How will Byron Shire fit more than 5,300 new dwellings?

A housing strategy heralding a profound shift in the built environment and character of the Byron Shire has been approved by Byron Shire Council.

After years of planning and debate, councillors voted last Thursday to endorse the Byron Shire Residential Land Strategy 2041, a plan that proposes the construction of more than 5,300 new dwellings across the Shire.

Driven by a combination of demands from the state government, population growth, and Byron Council’s response to the local housing crisis, the strategy paves the way for multiple, large housing developments and a Shire-wide practice of infill development and increased density.

Residential Land Strategy 2041

17 new land release areas were adopted for rezoning by councillors last week 

Flood-prone land included, yet contentious parts of Mullum’s east removed

Includes infill development and increased density

Broad 11.5m height limit across release areas, which were proposed by planning staff, were removed by councillors

New suburb at Saddle Rd

The area of semi-rural land at The Saddle Road, Brunswick Heads would be completely transformed under the strategy, becoming home to as many as 1,500 new dwellings.

Mullumbimby would have more than 1,200 new homes, many of which will come from new land releases on the town’s fringes, and the Byron Bay/Sunrise area will host an additional 1,100 houses.

There are also significant new release areas in Suffolk Park, Bangalow, Brunswick Heads, and the Ocean Shores/New Brighton/South Golden Beach area.

In total, there are 17 new housing release areas contained in the strategy, paving the way for a series of large housing developments with the potential to transform parts of the Shire. 

Another key element of the strategy is increased housing density in existing residential areas, with Council now likely to amend local planning rules to facilitate higher density development in both low-and medium-density areas. 

For example, the residential strategy specifically states that the minimum lot size for all low-rise medium-density housing ‘may decrease from 800m² to 600m² in suitable areas’.

This reduction, should it be introduced, would significantly change the character of existing residential areas over the next 25 years.

Mayor Michael Lyon said that these and the other measures in the strategy were necessary ‘to house our people’, pointing to the hundreds of locals sleeping rough, and many thousands more living in cars or temporary accommodation.

‘We’re going to have to get smarter, we’re going to have to live in smaller spaces – that’s our future,’ Cr Lyon said. 

‘We’ve had a bit of a heyday over the last few decades, which I think is coming to an end. I think it’s going to be a more constrained future and we’re going to have to do more with less’.

‘We need to balance that with maintaining the character and liveability of our area… creating as much amenity as we can.’

Housing crisis!

As evidence for his argument that the residential strategy would help to address the Shire’s housing crisis, Cr Lyon pointed to the fact that 20 per cent of the land in the new release areas would be used for affordable housing under the Shire’s Affordable Housing Contribution Scheme. 

However, not everyone was convinced. 

Despite ultimately voting to endorse the strategy, Independent councillor Cate Coorey delivered a scathing critique of the claim that it would create more affordable housing.

‘We’re catering to the fact that everyone wants to come and live here, but what are we going to end up with?’ Cr Coorey said.

‘We’re going to end up with houses that are never going to be less than a million dollars. 

‘They are never going to be affordable to the kind of people that we need here, which is the service workers and the teachers and the nurses. 

‘We’re probably going to end up being upscale neighbourhoods with dormitory suburbs in Ballina and Tweed.’

Some of the land rezonings to be considered by the state govt:

Area 21 – 64 Corkwood Road, Suffolk Park

Area 6 – Mullumbimby – expanded to include the whole of 1982 Coolamon Scenic Drive

Existing emergency pod village locations

Threat to Council 

Hanging over much of the discussion and debate in relation to the residential strategy has been the state government’s threat that Council could lose its local planning powers if it fails to meet certain development targets.

Council must approve 4,522 new homes by 2041, and it must also investigate opportunities for ‘increased housing diversity and density, including multi-unit dwellings’.

However, the residential strategy exceeds this target by a considerable margin.

Cr Lyon said that it was necessary to exceed the target because there was no guarantee that all of the areas earmarked for development would end up with new housing.

This underscores a key point in relation to the strategy, namely, that it does not carry the weight of a planning document setting out specific rules concerning the amount and type of housing to be built in a particular area. 

Rather, it provides a broad-brush picture, setting out areas that planning staff within Council and various state government departments believe are suitable for new housing development.

Most of these sites will still have to go through a rezoning application process before they can be developed.

However, the process of choosing which sites are suitable for housing has been far from uncontroversial.

Questions have been raised in relation to the flood-prone nature of some of the sites, and the impact that development would have on the amenity of surrounding areas.

Flood-prone land included

During the course of last Thursday’s meeting, Greens Cr Duncan Dey attempted to have multiple proposed new release areas removed from the strategy on the grounds that they were flood-prone.

This included the site of the temporary housing pod village in Mullumbimby’s CBD, and land on Coolamon Scenic Drive.

‘We’re putting people in harm’s way in the middle of a floodplain,’ Cr Dey said. ‘I don’t believe that it’s safe.’

Cr Dey was unsuccessful in his attempts to have these areas removed from the strategy. 

However, councillors did vote to remove one of the key land release areas in Mullumbimby from consideration for new housing.

An 8.4-hectare area of land bounded by Ann Street, Prince Street and New City Rd was removed owing to the risk of flooding.

‘Having a look at the topography of it, and how low-lying it is… the limited amount of yield, and taking fill out of the equation and the trauma that residents have faced… I think on the balance of it I want to see that removed,’ Cr Lyon said.

‘We have identified land in other areas that are much less constrained… that are a much more fruitful site for investigation.’

This site was one of four land release areas removed from the strategy at last week’s meeting. 

These included two sizeable lots on Kingsford Drive, Brunswick Heads, a site at 29 Buckleys Road, Tyagarah, and land at 139 Bangalow Road, Byron Bay.

In most of these cases, there were arguments on both sides, with the owners of the properties seeking their inclusion in the strategy, while those living next to or nearby the sites seeking their removal.

11.5m limit removed 

Another significant amendment to the strategy made during last Thursday’s meeting was the removal of references to an 11.5m height limit for each of the 17 new release areas.

This clause drew an angry response from a significant number of residents, because it effectively increased the maximum height limit by 25 per cent compared to most of the rest of the Shire.

It was replaced with a more general designation referring to a housing mix that catered for ‘a range of single, two and three-storey residential types including dwelling houses, dual occupancies and multi-dwelling housing reflecting local housing needs and character’.

Having been approved by Council, the residential strategy will now go to the state government for final sign off, a process which is expected to be completed quickly.