A 42-hectare greenfield site in Eureka (development application (10.2022.248.1)) – which includes part of the town’s landscape conservation area – will become a housing development after the project got the green light from Byron Shire Council.
The owner of 16 Whian Rd was granted permission for the development, a 14-dwelling multiple occupancy (MO), at the last Council meeting for 2023, held on December 14.
The development will see dwellings arranged into four clusters, which will be constructed over three stages.
These clusters will be accessed by two new roads running off Federal Drive and Whian Road.
In recommending approval of the project, Council staff conceded that it was ‘likely to change the character of the surrounding rural landscape’.
However, they also noted that the site had been identified in previous strategic planning studies as being suitable for additional rural housing.
Four of the proposed dwelling sites are within the Eureka Village Landscape Conservation Area (EVLCA) and in relatively close proximity to the heritage listed Anglican Church and Rectory on the corner of Federal Drive and Whian Road.
Council officers initially expressed concerns about potential impacts of the proposed development on site’s heritage and landscape values, prompting the submission of a revised layout plan by the developer in August 2023, along with further information in relation to visual impacts, bushfire, and biodiversity issues.
The amended layout plan shifted three of the dwelling sites to the eastern side of the access road and relocated a fourth site into the ‘farm residence cluster’, and is now deemed to be the appropriate for the site.
Vegetation buffer
To address land use conflicts, the proponent will establish a vegetation buffer along the boundary with neighbouring macadamia orchards to filter wind-borne spray droplets emitted during periods of spraying.
Big Scrub restoration
A significant ecological restoration project is also proposed as part of the development, which aims to enhance the remnant Big Scrub rainforest near Whian Road through natural and assisted regeneration.
It is intended that this will eventually create a link corridor with an adjoining rainforest remnant on the property to the north.
What’s a multiple occupancy?
Multiple occupancies are a private, shared living arrangements on large rural land lots. Financial institutions generally do not lend to buy into MOs, so landowners need to buy their dwelling entitlements with cash.
A Community Title (CT) is similar to a MO, and while it is harder to gain DA approval, financial institutions generally do provide loans on CTs.
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