The owners of a luxury apartment development overlooking Byron’s Main Beach have been granted permission to build above the height limit for the town after taking the matter to the Land and Environment Court (L&EC).
Eade Byron Bay, at 29 Shirley Street, is the first new beachfront residential offering in Byron Bay in nearly a decade and is currently under construction.
Replacing the former Backpackers Inn and two other bungalows, Eade is a collection of 25 luxury boutique apartments set on a 6,000sqm site with approximately 75 metres of beach frontage overlooking the iconic ‘Wreck’ surf break.
Apartments are expected to start at $4.75 million and go up to $12.3 million for those on the top floor.
Having initially been granted approval for the three-storey development in 2022, developers Vitale Group have sought multiple modifications to their plans, including two attempts to increase the building height of the buildings.
The latest modification saw Vitale attempt to increase the maximum height of the buildings to 11.21m, a further extension of the building height which takes it above the limit for this part of Byron. It also sought to increase the size of the rooftop terrace.
With Byron Council not immediately approving the modified plans, the Vitale group took the matter to the L&EC, appealing against the Council’s ‘deemed refusal’ of its application.
Council was subsequently instructed by the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP), which had ultimate carriage of the matter owing to the very high cost of the development, to settle the issue prior to a hearing.
Council dutifully followed this direction and agreed to the modification.
In a judgment following the agreement, L&EC Commissioner Danielle Dickson found that the increase in height did not fundamentally alter the development. In assessing the proposed changes, the commissioner noted that ‘the floor-to-floor height amendments will result in an amendment to the overall height of the building which in the context of this development is minor.’
Commissioner Dickson further concluded that ‘the proposed modifications do not alter critical elements of the original development such to require a new development application’ and emphasised that the changes did not ‘introduce any new uses or increase the density of the development’.
The Commissioner stated that it was ‘satisfied that the modifications are minor and do not introduce any new uses, increase density, or alter the approved land use or intensity of development.’
With construction around one third complete, it is predicted by the developer that the project will be finished some time next year.
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