A development application (DA) by Byron Shire Council to subdivide two lots from the southern end of its Mullumbimby office/car parks along the rail corridor is on public exhibition.
Council staff say, within the DA, they are the consent authority for their own DA.
They say, ‘By maintaining existing land uses, improving land tenure certainty, and avoiding significant environmental impacts, the proposal is considered to be in the public interest and is suitable for approval by the consent authority’.
While one lot is ‘to create a lot which can be purchased by the Mullumbimby Community Pre-school’, details around why the second lot needs to be subdivided comes without further explanation, or what its purpose is.
According to the DA’s statement of environmental effects (SEE), the second lot, located adjacent to the preschool, is ‘to create a lot that can be leased to Transport Asset Holdings Entity of NSW (TAHE) to formalise their access to the adjoining rail land’.
On page 22 it reads, ‘The creation of the new proposed lot 3 will allow the formalisation of existing access arrangements to the adjoining rail corridor’.
It is unclear if this relates to Council and TAHE negotiations around Council turning the nearby open space at the rail corridor into a carpark.
The subject site is mapped as flood-prone land, says the SEE.
It reads, ‘A flood report has been prepared to support this application’.
‘It shows that the site is predominantly flood-free during a one per cent annual exceedance probability (AEP) event, with fringe areas inundated but rated as low hazard.’
Council staff told The Echo they will respond to questions next week.
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