Housing supply the key to Lismore growth: Dowell

Darren Coyne

With almost 4,000 new dwellings required for the proposed growth of Lismore and its villages, planning is underway to manage the housing supply.

A workshop at the Lismore City Council last night, attended by a majority of councillors and a few members of the public, examined various aspects of the proposed growth management strategy, as well as a new Development Control Plan (DCP) to deal with housing design.

A staff report on the growth plan is expected to go to the November meeting of the council, with public exhibition from 26 November to 30 January.

The Housing DCP will be subject of a forum with developers before a report is prepared for the December meeting, seeking approval to go on public exhibition.

Lismore mayor Jenny Dowell told Echonetdaily that housing supply was the most important issue in managing the planned growth.

Cr Dowell said the council and state government had identified that Lismore had a ‘conservative capacity for an additional 3,805 dwellings’.

‘The state government in the last four months released our growth potential and said we could grow more,’ she said.

‘We had to look at land to met that projection and we’ve got plenty.

‘We also looked at things like open space, parks, the road network, sewers, water and health, and schools,’ she said.

Cr Dowell said areas already identified and approved for development included the North Lismore plateau, land along Pineapple Road, Invercauld Road, and at the bottom of Trinity Drive.

‘These lands already have approval for development and we want developers to get on with it,’ she said.

She conceded however that the North Lismore plateau development proposal was subject to a NSW Land and Environment Court challenge.

‘We are still waiting for the court challenge to be resolved,’ she said.

The workshop heard that land at Monaltrie, past the waste recovery centre, had been identified as ‘second tier’ as it still required development approval.

‘We have also identified land in the villages without encroaching on farmland,’ she said.

‘At Dunoon, for example, you need a buffer of 300 metres between a nut processing shed and housing because of the noise so there are some restrictions where land cannot be used.

‘We want to assure farmers that we want to protect their ability to continue with their farming practices.’

Under the proposed DCP, dwellings would be built with water and energy efficient designs.

As well, the workshop examined various other housing options such as shop-top apartments in the central business district, and granny flats.

Cr Dowell said the council had a financial reserve to provide rebates for people who buy land and build a house who qualify for affordable housing assistance.