller scale which reinforces existing groupings of commercial uses.

Neighbourhood centres include a mix of low scale convenience shopping and other complimentary uses such as small offices and health care services. Uses must ensure the surrounding residential neighbourhood amenity is maintained.

Shopping centres, shops and other forms of retail uses in neighbourhood centres are limited in size to service only a surrounding residential population of approximately 3,000 people. Neighbourhood centres do not include higher density residential activities, large format retail or specialised retail uses.

Specialised centres

The retailing of bulky goods in showrooms or large hardware and trade supplies centres, garden centres and outdoor sales yards cannot be readily accommodated in finer grain traditional centres. These land consumptive
uses are not appropriate within urban revitalisation neighbourhoods and mixed use centres where traditional retail shopping centres, shops and commercial uses are concentrated.

Retailing that is regularly visited such as small shops (including supermarkets) and shopping centres are not supported in specialised centres.

Specialised centres are developed only in urban areas where they are close to large residential catchments and traditional mixed use centres. While some specialised centre uses have historically evolved outside of designated specialised centre zone (e.g. the Hanson Road precinct), specialised centre development is not supported in industrial zones, the Rural zone or in other locations outside of the Gladstone, Calliope or Boyne Island / Tannum Sands urban areas.

The Clinton precinct within the Specialised centre zone represents an integrated development that is the region's 'home maker' centre, retailing primarily in the form of showrooms and bulky good premises. Growth projections necessitate a second 'home maker' centre over the life of this planning scheme.

There is potential for this to occur along the Kirkwood Road corridor, between Harvey Road and Glenlyon Road, in a location which has:

• high visibility to passing trade
• easy access from an arterial road, with manageable impact on the traffic and transport network
• a large site area (generally a minimum of 8 hectares) with unconstrained topography
• primarily an outdoor environment that allows shoppers to directly access their vehicles after purchasing
• an internally coordinated traffic circulation system that minimises access points to surrounding roads
• ample off–street carparking, and
• large floor plates for buildings which are designed to display a range of goods for sale.

A gateway to prosperous rural activities

Primary industry contributes strongly to the region's economy. This industry focuses on agriculture, grazing and forestry throughout the region's rural places.

Extensive rural land fragmentation has adversely impacted on traditional broad scale agricultural land uses, natural resources, natural corridors and biodiversity. Further fragmentation on Rural zoned land is not supported in order to protect the continued operation of these agricultural activities, rural land resources along with the region's identified stock routes and to maintain rural character. Additionally, rural productivity is dependent on uncontaminated surface and ground water supplies. Therefore rural development will not compromise the water quality for other users.

While designated Agricultural land classification (A and B) land is identified on State Government generated maps, even marginal quality agricultural land supports broad scale grazing and contributes to the regional economy. Agricultural land classification (A and B) is protected for agricultural uses including less intensive pastoral uses. Rural lots sizes are commensurate with their capacity to deliver viable rural and agricultural activities along with their contribution to rural character. Intensive agricultural land uses will be protected from encroachment by sensitive land uses through effective separation buffers. Port infrastructure also enables the efficient export of livestock and agricultural products. Boyne Valley towns lie within the Awoonga Dam catchment. Outside of these townships the catchment area is protected from inappropriate development.

A gateway for tourism

The Gladstone region offers diverse tourism attractions for visitors and residents. Gladstone Marina and the East Shores development are hubs for coastal related tourism and their proximity to the Gladstone CBD supports short term accommodation along Goondoon Street for tourists and business related visitors.

Agnes Water and Seventeen Seventy are internationally renowned tourist destinations for backpackers and other visitors and also a launching pad for access to the southern islands of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The Agnes Water town centre and the Jeffery Court precinct represent the hub for this tourist activity and supports short term accommodation and associated tourist and entertainment uses such as food and drink outlets and bars. Development in the Jeffery Court precinct ensures public access to the beach and foreshore areas which are major tourist attractions for Agnes Water.

The islands of Heron, Quoin and Lady Elliot support integrated resort complexes and facilities as reflected in the Major Tourism zone.  Development provides for low impact and low intensity tourist accommodation servicing the needs of tourists and employees together with limited entertainment, dining and convenience shopping.

The region's rural and coastal townships include the highway towns of Miriam Vale, Benaraby and Mount Larcom. These townships act as gateway towns for motoring tourists and provide for highway related tourist information services, small scale short term accommodation, food and drink outlets, small shops and service stations within the Township zone (rather than in new centres along the highway).

The region's natural places and rural places provide opportunity for small scale tourism uses such as farm stays, B&Bs, cellar doors, tourist parks, eco and recreational tourism taking advantage of the region's State Forests, waterways and Lake Awoonga for recreation and visitor services. This is also reflected in the coastal places of Seventeen Seventy, and to a lesser extent Turkey Beach and Baffle Creek.

A gateway for extractive industry and resource development

Extractive resources occur only in key resource areas in the Extractive resources and minerals overlay and in parts of the Rural zone.

New mining, petroleum and gas proposals have been earmarked in the region including the Boyne Valley. Such land uses must manage their impacts on the natural environment, biodiversity, water catchments, scenic amenity, existing agricultural land uses and on the amenity of the local townships and villages. Recognised mining, petroleum and gas proposals need to be protected from encroachment by inappropriate and sensitive land uses. Similarly, extractive industry development minimises and mitigates impacts on surrounding communities including sensitive uses, the environment and rural and agricultural activities.

In turn, these regional resources and their transport routes are protected from the encroachment of new sensitive land uses to ensure they can operate efficiently and safely.