Don Page’s announcement that the NSW government is going to contribute $10.5 million towards the bypass puts a new perspective on developer donations.
Early this year (Echo 28 January) Don Page was saying he would not support West Byron ‘unless the Byron bypass has been constructed’. At that time the developers said they would make voluntary contributions of $7,000 per lot under a voluntary planning agreement ‘specifically earmarked for the bypass’.
So how is it that they are now paying nothing and NSW taxpayers are covering their $7.7 million ‘voluntary contribution’? Is this our donation to the West Byron developers?
It is important to recognise that, if they proceed, the combination of West Byron and the Ewingsdale ‘seniors’ development and shopping centre will roughly double the current weekday volume of traffic on Ewingsdale Road.
Byron Council’s 2009 traffic study found that, on a weekday, only 7-14% of the traffic using Ewingsdale Road was through traffic that would use a bypass, with even less during peak periods when traffic is worse.
So no matter how much we donate to the developers, the bypass won’t solve anything if we keep on developing along Ewingsdale Road.
Dailan Pugh, Byron Bay
Hi Dailan, It seems to me that the NSW Government recognises that a resolution to Byron’s traffic problems is needed now. It needs to be funded now & we can’t wait for a subdivision, opposed by residents, that may or may not happen. Should west Byron ever come to pass then we need to make sure that the developers contribute the promised $7,000 per lot to ensure traffic runs smoothly. The impact of increased traffic is part of planning a new estate. If the proposed bypass only supports current traffic conditions then West Byron is still not feasible.
Hi Dailan, I agree that very little traffic will use the bypass. I’m not sure its as low as 7-14%, but even if its as high as 30% the bypass plan designed by Council will not solve the problem.
On a busy summers day most of the traffic will still head into town and the beaches, it will still hit the bottleneck at Jonson & Lawson, it will still bank back past the police station roundabout, up Shirley St and all the way back to Ozigo on a bad day. You can’t use the bypass if you are still 300m from the pine trees and stuck behind 500 cars that want to go into town.
I don’t know what’s going on with developer contributions. West Byron certainly won’t help Byron’s traffic problems, but the main driver of traffic is tourism and its not going to get any better. We need to do something, so lets make damn sure Council builds something that works, because at the moment we are on track for a $10M white elephant.