Former Mullum hospital site Q&A

Let’s dig deeper into Byron Shire Council’s plans for turning the former hospital site in Mullumbimby into residential dwellings!

Plans for the rezoning, including supporting infrastructure assessment documents, are now on Byron Shire Council’s website. Public submissions for the planning proposal are open until February 11.

Close to the often-gridlocked intersection of Azalea Street and Jubilee Avenue (near the high school, and opposite the town’s Co-op), Council proposes up to 130 dwellings across a cleared flood-free 4.4 hectare lot. 

Council also proposes to increase the height of buildings allowed on the site from 9 metres to 11.5 metres. 

Negotiations are underway with neighbouring property owners to also increase the height limit allowable on their sites.  

Given the proposal would likely see a transfer of a public asset to private investors, The Echo asked Council staff: ‘Will the land be retained and leased to a developer, or sold to a developer outright?’ 

They replied, ‘No decision regarding a development plan has been made by Council as yet’. 

The Echo also asked, ‘Will this planning proposal be determined by the DPE or planning panel?’ They replied, ‘The minister of planning or delegate is the plan-making authority for finalisation of this planning proposal’.

They say it is unknown whether a subsequent DA will be assessed by the Regional Planning Panel.

Affordable housing?

Council’s Affordable Housing Contributions Scheme (AHCS) would apply to the site, which ensures 20 per cent would be ‘affordable’. 

Yet assurance that it could provide long-term meaningful affordable housing is still unclear, given a 15 year sunset clause applies to the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 (SEPP).

Attempts by Council to turn a busy Mullum Station Street car park at the town’s entrance into 32 ‘affordable housing’ units faced obstacles, after Council was unable to attract a developer. 

In June last year, The Echo reported Council would offer full ownership to a community housing provider in return for an agreement that affordable housing will be built on the site, in perpetuity. 

Council said in their hospital rezoning press release that ‘In the new year, a workshop with Councillors will consider key matters such as land tenure and minimum percentage of housing (affordable/conventional) to inform a financial feasibility plan’.

No traffic upgrades proposed by Council

The transport strategy states on page 37: ‘The proposal would constitute a “moderate” to “high” impact with an increase in car trips of 46–63 trips/h and 32–66 trips/h during the AM and PM peak respectively’. 

It also states on page 28 that, ‘Findings confirm that the road network within the study area currently operates at, or in excess of, its design capacity’. 

While the transport strategy (page 27) says a roundabout at the Co-op is not required for the proposal, it does say that it would ‘assist in future-proofing the road network’. 

Given this, The Echo asked staff, ‘Will Council be proposing to “future-proof” the network with a roundabout, and if not why, given the traffic currently banks up at the location during school drop offs?’ 

Council staff replied, ‘The Transport Strategy determined that the rezoning proposal would not result in significant adverse effects on traffic flows within the vicinity of the site and that impacts can be adequately mitigated’.

According to Council, ‘The cost of the remediation works has been substantial (approximately $4.7 million)’. 

$4.7 million debt

From page 8 of the Site Strategy and Urban Design Protocol – Former Mullumbimby Hospital Site, ‘Project goals noted later in the document relating to cost recovery will need to be a pragmatic consideration for the future planning and development of the site’. 

A community feedback session ‘which fed into an Enquiry by Design’ was held in November 2023. 

Council’s meeting agenda minutes from December 14, 2023 say, ‘This culminated in three design options for the site’. 

All designs proposed more than 150 dwellings for the site, with a mix of community facilities and amenities, mixed-use (commercial and residential) and some open space.