Byron Council has published its draft plans for a 29-unit development it hopes to build above a car park in central Mullumbimby.
It’s the community’s first glimpse of the Shire’s first car park housing development – an attempt to build ‘affordable housing’ above Council-owned car parks.
Located next to the Hooper’s restaurant (formerly known as Diner 55 and La Familia) at 57 Station Street, the proposed three-storey development would involve a mix of studios, and one and two-bedroom units built above existing parking spaces.
It is intended to provide affordable, long-term housing for low-to-middle income earners and to remain an affordable housing project in perpetuity.
The matter is coming before this week’s Byron Council planning meeting, where councillors will decide whether or not to sign a preliminary ‘Terms Sheet of Agreement’ with State-owned development corporation, Landcom.
The purpose of the agreement is to give Council and Landcom six months to develop and agree on a concept design for the development, confirm a community housing provider to develop and manage the project, and to investigate options for funding.
The agreement is non-binding, but would be a significant step forward in turning the project from a blueprint to bricks and mortar.
The intention is to enter binding contracts at the end of the six-month term, subject only to development consent being granted.
The Council staff report, contained in the agenda to this week’s meeting, states that the Station Street site is ‘the most suitable’ of the car park sites under discussion because of its size, central location, and the fact that it already has an appropriate zoning.
Parking loss
However, a number of questions remain in relation to the plan, including the likely loss of parking that would result.
According to the staff report, it is intended that the ground floor would provide car spaces with a ‘dual purpose of being available to the community during the day and the tenants at night’.
Yet it seems highly unlikely that all tenants would move their cars during the day, unless this was made a condition of their leases.
When taken in combination with the loss of parking spaces that will occur as a result of the new structure, it seems likely that the site would only provide a fraction of the current 40-odd spaces.
In an effort to address this, Council planners are looking at creating a new car park, possibly using rail corridor land near the Council chambers.
‘This is to ensure that a project such as this does not decrease the current number of available car parking spaces for community use that generally exist on public and private land across the whole of the town centre area,’ the staff report states.
The report also goes into some of the nuts and bolts of how the project would actually be delivered and managed.
Planners envisage that Council would contribute the land only, with no additional burden on its coffers, and that it would retain ownership of the land.
Funding for construction would come externally and be accessed with the assistance of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation.
In terms of the contractual structure of the plan Council and Landcom are considering three possibilities – a lease model, a sale and lease back model, and a stratum subdivision model.
There is an evident desire to get the project up and running quickly.
‘We would act in good faith and use reasonable endeavours to finalise a design structure, obtain approvals, secure finance and enter into transaction documents within six-months,’ the Council report states.
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