The Byron Community Market relocation plans are on exhibition until February 6, which would include closing a section of Jonson Street in the CBD.
Originally held at Butler Street Reserve, the monthly market was temporarily moved to the Byron foreshore in 2019 when work on the Byron Bay bypass started.
Since then, Council say the site has been under a NSW EPA contamination investigation order, ‘which is still active’.
According to the DA’s Statement of Heritage Impact Assessment, ‘The market proposal is for a 300 market stall capacity, including up to 40 stalls serviced with water and power’.
‘The serviced markets stalls [is proposed to be] located around the Railway Park and the Butler Street walkway. The market is proposed to be held monthly with opportunities for additional markets in December and January. The proposal includes the temporary closure of Jonson Street between Marvell and Byron Streets in association with the market and opportunity for live music and entertainment for the market event’.
The cost estimate for the DA is $73,000; $68,000 of which is ‘professional fees’. The remaining $5,000 is the ‘cost of establishing a market at the site’.
According to the Car Parking Plan within the DA, car-parking is planned in an area leading from the corner of Wordsworth and Somerset Streets, which is to the west of the Butler Street Reserve and adjacent to coastal wetlands.
Council staff told The Echo, ‘Council and market managers will work together to optimise the [car parking] layout once the DA has been assessed and any conditions are known’.
Checks and balances
The DA, put forward by Council, is applying for a DA on land it controls, as well as land owned by Transport NSW.
The Echo asked Council staff what transparency and checks and balances there are when a consent authority such as Council applies for a DA.
They replied, ‘The DA is being assessed and reported on by a private town planning consultant as Council is the applicant’.
The Traffic report says, ‘In summary, the increase of the Byron Community markets to 300 stalls is expected to require 750 car-parking spaces, resulting in no shortfall of parking spaces given the provision of over 1,000 spaces in proximity to the markets either on-street or off-street. In addition to this, the pedestrian network is sufficient surrounding the markets, providing footpaths and zebra crossings for pedestrian safety’.
The DA documentation can be found on Council’s DA tracker – www.byron.nsw.gov.au/DATracker.
The application number is 10.2021.827.
I think the people of Byron are about to understand the meaning of “Those who govern least, govern best.”
The relocation was not voted on by stallholders. It is driven by enthusiasm of a manager ,parachuted from the Western Suburbs of Sydney and happy to lead the market away from the attractive real estate of Butler Street Reserve.
Sky, the move to town is council driven, not market management driven. Butler St Reserve still doesn’t have clearance from the EPA. The reserve also doesn’t suit many stallholders, due to heat, dust and lack of shade.