The Byron Arts & Industry Estate would expand onto the other side of Ewingsdale Road under a new project before Byron Council which is currently on public exhibition.
But the land in question is home to group of frog species that includes the nationally protected wallum sedge frog.
The $4.3m development is slated for 22B Maleluca Drive, a greenfield site opposite the existing industrial estate, and next to the upcoming West Byron development.
If approved by Byron Council, the project would see 74,000 cubic metres of fill trucked in to make the flood-prone land suitable for a 17-lot light industrial hub.
The DA was prepared by Planit Consulting, and its statement of environmental effects says, ‘The new light industrial lots will assist in meeting the strong demand for additional employment land, with the property noted in Council’s Business and Industrial Land Strategy 2020 (BILS), as the only undeveloped appropriately zoned land in Byron Bay’.
The industrial lots on the site would range in size from 1,447m2 to 13,897m2, and would lie adjacent to a new drainage reserve at the south of the property, which would contain a new stormwater basin.
The Biodiversity Development Assessment Report accompanying the development application concluded that avoidance and mitigation measures were such that ‘the development will not have significant impacts on local biodiversity values’.
However, the same report also reveals that the property contains areas of habitat for acid frogs.
Threatened species
According to the University of Queensland, this is a group of ‘highly specialised and threatened species endemic to the acidic coastal wallum wetlands of eastern Australia, that include the Cooloola sedge frog, wallum rocket frog, wallum froglet, and the nationally protected wallum sedge frog’.
More lunacy frig isn’t the wallum debacle enough trucking in fill on a floodplain where’s the water going to go straight down ewingsdale road that’s where shutting the road for days cutting off the hospital from town the sooner state and federal government’s ban building on floodplains the better surely there is other flood free land to build on that doesn’t require fill argh 😭
Where is it gunna stop?
It’s not!
50 years I’ve been here and I am heart broken as to what is happening everywhere…
Too Many People!
But no one will say it!
Yeah I agree Rosco they just don’t care about locals it just money money money materialism at any cost no thought to the future or anything else just build anything anywhere even though nature is angry and keeps biting back with floods and fire and extreme winds a regular occurrence.
Same old same old. Here we are presented with a statement advising of the multiple nationally protected frogs (and no doubt more species) that will be threatened by the extension of the Industrial Estate next to the West Byron Residential Development.
A recent drive through this new Estate, revealed that the majority of the land has been sold for housing. Mega tonnes of ‘fill’ have aided the destruction of an exquisite Wetland that once was considered ‘the lungs of Byron”, also an area that is subjected to flash floods (and tragedies). Human tears flood for the loss of Byron’s bio-diversity . No care do Developers and politicians exhibit to any form of sentient life. No recognition of the CLIMATE CRISIS and the mounting plight for future generations … but ‘the greed spectacle’ posing as ‘housing’ will result in the massive transformation of a zone of Byron be-devilled by devastating and man made dangerous floodplains. Voices of opposition arise please. Councils awaken to your NAIVE decisions agreeing to develop on Floodplains. Let these dangerous delusions rapidly die and show care, support, compassion for sentient beings and Mother Earth. PLEASE.
Byron is being destroyed one piece at a time .
What made Byron special was that it was unique and different to other places like Gold Coast etc.
Now we have a council who just approve EVERY DA that comes across the desk . Go and see what is being built in Banksia Drive next to Simmo’s , I live behind there at it has been a building site for 1.5 years , WHY was the largest building in the Byron allowed to be built right next to a residential area? ALL the stormwater pipes run straight out into the nature reserve , They even cut down a lot of trees that were the only buffer between us and the industrial area. WHAT is council doing about this ? nothing , they don’t care anymore , after all we are only ratepayers ?? how dare we complain !!! The next flood like the Lismore one 2 years ago will be a lot worse for Byron because of all the over development and lack of stormwater infrastructure. THIS TOWN was NEVER designed for so many people . It’s lost its appeal , just become another place like the GOLD COAST , cheap and tacky !! WITH a USELESS council to match !