A contentious proposal to rezone the former Sunnybrand chicken processing site on Ewingsdale Road has been approved by Byron Shire Council, despite concerns about biodiversity, flooding, and traffic.
The 18.6-hectare site at 268 Ewingsdale Road will be partially rezoned to allow industrial development, alongside significant areas of environmental conservation.
The decision marks the latest chapter in a long-running public debate over the future of the site, including concerns about wetlands, koala habitat, and the broader cumulative impacts of development along the Ewingsdale corridor.
Inadequate protections
During the public access section of last week’s Council meeting, former mayor Jan Barham urged councillors to reject the proposal, arguing that it failed to adequately protect high environmental value land.
‘I object to the proposal, primarily on biodiversity issues, but also raise flooding and traffic concerns,’ she said, warning of risks to threatened ecological communities and the site’s role within a recognised koala habitat area.
Those concerns echo issues raised during the exhibition period, where submissions questioned the extent of industrial zoning within mapped coastal wetlands and the potential impacts of significant fill on a flood-prone site.
But supporters on Council argued the proposal strikes a necessary balance between environmental protection and economic need.
Deputy Mayor Jack Dods said the site was already functioning as a ‘de facto’ industrial precinct, with a mix of commercial and light industrial uses operating on the former poultry facility.
‘We have a really desperate need for more employment lands,’ Cr Dods said, describing the proposal as a logical extension of the existing Ewingsdale Road industrial area.
Four lanes for Ewingsdale Road?
He also pointed to infrastructure benefits, including a developer-funded upgrade of the Cavanbah Centre roundabout, aimed at easing pressure on one of Byron’s most congested corridors.
Traffic has been a central flashpoint in the debate, with broader concerns raised about the cumulative impact of multiple developments and the possibility of a future four-lane upgrade to Ewingsdale Road – an option critics say has not been the subject of proper community consultation.
Councillor Michael Lyon backed the proposal, arguing it would deliver both economic and environmental gains on a site already heavily modified by past industrial use.
‘I just can’t understand the reluctance… we desperately need more developed industrial land,’ he said.
However, Greens councillor Michelle Lowe, the lone vote against the proposal, said she remained uneasy about the pace and scale of change.
‘I’m deeply concerned with plants and animals… we’re watching the nature of our town change very, very quickly,’ she said, also raising concerns about flood impacts and vegetation decline along Ewingsdale Road.
In response to agency feedback, the proposal was amended to increase environmental protection, including expanding conservation zoning and strengthening safeguards for high-value habitat areas.
Additional measures flagged during the debate included vegetation buffers, potential wildlife connectivity initiatives, and restrictions on domestic animals within the industrial precinct.
Ultimately, councillors voted 5–1 to endorse the rezoning, with the proposal now set to be finalised by the NSW Department of Planning.
While the decision clears a major planning hurdle, the issues raised – particularly around traffic, flooding, and biodiversity – are likely to resurface when the project returns to Council at the development application stage.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
