This DA was approved today (Friday, 27 June, 2025) by the NRPP with conditions.
Original story:
An online hearing last week by consent authority, the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP), heard that multiple issues remained around a large greenfield proposal near the busy intersection of Mullumbimby Road and McAuleys Lane, located halfway between Mullum and Uncle Toms.
Yet remarkably, one of the developers behind the project, John Callanan, stood by the development application (DA) at the meeting’s conclusion, despite hearing about a plethora of unanswered questions and bungled processes.
The other proponent behind the 39 large exclusive lot community title subdivision is Tim Mundy, and the lead designer at the time of DA lodgement was Jack Dods, who later was elected to Byron Shire Council.
The panel heard on June 18 that apart from immediate neighbours not being consulted by Cr Dods, others were also not given an opportunity to respond to the proposal.
Image from www.millnerproperty.com.au
Cr Dods previously told The Echo he had consulted with the landowners at adjoining property, Mevlana.
Councillors recently adopted a controversial planning proposal for the project, after a secret 45-minute meeting with staff. It provides DA 10.2023.454.1 a pathway to approval and gives Council the option to compulsorily acquire land from landowners at the corner of Mullumbimby Road and McAuleys Lane.
While Council staff claim it is also needed for safety, the neighbours say they were approached by staff on behalf of the developers, and were only told that the land was needed for the DA’s consent.
The planning proposal vote split the Greens councillors, with Mayor Sarah Ndiaye siding with an adopted amendment by Cr David Warth, which was based on staff advice.
Her Green colleagues voted against, with Cr Elia Hague saying, ‘neither the planning or legal staff were able to identify any precedent in NSW where a planning agreement has required a council to acquire land for a third party’.
Neighbours have told The Echo the planning proposal provides an advantage for the wealthy developers and a disadvantage to the couple who own the corner of Mullumbimby Road and McAuleys Lane.
The NRPP meeting
During the online NRPP meeting, one resident explained to the panelists and chair that they ‘wanted the best possible development for the community’.
‘We have provided eight peer reviews around all aspects of this DA. We want this fact-based and compliance-driven. We have wastewater concerns – our latest peer review raises questions around the staff report which failed to demonstrate compliance’.
It emerged that a bore near the adjoining property boundary poses an obstacle for the DA’s approval.
Another resident told the panel their property overlooks the proposal, and the DA came without a visual impact statement.
Larger in scale
‘There’s a potential for a loss of property value, and privacy,’ they said.
‘It is larger in scale and density than the surrounding rural setting’.
At the end of all the speeches against his proposal, Callanan said of all the developments he has been a part of, in his 45-plus years as a developer, this was one of the best.
‘There’s more than 16 ha of land dedicated to environmental buffers… We plan to plant 6,000 rainforest trees’, he added.
Former mayor, Simon Richardson, who mentored previous mayor Michael Lyon and current mayor, Sarah Ndiaye, was a NRRP panelist at the meeting.
He oversaw the land’s inclusion in the rural land use strategy while he was mayor.
The NRPP panel’s chair, Di Leeson, said they would determine the DA within the week.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
