Public meeting held to discuss future use
Paul Bibby
A group of locals is fighting to save the old Byron District Hospital site from developers and instead have it placed in community hands.
At a public meeting on August 23 about 50 locals from a range of businesses and community groups indicated their desire to preserve the site for ‘community benefit’ and brainstormed a number of possible ideas for its future use.
These included turning the facility into a dropin-style centre for homeless people, a women’s refuge, a museum or affordable housing.
Present at the meeting was Nationals MLC Ben Franklin, who said that NSW health minister Brad Hazzard had promised that the site would not be sold until the community had been given a chance to pitch its proposal.
‘I don’t know that I can make it happen [saving the site from development] but we have got the first option,’ Mr Franklin told the meeting.
The state government has previously indicated that the 5,000 square metre site would be sold to offset the cost of building the Byron Central Hospital.
And given its proximity to the heart of Byron Bay, the property would be an attractive prospect for developers and would fetch millions on the open market.
Byron Writers Festival founder Chris Hanley chaired the meeting and said, ‘We all know what’s going to happen to it unless we do something.’
Any hopes that, like Mullumbimby Hospital, the site might be sold to the community for a token sum, were quickly dispelled by Mr Franklin.
Estimated at $10m
He estimated the site to be worth around $10m on the open market.
‘Will we be able to get it for a dollar? Absolutely not,’ Mr Franklin said.
‘But I’ll do everything I can to drive the price down and in order to argue that it’s kept for the community.’
Finding the necessary funds to not only purchase but maintain the site was a central theme at the meeting.
Local architect Harley Graham suggested that a commercial component such as a cafe, a co-working space or a residential development could be used to fund a community facility such as a centre for the homeless.
‘It could be somewhere for the homeless community to use during the day to have a shower or to access services,’ Mr Graham said.
‘Or we could rent out the space to health professionals at a subsidised rate so that they could provide some pro bono services.’
He also raised the possibility of selling the site to a developer on the proviso that up to a third of it would be used for affordable housing.
Resident Rory O’Halloran said the site might be suited for use as a women’s refuge.
‘If the ward rooms are still functional with their own bathrooms, then it would make sense to use it as crisis accommodation for women fleeing domestic violence,’ Mr O’Halloran said.
Others suggested that the site could be used for Byron’s first museum, an interpretive centre or an arts hub.
‘That site has a lot of history so I think an interpretive centre or a museum would be perfect,’ said former matron of the Byron District Hospital, Shirley Nelson.
‘The early history of Byron should be retained.’
Byron Shire mayor Simon Richardson said the council would be open to rezoning the site to allow for the community’s plans to go ahead.
‘I wouldn’t see any issues with, perhaps, a mixed-use zoning – it makes perfect sense,’ Cr Richardson said.
However, he said it was unlikely that Council could make a major financial contribution to buying the site for the community.
‘We don’t have a lot of money, so I wouldn’t be counting on Council to stump up,’ he said.
‘The more the community owns it, the more it controls its destiny.’
The meeting heard that while the type of remediation work required at Mullumbimby Hospital site was not needed at the site, significant work was still required.
Tradies to pitch in
Local builder Todd Knaus said his crew would be willing to pitch in to help fix up the site and he believed other local tradies would do likewise.
‘I think the local tradies would definitely chip in,’ Mr Knaus said.
Many of those at the meeting agreed to help with the campaign with an eye to having a proposal ready for the minister within the next two months.
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