THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 30 #52 Wednesday, June 8, 2016
www.echo.net.au Phone 02 6684 1777 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week CAB AUDIT
PAGES 22–23
1 0 0 P E R C E N T L O C A L LY O W N E D A N D I N A P P R O P R I AT E LY O P E R AT E D
Barb Pinter Dullards, bums, Art – what would Interview: remembered hacks and 30 years we do without it (be Alex Gow and – p14 of The Echo – p19 a neocon?) – p24, 25 Dan Kelly – p38
Hans Lovejoy
Wild weather flooded many lower lying parts of the shire over the weekend, with evacuation calls for parts of Ocean Shores and Billinudgel. Despite roads slips and road closures, ten people were rescued around the region from floodwaters on Sunday. Council staff say O’Mearas Bridge, on Binna Burra Road, was perhaps the most affected and is temporarily closed. Making the most of the storm were Molly-Rose and Roxy, who checked out the shire’s latest, affordable housing offering at Brunswick Heads beach. Photo Jeff ‘Addorable Housing’ Dawson
$23m Bangalow food precinct plan unveiled Two of Byron’s iconic food brands say they will have to quit the Shire within a year unless substantially larger processing space can be found for them than anything currently available. That’s the urgency behind plans to build a 20-acre ‘food precinct’ opposite the existing Bangalow industrial estate on Lismore Road. Because of the scale and cost of the proposed development ($23 million) it will bypass Byron Shire Council and be considered by the
state’s Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP) instead. Developer Bart Elias and town planner Paul De Fina told a packed Bangalow Progress Association (BPA) meeting on Thursday evening that they had been looking for 18 months to find an appropriate site to build at least two 5,000 square-metre factories for anchor tenants Brookfarm and Salumi. They could soon be joined by a third world-famous shire-based brand, Byron Bay Cookies, which is also looking to expand. And while the meeting heard about residents’ concerns over truck
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Seawall shemozzle without legal clarity
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movements, visual amenity and potential pollution of Byron Creek (which runs through the property), most agreed with Mr De Fina’s proposition that, ‘the worst thing that could happen is seeing Byron Bay Cookies produced in Melbourne [where owner Rinoldi is based].’
Cottage business The development would also include several smaller commercial kitchens for cottage businesses requiring occasional usage as well as a barn that could provide space continued on page 2
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With the June 14 public submission deadline for Council’s coastal policy looming, it’s emerged that there is no legal clarity as to the the ownership of, and liability for, the 1.1km seawall proposal along Belongil beach. Council staff have told The Echo that ownership of a Belongil seawall is ‘yet to be determined’ and the funding agreement from landowners would be drawn up after the public consultation process. And just as remarkable is that there appears no post-construction management to mitigate expected sand loss – not only for Belongil Beach – but also for the neighbouring Elements resort. Seawalls are known to not only erode beaches in front, but also beaches adjacent. These are just two unclear aspects of the the seawall component within the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan Byron Bay Embayment (CZMP BBE), which comes in a total of five parts and 316 pages. The plan, by consultants WRL, has been led vigorously – and somewhat belligerently – by Crs Ibrahim, Woods, Hunter, Cubis and Wanchap. Mayor Richardson, Crs Dey, Cameron and Spooner have consistently voted against the plans. The seawall proposal aims to reverse a policy of planned retreat, which has existed for around 30 years. Those who purchased a Belongil beachfront property prior to 1988 appear exempt under planned retreat policy, whereas those who pur-
chased after 1988 were required to have a relocatable structure. So how many properties are affected by this policy? Staff told The Echo, ‘In 2011, it was reported to Council that nine properties in the Belongil beachfront area had residential structures with provisions requiring the relocation of the entirety of that development in relation to the position of the erosion escarpment’. They said, ‘Seven properties had structures with a partial restriction placed on the development, ie through an approved alteration or addition to an existing structure. At the time of the audit, there were 28 properties in the Belongil beachfront area.’ It’s also understood that the planned retreat policy has never been implemented owing to court challenges from Belongil landowners. Other unanswered issues – should the seawall plan be adopted – include ecological, tourism and amenity impacts, which have all but been virtually ignored within the CZMP BBE. That should be a major concern for the community, says mayor Simon Richardson.
Unknown cost: mayor He told The Echo the terms of ongoing ‘adaptive’ measures within the plan are unknown, as is the cost. ‘This was one of the main reasons the previous CZMP ultimately proposed planned retreat over sand transfer, or beach-scraping options. ‘Unlike now, the earlier CZMP sought to have questions on impacts and costs and logistics answered continued on page 7
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