Mullum hospital plans adopted

Plans to turn the former Mullumbimby Hospital site into a housing and community development with up to 100 homes have taken a significant step forward, with Byron Council endorsing a broad-brush rezoning proposal for the site last week.

Six years after Council was effectively given the land by the state government after the hospital closed, councillors unanimously voted to move forward with a planning proposal that would see it rezoned from SP2 infrastructure to General Residential.

This rezoning would also see the maximum building height limit for the site increased from nine to 11.5 metres. The rezoning will facilitate a future residential and community development that is likely to include medium density housing options, such as units and townhouses, along with other community facilities.

The planning proposal will now go to the state government for final sign-off, paving the way for the more detailed development application process to begin.

While councillors unanimously voted in favour of the proposal last week, it has been far from uncontroversial.

Community submissions in relation to the project, published in last week’s Council meeting agenda, show that locals are concerned about a range of issues, including the fact that the site is likely to be sold to a private developer to facilitate the construction of houses.

Council says this is the only way to ensure that badly needed housing for the community is actually built, and has promised that a significant proportion of the homes will be genuinely affordable.

It has already spent around $6 million on remediating the asbestos-ridden site, and lacks the tens of millions of dollars required to build and run a community housing project. 

‘I think public ownership [of this site] is a red herring,’ Mayor Michael Lyon (Independent) said. ‘If it’s simply going to lead to inertia in actually putting housing there, then I don’t support it. 

‘I’m not afraid of working with the private sector. I will accept less than 100 per cent affordable housing, if it means we will actually get affordable housing on that site.’

But Dale Emerson, from the Mullumbimby Residents Association, said the plan equated to ‘selling off the jewels of Mullumbimby’.

Transfer from public to private wealth?

‘We want the land kept in community hands,’ Mr Emerson said. ‘Let the community take its power back.’

Mr Emerson said that he believed ratepayers across the Shire would be willing to foot the bill to ensure the land stayed in public hands.

‘Let’s ask them: “how many years are you willing to put an extra $100 on your rates bill to keep ownership of this land?”’ he said. ‘I’ll get my wallet out right now.’

In addition to endorsing the planning proposal, councillors signalled their intention to make the needs of the community the key consideration when making decisions about future housing on the site.

This included ‘maximising affordable housing outcomes’ and inviting the state and federal government to facilitate social, public, and affordable housing on the site.

Responding to concerns that there would be no social or public housing on the site, Cr Lyon said Council supported these types of housing, but was neither responsible, nor financially equipped, for such endeavours.

Cr Lyon also sought to allay concerns around traffic and infrastructure pressures, saying that any development on the site would be accompanied by significant infrastructure upgrades.