Mullum Masterplan draws flak

Aslan Shand

The draft Mullumbimby Masterplan (MMP) has just been released and community members have already raised concerns. While there is much to applaud in the plan, there are questions about flooding and the plan’s guidance group.

Concerns over affordable housing in Byron Shire have driven much of the Mullumbimby Masterplan’s aims. It looks at extending residential zoning to the south of Mullumbimby and has incorporated significant elements from the current Draft Residential Strategy (DRS).

However, according to Dr Sonia Laverty of the Mullumbimby Residents Group (MRG), ‘The Mullumbimby Masterplan is certainly not an agreed document by the participants of the MMP group.’

MMP member Len Bates said, ‘When the masterplan group was reconvened after an 18-month hiatus, there were only around five community members from the original 17 on-board. They should have ensured that they re-engaged a wider range of community members.’

MMP chair Cr Basil Cameron disagrees, saying that ‘the group remained representative, especially considering that a different set of members attended each of these final meetings.’

Time to ride

The MMP looks at creating a town that is walking- and bike-friendly by reducing traffic going down Burringbar Street, the main street of the town. A walking and cycling bridge over the Brunswick River to access Tallowood Estate, and a green spine down Stuart Street, from the Brunswick River at one end and the community gardens at the other, are proposed.

Mixed housing needed

According to locals Malcolm Price and David Brown, both architects and members of the MMP group; the expansion of the town is important because of the need for affordable housing in the region. They believe the lack of affordable, secure housing is warping the nature of the local community and economy.

The developments around Pine Avenue and Tallowood Estate have provided additional housing over the last 30 years but this hasn’t kept house prices down.

They believe that the main reason for the lack of secure permanent housing is the lack of strategic planning over the past 20 years.

‘We haven’t created suitable supply of appropriate types of housing, particularly smaller dwellings, apartments or secure forms of housing.

‘We need a diverse mix of housing that is affordable for a range of ages and to meet future needs; we need the courage and will to create local solutions,’ they explain.

Lot 22

Council has included the contentious Lot 22 in both the MMP and DRS as an area for residential development, a move Messrs Price and Brown support.

They believe that with rigorous environmental study and community consultation, the relatively flood-free highest four-hectare area of Lot 22 can be developed as a model not-for-profit, environmentally sensitive, affordable housing village. With, on average, 500-700mm of fill they say it would be higher and likely safer than all existing adjacent housing.

‘Potentially the remainder of the site could be regenerated to original melaleuca forest or recreation uses,’ said Mr Price.

Flood prone

Both the MMP and DRS identify large areas for re-zoning as housing development that include land which has significant flooding issues. The problem is that the large scale re-zoning for housing that includes these flood-affected areas leaves the sites open for filling and development, rather than the idea of regeneration, as suggested by Mr Price. If this is the outcome, it will have serious impacts on the surrounding areas – particularly as climate change exacerbates the impacts of flooding.

The key to this level of fine-grain planning is understanding the flood risks that are currently being examined in two flood studies being undertaken for Mullumbimby and the north of the shire.

For this reason the MRG has proposed that Lot 22 is ‘withdrawn as a “potential development area”’ from the MMP and DRS.

They say that the report submitted to Council by the SES on Lot 22 in November 2018 supports their position, as the SES identify the site as being ‘unsafe for people to remain during a flood, as the site will be inundated with flood water posing problems for evacuation’ as the access routes will be cut off.

Moving Mullumbimby

The Mullumbimby Settlement Strategy 2003 recognises that ‘analysis has shown that the expansion of Mullumbimby is physically limited’. The question then becomes; should Mullumbimby be expanded? Or should it be reduced – and other areas that are off the floodplain be developed; including Federal, Saddle Road and Ewingsdale, as potential key towns.

According to the submission by local resident Karl Allen on the DRS, ‘the rural land strategy… identifies large parcels of land along the South-West of Left Bank Road [that] would be a preferred option’ for subdivision and future growth that ‘are not majorly affected by flooding’.

‘We are not opposed to development,’ said Ms Laverty. ‘But why would you want to put the most vulnerable people in a flood zone?

‘In some areas where they are proposing to zone for residential housing there was flooding up to three metres deep. Perhaps we need to develop other areas, like Federal, as the new Mullumbimby? Like Ballina Shire we should be looking at all future development being above the floodplain.

‘At the moment, until we investigate further and have the North Byron Shire Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan, and the South Mullumbimby Accessible Housing Area Study completed, with community feedback incorporated, acceptance of the DRS should be delayed, and Lot 22 removed from the MMP.’

Your thoughts

What do you think the solutions are? Read the draft MMP plan at https://bit.ly/2BnFLFP. People can make submissions by going to www.yoursaybyronshire.com.au or via [email protected].