Nearly 80 permanent residential units would be built within Byron’s Habitat precinct under radically revised plans for the fifth and final stage of the development.
A new development application (DA) for the concluding stage of the precinct was lodged with Byron Shire Council last week, setting out plans for a $57.1 million mixed use development.
It represents a significant departure from the previous DA for this part of the precinct which was approved in 2020.
That plan had envisaged a mixed-use commercial, retail and tourist accommodation development, featuring 94 short-stay hotel units, a large wellness centre and a restaurant.
78 apartments
While the new DA still contains retail and commercial components, the planned hotel units are to be replaced by 78 shop-top permanent housing apartments.
Nearly all of these new units will be so-called ‘live-work’ apartments featuring a single bedroom plus a home office, with the remaining handful being two-bedroom units.
Documents accompanying the new DA state that Habitat’s owners changed their plans for the firth stage because of ‘lessons learnt’ from earlier stages of the development, and ‘suggestions received from various people in the community’.
It was also reportedly a response to changes in government policies, and the ‘urgent need to deliver an increased supply of smaller-sized housing options for Byron Bay and the broader Shire’.
‘Habitat Stage 5 offers 78 apartments designed to accommodate a diverse range of residents, lifestyles, and budgets,’ planning consultants hired by the developer say in the Statement of Environmental Effects (SEE) lodged as part of the DA.
‘The mix of unit types ensures flexibility, accessibility, and variation in size, aspect, and price point.’
The apartments will be designed to ‘support remote work and small-scale enterprise’ which are said to be ‘critical elements of Byron’s shifting employment base’.
150 parking spaces
The new apartments would be located above a ground floor featuring around 150 parking spaces accessed from Gallagher Street, 849-square metres of commercial premises, a pocket park at the eastern end of Penny Lane, and a swimming pool.
‘The commercial premises are deliberately designed to foster opportunities in the internet economy,’ the SEE says.
‘The units are intended to be for businesses that largely market on the internet but also need showroom-style street exposure.’
Height, floor space
While the fifth stage of Habitat will reportedly have the same high level of sustainability featured as earlier phases of the precinct, the developers are nevertheless proposing to exceed both the height and floor space ratio limits for this part of the Shire.
The proposal exceeds the 9m height control specified in local planning rules, but that exceedance is generally consistent with that approved for the previous DA according to the developer.
The proposed floor space ratio (FSR) of 0.92:1 exceeds planning rules by 2.2 per cent, though this is said to be almost identical to the FSR approved in relation to the previous DA.
The development will include around 150 parking spaces and is estimated to generate around 530 additional traffic movements per day.
But it was determined by traffic consultants hired by the developer that this would make a ‘minimal contribution to traffic volumes’ on Ewingsdale Road.
Construction would be carried out during standard daytime construction hours, namely, Monday to Friday 7am to 6pm; Saturday 8am to 1pm and with no work taking place on Sundays or public holidays.
It is anticipated that construction will take around 12–18 months, with the most acute impact felt by the commercial terraces and Easy Street living apartments.
NRPP decision
Given the large size and cost of the proposed fifth stage, the consent authority for the development will be the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) rather than Byron Council.
However, the NRPP’s decision will be informed by an assessment prepared by Council.
For more information on the DA go to Byron Council’s DA tracker and search for DA 156 under the year 2025.
The proposal is also expected to go on public exhibition in the coming weeks.
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