A large over‑50s ‘resort‑style’ seniors housing estate on ecologically sensitive, flood‑prone land at West Ballina has been approved by the NSW Land & Environment court (L&EC).
The original proposal by GemLife was for a seniors housing community of 148 independent living units plus a manager’s residence, community facilities, infrastructure and services on land at 550–578 River Street near Burns Point Ferry Road in West Ballina.
The site includes wetlands and endangered ecological communities and has significant flood-risk, which has been central to opposition from residents, Ballina Council and experts.
On 13 February, the L&E court handed down its order in the case GTH Resorts No 10 Pty Ltd v Ballina Shire Council [2026] NSWLEC 1054.
Commissioner J Gray approved GemLife’s revised seniors housing DA, overturning Council’s refusal.
The Court accepted the applicant’s hydraulic modeling over Council’s objections, finding revised earthworks, drainage, and minimum floor levels ensured no unacceptable flood impacts on the site, Emigrant Creek, or adjacent properties under Ballina Local Environment Plan (LEP) 2012.
Biodiversity credits
Residual impacts on wetlands and endangered ecological communities were deemed adequately offset via certified biodiversity credits and on-site mitigation, satisfying Biodiversity Conservation Act requirements and prior refusal grounds from 2021.
Additionally the scaled-down 110-unit proposal (on 10ha of the 57ha site, with 47ha conserved) aligned with SEPP (Housing) 2021 seniors housing objectives, addressed regional housing needs, and provided public benefits outweighing constraints; other concerns (groundwater, bushfire, mosquitoes, odours) lacked merit for refusal.
History of the development push
- GTH Resorts (trading as GemLife) lodged a development application in June 2020 for a land‑lease seniors resort, reported at about a 148–unit scale in later iterations and around a $74 million project value.
- In September 2020 the developer lodged a ‘deemed refusal’ appeal in the NSW Land and Environment Court (L&EC) after Council did not determine the DA within the statutory period.
- In November 2021 the L&EC refused the development application, finding the land was ecologically sensitive and raising concerns about impacts on the freshwater wetland and flood‑related issues.
- Ballina Shire Council subsequently moved to rezone the land from its former medium‑density residential setting to C2 Environmental Conservation, and the NSW planning department approved this rezoning request in late 2023.
- Despite the earlier refusal and conservation rezoning push, GemLife has continued to lodge or pursue modified and new proposals, including a DA for 148 units assessed by the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP).
- According to Ballina Cr Keri Dicker, The NRPP unanimously refused a modified DA in late 2023, but before that formal refusal GemLife had already commenced new ‘deemed refusal’ proceedings in the L&EC, seeking to rely on the older zoning framework rather than the newer conservation controls.
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