Land at Goonellabah proposed for rezoning to accommodate housing is to be considered at this week’s Lismore City Council meeting but hopes for house relocations from flood areas appear reduced.
Accompanying staff notes to Tuesday’s meeting’s agenda show a ‘reference to enabling house relocations’ has been removed from the Development Control Plan (DCP) for a rezoning proposal for 60 hectares of rural land at 1055 and 1055A Bruxner Highway.
A suggestion for the new estate, proposed to accommodate up to 400 new dwellings, to be called Harmony Estate has also been removed.
The move to remove the reference to enabling house relocations has happened after community consultation, but staff say it’s in response to a lack of action from the NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA).
‘Staff will still work to enable house relocations wherever possible,’ the notes read, ‘this change has been made only because the NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA) have not formally entered any agreements’.
No ‘Harmony Estate’ but a ‘general consensus’ on housing
Staff said two other names were suggested for the estate during community consultation: Rainbow Place and Chrysalis.
But ‘neither of these names, nor Harmony Estate, are preferred,’ staff said.
‘Rather, staff recommend waiting until a suitable name is put forward by the applicant at DA stage.’
Staff said they received 83 unique submissions during the community consultation period, 69 via an online survey on Council’s ‘Your Say’ section of its website and 14 via a standard ‘freeform’ letter or email, excluding duplicates.
Results showed an even split in feelings towards the proposal: 43% were unhappy or very unhappy, another 43% were very happy or happy and 13% of respondents had a neutral feeling towards the proposal.
Staff summed up the results as showing a ‘general consensus and support for residential uses’.
‘There was a mix of both support and concern for affordable/ social housing,’ they noted.
Other requests included resident-led housing or cohousing; requests for the whole site to be used for housing rather than the current proposed mixed-use; and for the residential and industrial zonings to be reversed so that the industrial zone is in the north and the residential in the south.
When asked about minimum lot size, many didn’t mind or know but supported housing and diverse housing and many others wanted bigger blocks due to fear of ‘ghettoes’, staff said.
New ‘high street’ village centre proposed for Goonellabah
The DCP introduces five precincts: general residential at the north end of the site; medium density residential ‘with diverse housing typologies’ but no single detached dwellings; a ‘local centre’; a mixed-use precinct; and an industrial area to the south.
The new local centre is proposed to allow commercial and community uses as well as shop top housing, but no single detached dwellings.
A ‘High Street’ type village centre is proposed with ‘a high-quality public realm’ featuring footpaths and outdoor seating, etc., staff said.
Buildings in the village centre are proposed to have a five-storey limit and to be required to have ‘active street frontages’.
The proposal continues, saying the village centre adjoins a key parcel of public open space that is to be integrated with the Tucki Tucki Creek reserve.
The mixed-use precinct is proposed to allow commercial development as well as shop top housing but no single detached dwellings.
A maximum of four-storeys for buildings is proposed, with any upper levels setback to minimize bulk and scale to the street.
Planning department awaits proposal details
This week’s report includes a staff recommendation for Development Control Plan, Part B Chapter 11, the document outlining details to be added to a rezoning proposal, to be adopted and published on the Lismore City Council website.
The council resolved to support a Planning Proposal for the land to be rezoned in November 2023, finalised in February 2025.
Staff say the final Planning Proposal is now with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI).
‘The Planning Proposal seeks to amend the zoning, height of buildings and minimum lot size controls applicable to the site to enable new residential, mixed use, local centre, public recreation and industrial land uses,’ staff notes read.
‘The Planning Proposal also seeks to introduce a new written clause into the Lismore Local Environmental Plan 2012 (LEP) designating the site as an Urban Release Area.’
When the proposal was first considered, it included four uses for site: R1 General Residential,MU1 Mixed Use, E4 Industrial, and RE1 Public Recreation.
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