A former Byron Shire councillor who sat in on internal workshops about Council’s affordable housing development on Station Street, Mullumbimby says the developer was quietly told to make the project as big as possible so that it would be economically viable.
But two new councillors have spoken passionately in favour of the project, saying that its opponents do not understand the housing challenges facing those under 40 in the Shire.
The competing comments were made at last week’s Council meeting where the matter came up for discussion after a petition with nearly 2,500 signatures opposing the project was delivered to councillors.
Byron Council is planning to build a mixed-use affordable housing development involving the construction of 32 affordable rental apartments above ground-floor retail spaces at 57 Station Street, Mullumbimby.
Scores of these opponents packed the chambers last week to call on councillors to find a new location for the project, which they say will cause traffic chaos, negatively affect several businesses, and permanently impact the town’s character and amenity.
But councillors voted unanimously to forge ahead with the plan, asserting that the impacts can be ameliorated, and that affordable housing is desperately needed in the Shire.
This was despite former Greens councillor Duncan Dey revealing some concerning details about the internal planning for the project that took place during the last Council term.
Duncan called on councillors to ‘pull the pin’ on the project and commence a parallel project at a location that had been approved by the community.
‘I sat on the various workshops that took place on this project of which there might have been four or five,’ Cr Dey said.
‘I can remember the sentiment in the room which was to not take this matter to the public.’
‘And I can remember the detailing and the economic arguing, the putting forward of ideas, and I can also remember, that about in the middle of the term, what happened was that the project as it stood was not economically viable.
‘The community housing providers said “we can’t make a project work at that size” and so Council’s solution then was to make the project bigger. In fact, an instruction was given to the developer [Landcom] to simply fit as much accommodation as could be fitted within the four boundaries of the allotment that had been chosen.
‘The community has made it really clear to you that they do not agree with the choice of the site. There are several other sites where this project would be deeply welcomed by this community who care deeply about the future of our society, which includes providing housing for people to continue to live in this area.’
But new Greens Councillor Elia Hauge, and Deputy Mayor Jack Dods – the two youngest members of the Council – said the issues with the project could be addressed and that finding a new site would mean abandoning a project that was desperately needed.
‘To me, to my friends, to an entire generation of people who were raised in this community but cannot afford to call it home, affordable housing isn’t an abstract idea,’ Cr Hauge said.
‘I respect the community’s desire to change the site, but unfortunately the reality is that we don’t have the option to change.
‘People need to understand that. What you’re asking us to do is to withdraw entirely from this project and hope with no guarantee that we can do a different deal with a different design on a different site.
‘Every single councillor at this desk put affordable housing at the very core of our election pitches, and to expect us to withdraw from an affordable housing project would be asking us to go against what all of us promised to our community.’
Cr Hauge said she believed that all the flaws in the design of the project could be addressed.
‘A sewer easement can be provided, rear access for the businesses can be provided, a loading zone can be provided, a traffic solution that keeps Mullum flowing is absolutely possible. We can and have committed to providing pedestrian access.
‘This is what is in front of us, and I couldn’t, in good conscience, move that Council withdraws from a project that will provide tangible benefit to the community in the form of community housing.’
Cr Dods said that the organised opposition to the project, led by the Mullumbimby Residents Association, was based on a lack of understanding of the experience of people under 40 in the Shire.
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