I attended the Byron Council meeting last week where I was astounded to listen to Jason Dunn, Byron property developer and (oh yes, as he has previously mentioned) old boy of Saint Finbarrs Primary School, Byron Bay, deliver his option of using our public road reserve to locate, you guessed it, his car park. Turns out, Jason has worked out the maths and discovered building a two-storey underground car park to service his proposed massive development on the old Byron Mitre-10, Wicked Weasel, and Byron Bay Tyre Repair site will be terribly costly.
It is a much better prospect for Mr Dunn to just build a one-storey underground car park and site the other storey on the public road reserve beside the development, that way, future residents of his development can park their cars there, use our public land to do so, and ‘everyone’, read Jason and his fellow developers of this project, will be happy.
Mr Dunn informed us at the Council meeting that he is in ‘productive discussions’ (whatever that means) with Council regarding this development. How many of our public assets is Byron Shire Council potentially willing to hand over to developers so that these developers can save money? Let’s not forget, Mr Dunn is the developer of the much-criticised ‘Welcome to Byron’ Jonson Lane concrete monolith and the ironically-named ‘Secret Garden’ (no secret and no garden) development also on Jonson Street.
It seems this Council supports the taking of public car parks, for example 57 Station Street Mullumbimby, for development, but wants to also give a public asset (our road reserve) to a developer.
What is really going on behind closed doors at Byron Council? On this developer’s own page 148-158jonsonstreet.com.au it states, ‘there is an existing DA approval on this site for a supermarket, office space, and multi-storey car park, however approval is not being progressed. It was determined that relocating cars underground and using the area primarily for housing provided a better outcome.’
Apparently, the proposal has been declared State Significant Development (SSD) by the Minister for Planning ‘…that the proposal will contribute to well-located housing supply and deliver, (wait for it ) ‘affordable’ housing’!
This is exactly the same affordable housing claim Mr Dunn made regarding his Johnson Lane development. Mr Dunn‘s grand plan of using our public road reserve and effectively privatising it for his own development, if successful, is a master stroke, reminiscent of the worst excesses of the development industry (at the height of its powers) in much maligned Queensland.
Watch for this DA to be advertised to make a submission, or you can apparently make contact with the developer to discuss your concerns etc by going to 148-158jonsonstreet.com.au. Good luck with that.
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. 
