A proposal to build a 26-room seniors hostel in Mullumbimby is back on the table, after being rejected by Byron Shire Council in December 2025.
Owner Mike Norrie has now lodged a review request, backed by legal advice.
Development Application (DA) 10.2025.304.2 is slated for 20 Jubilee Avenue, and proposes two hostel buildings on a 1,135-square-metre R2 residential block. The site sits directly opposite the high school, and is a 450-metre walk from Mullumbimby town centre.
Why Council said no
According to a letter to Council by Norrie’s lawyers, McCartney Young of Ballina, Council refused the DA last year, citing multiple grounds. They include that the application lacked a flood impact assessment and a traffic impact assessment. It also found the DA failed to demonstrate the facility met the legal definition of a ‘hostel’ — which requires shared meals, laundry and cleaning facilities, plus a resident on-site manager.
The owner’s response
Norrie’s lawyers refute the refusal, and say the flood and traffic assessments were provided in response to a Council Request for Further Information on 31 October 2025, weeks before the December refusal.
These documents do not appear on Council’s DA Tracker portal, raising questions about whether they were considered.
On the hostel definition, Norrie’s lawyers argue Council misread the SEPP (Housing) 2021 — which requires ‘meals, laundering, cleaning and other facilities are provided on a shared basis’, not the actual provision of meals.
Along with Norrie’s review of determination, he has also offered Council a Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA), which commits to dedicate a sewer easement (estimated at $154,014), the construction of 120 metres of footpath, and the provision of three public car spaces, all at no cost to Council or ratepayers.
Community housing provider, Social Futures, has written in support. They are in partnership with the landowner for the project. All 26 rooms are proposed as seniors housing. The review is before Council.
A contrast with Kollective DA
The Jubilee Avenue proposal stands in contrast to a separate DA currently on exhibition at 73 New City Road, where developer Kollective is seeking approval for six dwellings on a flood-prone site — with only one designated as affordable housing. The Jubilee Avenue site sits above the Flood Planning Level, complies with all relevant planning controls and seeks no variations.
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