What would Florence Price think?

Most people in Ballina have heard of Florence Wigmore, who later became Florence Price. When she died in 1964, aged 82, she left a large amount of property to Ballina Shire Council, which has since cushioned the council’s finances, and explains why Florence’s name appears all over Ballina. Now there’s a question mark hanging over one of her former properties.

Alan Nicholls lives in St Andrews Village at Florence Price Place. He remembers her as a big benefactor whose father made a fortune running a floating cash store on the Richmond River. Mr Nicholls told The Echo that the land immediately adjoining where he lives was donated to Ballina Council by Florence Price for the sole purpose of building housing for low income people and pensioners.

‘The council went ahead and they built those 14 units and rented them out until about about five years ago,’ he said. ‘Then they put the site up for sale because they didn’t want to be in the rental business anymore.’ He says Crowley Care made the highest bid, of around $3 million.

‘Crowley want to get bigger and better. So they’re going to knock those down and build 26 two story units with a value of around $15 million.’

Demolition

With demolition of the existing units due to start in February, he said the rebuild would include raising the site to meet new flood regulations. ‘It’s going to be a major undertaking.’

Mr Nicholls has been living at Florence Price Place since 2015, and says he and fellow local residents have been blindsided by the process, with no talk of redevelopment of the site when they purchased next door.

He’s made a series of objections to Ballina Council, with the DA being modified as a result, although it was ultimately approved by council staff without being voted on by elected councillors.

Ballina Cr Phil Meehan confirmed to The Echo that the DA was assessed as compliant and approved by staff, noting that Ballina Council ‘is not able to refuse a compliant development application’, saying ‘there was not a lot of public interest generated’.

For Mr Nicholls, ‘The whole thing that’s really upsetting to me is that the council have completely abrogated their ownership of that land. You can still see the fading Ballina Council logo on the sign at the entrance to the village.’

He said that Crowley’s involvement was not obvious from the DA documents, with 26 luxury units likely to be sold for about $800,000 each. ‘That’s hardly low cost housing.’

Against the spirit of Florence Price?

Mr Nicholls says the development is completely against the spirit of what Florence would have wanted.

He’s also concerned about the safety impacts of a massive amount of extra traffic coming into Florence Price Place, particularly during the construction phase, as well as extra rubbish trucks and road damage.

‘One of the things that I put to the Ballina Council is that they’re going to have to install a footpath from the edge of this property to Cherry Street. Otherwise, it’s just going to be absolutely dangerous for people.’

As the neighbour living closest to the site, and suffering from a chest complaint, Mr Nicholls is also worried about dust and dirt from construction. ‘If there’s any asbestos in these buildings, that’s an absolute concern to me.’

Noise is also an issue. ‘The DA approval says they are allowed to work from 7am ’til 5pm, five days a week, and on Saturday from 7am until 1pm o’clock. It’s going to be an absolute nightmare.’

He says it’s a great waste to knock down perfectly good units with a housing crisis in Ballina, noting that six of them were occupied temporarily by flood victims.

Mr Nicholls has a background in the building trade, and says there’s nothing wrong with the 14 existing units.

‘They’re very livable,’ he said. ‘Ideally situated for pensioners and low income workers, or disabled people.’

Crowley responds

Crowley Care has responded to The Echo about Mr Nicholls’ concerns about the future of the Florence Price Retirement Village site, saying the development will result in additional seniors’ housing in the Ballina community with 26 purpose-built apartments.

‘Crowley Care has gone to great lengths to ensure this development for the region’s seniors fully complies with all development conditions relating to any potential noise or disruption on-site. We fully appreciate some development work can be disruptive and we will minimise disruption for everyone as much as possible.

‘Along the way we are working alongside the management team at St Andrews, our neighbours.’

Regarding shadowing, height and seniors housing design regulations, Crowley says their DA as approved by Ballina Council is fully compliant. They say it is ‘unlikely’ that the extra apartments in the street will contribute to measurable road impact.

Regarding pedestrian safety, Crowley says, ‘The installation of a new footpath from the new development to Cherry Street is a key element of the project. It will provide a great community amenity and we are happy to do this.’

Tender process, and low cost accommodation

Crowley Care says it was invited to submit a tender to purchase the Florence Price Villas from Ballina Council in 2009. ‘Crowley was the successful tenderer in this process and purchased the property at a market rate from Ballina Shire Council.

‘Overall and as a Parish entity, Crowley Care offers a range of service and accommodation options, including lower cost accommodation in Ballina for those seniors with less means.

‘We see ourselves as part of the community. We recently utilised these units to provide temporary accommodation to local flood victims in Ballina. It provided these people with security and peace of mind at a difficult time and we were glad to help.’

For neighbour Alan Nicholls, the underlying principle remains. ‘It’s not just me. I’m just saying that the whole concept of the council allowing this development is flawed. When all the talk is of low cost housing, there’s no way that any low income people will be able to afford that.’