Frustration was expressed at Monday night’s public meeting, at the failure of the Mullumbimby Hospital site development control plan (DCP) to incorporate the significant and time-consuming community proposals and feedback that had been provided to Byron Shire Council (BSC).
The community had participated in a year-long project reference group and a further two-day workshop to inform BSC of what they wanted to achieve with this valuable, flood-free, community-fought-for, Council-owned land.
‘This DCP reads like a developer’s dream, a prime piece of land, right for private development and for a soft 20 per cent “not so affordable” housing,’ Caroline Bass from the Mullumbimby Hospital Group (MHAG) told the meeting.
‘If accepted, the DCP could result in yet another privately developed, high-cost, low-affordability estate. This would not meet the housing needs of our community.’
Not a ghetto or gated community
Ms Bass highlighted the history of the site, reminding the meeting that not only had this site been managed by the community for 125 years, but that MHAG had had an oral commitment from the former New South Wales Minister for Health, Brad Hazzard to remediate the site with state government money before the site was suddenly thrust into Council’s hands and the local community was landed with the $6 million asbestos remediation bill.
‘For the past ten years, community representatives have worked with Council to design a diverse, vibrant village suited to the site, not a ghetto, but a village housing seniors who wish to sell a family home and remain in their home town. Local families, older, single people, First Nations people, and key workers. A mix of housing to meet the needs of our local community who are shut out of the obscenely inflated housing market.’
Referring to the Mullumbimby Residents Association (MRA) meeting with Council on the DCP, Anando pointed out that the staff repeatedly rejected requests to increase affordable, social, and mixed housing saying, ‘it would hamper efforts to sell the site’.
Expressing the community’s frustration at the response she highlighted former town planner, Ian Pickles’ comment in last week’s Echo that, ‘if just 3,000 square metres of this site was earmarked for public and social housing. That’s only about ten per cent of the developable part of the site, it would enable perhaps over 50 social housing units.’
‘We should be asking for the DCP to be rewritten to reflect what the community needs and deserves to have on its own land,’ she told the meeting.
Councillor Elia Hauge and Mayor Sarah Ndiaye both recognised the need for a greater mix of housing on the site and said they are still working on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Homes NSW and should have further information on this by the end of the month.
However, both councillors made it clear that the community needed to keep supplying feedback to support the position that they want for the site.
Transport
It became clear that a greater need to recognise that the site is in a rural regional location that lacks regular public transport, and that means reliance on cars. This has significant impacts on how the surrounding road network is upgraded with Cr Ndiaye acknowledging that the roads are already overloaded. Including increased parking on the site, however will also reduce the number of dwellings that can be provided.
Other areas raised as concerns were the lack of prescriptive measures, measures that the developer has to meet, in relation to efficient energy use, best practice construction techniques, protection of special vegetation, managing stormwater and maintaining tree canopy.
Make your views count
The call once again went out to the community to come together and get their comments on the DCP to Council by the new deadline, 27 May.
If you want help to understand and respond to the draft DCP contact MRA at [email protected] for more information or contact one of your local councillors.
You can put a direct response to the DCP in at: https://yoursay.byron.nsw.gov.au/dcp-mullum-hospital.
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