Plans for a new village of up to 550 homes between Brunswick Heads and Mullumbimby are set to take another significant step forward, with Byron councillors being asked to back the Gulgan Village rezoning following months of public consultation.
The proposal, on elevated land around The Saddle Road and Gulgan Road, would ultimately accommodate between 1,000 and 1,400 people in a mix of conventional houses, terraces, apartments, micro-lots and manufactured homes.
Council received 74 public submissions and four agency submissions after the planning proposal and site-specific Development Control Plan were exhibited from June 12 to July 12. Traffic, sewer and water capacity, building height and density, impacts on Brunswick Heads and Mullumbimby, biodiversity and rural character were among the dominant concerns.
Despite those objections, staff are recommending councillors endorse the proposal at their September 17 meeting and send the amended rezoning to the state government for finalisation.
There have been some concessions.
The amount of land proposed for R1 residential zoning has been reduced, while the DCP has been amended to strengthen controls around solar access, ridgeline development, views to the Nightcap Ranges, light pollution, groundwater-dependent ecosystems and landscaping. It will also explicitly state that Gulgan Village residents cannot use The Saddle Road as their primary vehicle access route.
Traffic remains one of the biggest unresolved concerns.
Transport for NSW has required a strategic design for upgrades to the Pacific Highway/Gulgan Road interchange and a mechanism to ensure the developer delivers the necessary road infrastructure. Council’s report says wider traffic and parking impacts on Brunswick Heads and Mullumbimby may be dealt with through future place-planning and transport investigations.
The Department of Education has also advised that a new primary school is likely to be needed if the development proceeds.
Developer Brandon Saul has previously defended the project as a response to Byron Shire’s chronic housing shortage.
‘We really need social housing and housing diversity,’ Mr Saul told The Echo earlier this year.
‘This will not be traditional suburbia; it will be a village with a mix of housing solutions currently not available.’
Affordable housing has been one of the proposal’s headline features, with five per cent of developed residential land to go to Council and a further five per cent promised separately to the Bundjalung of Byron Bay Arakwal Corporation.
One procedural wrinkle remains.
An amended Voluntary Planning Agreement covering affordable housing and major infrastructure is still on public exhibition until September 21, four days after the Council meeting. Staff are therefore recommending councillors endorse it conditionally and give the General Manager authority to execute the deal if no material new issues emerge.
The entire planning proposal must be finalised by October 27 under the state government’s Gateway determination.
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