Paul Bibby
How will Byron’s elected councillors respond to the largest community petition they have received this year?
This is the question facing our elected officials at this week’s Council meeting as they consider a petition personally signed by 2,411 locals opposing the construction of an affordable housing development in the centre of Mullumbimby.
The ink-on-paper petition, organised by the Mullumbimby Residents Association, calls for Council to abandon the public carpark at 57 Station Street as the chosen location for its housing project.
‘We, the undersigned, respectfully petition the Mayor and Councillors or Byron Shire Shire Council to relocate the above proposal to an alternative more suitable site for affordable housing within Mullumbimby.’
So far councillors of all political persuasions have maintained a united front in support of the project, with most electing not to comment publicly.
However, Council guidelines state that when a compliant petition with more 1,000 signatories comes before Council, councillors are required to ‘consider initiating community engagement on the topic’.
The question of whether they will do so may well be answered at this Thursday’s Council meeting.
In a report to councillors in this week’s agenda Council’s Director of Corporate and Community Services has recommended to councillors that, despite the very large number of signatures, they should not engage in any further community engagement on the topic.
The director said that the project had followed ‘a transparent and accountable decision-making process’.
‘Clear statutory processes for community input are in place, including public consultation during the development application stage,’ the senior staff member said.
Project delay
The director also said that initiating a separate engagement process at this point could ‘delay progress’ of the project.
‘The project is entering critical delivery phases, including planning approvals and contractual arrangements.’
‘Additional consultation could delay progress, reduce certainty for partners, and potentially jeopardise funding or delivery timelines.’
The 57 Station Street development has been a source of contention in the Shire for much of the past three years.
‘Yes, progress on this project should be delayed or even halted until the community has had a chance to be heard,’ said an MRA spokesperson.
‘There is a proper process for consultation documented in Council’s own Community Participation Plan, but that process was not followed in this case.
Locals say the DA is on wrong site
‘A survey of 653 households in Mullumbimby showed that 91.4 per cent were against the development. Yet Council is still determined to go ahead with it. Peter Brennan will be bringing that survey to Council’s attention at the same meeting.
‘Please come to the Council meeting this Thursday, 25 September at 3pm to support Michael Williamson who will try to get councillors to take the petition seriously.
‘Let’s hope a large show of faces, preferably holding signs, e.g. “The Wrong Carpark”, will help councillors understand that this is not a matter to be shoved under the “noted” rug.’
Having originally been conceived of as a modest set of second-storey units that would have limited impact on the Council-owned carpark below, the project has morphed into a mixed-use affordable housing development involving the construction of 32 affordable rental apartments above ground-floor retail spaces.
Council’s original vision of maintaining ownership of the site was quietly abandoned when its attempts to find a Community Housing Provider (CHP) willing to lease the site received no interest.
It will now try to hand over freehold title for the site to a CHP, though as yet none have put up their hands to take on the significant risk associated with a project that is almost universally opposed by the local community.
The consent authority for the project is the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP).
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