THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 30 #47 Wednesday, May 4, 2016
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Surprise! No-one Future rural planning Coral bleached expects the Council is on steroids, Dailan at Julian Rocks inquisition! – p5 Pugh – p15 – p14
PAGES 23 -27 Online in
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45 drivers nabbed for drugs at MardiGrass www.echo.net.au/45-drivers-nabbedfor-drugs-at-mardigrass/
In dangerous, poetic waters Seniors/commercial precinct rejected Hans Lovejoy
Poets Ahna De Vena and Laura Jan Shore celebrate the upcoming launch of Always The River, Poetry About Change, the thirteeth book by Dangerously Poetic. It’s happening Friday May 13 from 7 till 9pm at Brunswick Heads Primary School Hall, and the anthology features the work of 19 poets. Also performing will be the two winning poets, Phoebe Lines and Sam Watson, from last year’s Dangerously Poetic competition held at the Byron Writers Festival. Photo Jeff ‘Wet Behind The Ears’ Dawson
Events site to add events, vary noise controls Chris Dobney
North Byron Parklands (NBP), home of Splendour in the Grass and Byron’s Falls Festival, has received permission to vary the noise controls on music events held there. The company has also received permission to run multiple ‘smallscale’ non-music events at the site throughout the year. The Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) has altered the existing sound limits so that lower-end frequencies are more clearly regulated. Local groups including CONOS (Community of North Ocean
Shores) have argued the move would adversely impact on residents, but North Byron Parklands’ GM Mat Morris says it brings the site into line with the vast majority of other music festivals around the country. NBP was fined $3,000 for noise infractions at last year’s Splendour and a similar amount the year before, prompting CONOS to argue that the event be moved. But Mr Morris said at the time that the existing noise limits were ‘unworkable’. The Echo understands the new regime would limit bass noise, which NBP says has the highest impact on neighbours, but
allow more leniency at the middle and high end of the spectrum.
Five small events at first, possibly ten A NBP spokesperson said in relation to the small, non-music-focused community events, ‘Parklands is now allowed to host up to five in the first year.’ ‘Subject to satisfactory performance, we will be allowed to host ten small, non-music-focused community events the following year. These small events are all at a capacity of 1,500 people maximum.’
A shift by one vote by the ruling National Party-aligned Council voting bloc has resulted in a massive proposal for seniors housing, medical centre, retail and restaurant developments being rejected. The outcome from Council’s Thursday meeting will now see the proposal, which was earmarked to envelop the new hospital on Ewingsdale Road, sent to Sydney to be determined by the planning minister. A bid by Cr Di Woods to give Sydney-based Belbeck developers everything they were asking for failed to gain the support of Cr Sol Ibrahim, and her motion was only supported by herself and Crs Alan Hunter, Rose Wanchap and Chris Cubis. Cr Woods’s motion retained the 3,000m2 floor area for commercial uses, which was against staff recommendation. It also amended the local environment plan (LEP) to the developer’s satisfaction and would have put the development control plan (DCP) before the public after staff input. But a foreshadowed motion by Cr Basil Cameron was successful, and detailed the issues that have plagued the development from the start. Those issues include the ‘location of commercial areas, site access/egress, and the necessity for the construction of a major roundabout, in order to manage overall traffic impacts.’ Overarching planning was also an issue, as the proposal has not been ‘identified in an approved Local Growth Management Strategy, the
Far North Coast Regional Strategy or Draft North Coast Regional Plan.’ Remarkably the developer had expanded upon their original plan. Cr Cameron’s motion said that those ‘significant changes’ include a ‘visitor accommodation precinct and an additional commercial area. These have not been exhibited.’
Significant changes ‘These changes intensify the impact of the development well beyond the original proposal as put to Council.’ Other issues raised included the overwhelming opposition by neighbours owing to traffic and amenity impacts. During morning public access, Ewingsdale Progress Association president Colin McJannett called for councillors to reject the proposal. ‘No-one in the community is trying to deprive anyone of aged care but we have no guarantees that this is what is being planned,’ he said. ‘The proponents have already said that as soon as they get the change of usage approval they intend to sell the land. This is not about contributing to our community – it is about rezone and resell.’ That position is supported by the local Steiner school. Chair of Cape Byron Rudolf Steiner School, James Dods, expressed the school’s ‘deep concern with the potential consequences of several aspects of the proposed amendments to the LEP. The school community has very real concerns regarding traffic and the general safety and amenity of the Ewingsdale community.’
SUNDAY 8th MAY From 4pm Comes home to the Byron RSL
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