HIGH QUALITY SPECULATION SINCE 1986 The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 37 #22 • November 9, 2022 • www.echo.net.au
Resilience NSW increases şşĈIJ żĶĈŕĶĈ ǖşşĎ ſĶƆŊƆ Īşſ ſĕƆĶĎĕŕƐƆ
Ķŕ DĕĎĕſëō
It was a big family event at the annual Federal Park Party day, with dogs, games, entertainment and plenty of food. Poppy won ‘best lamb, disguised as a dog’, along with her loving owner, Treya. Photo Jeff ‘Puppy Love’ Dawson
wưĕſƆĶǀĕ ëŕīëōşƱ ƐşƖſĶƆƐ żſşżşƆëō ćĕĪşſĕ !şƖŕĈĶō Paul Bibby Plans for a $1.3 million rural tourism development in Bangalow that is double the size of what is usually permitted, have angered nearby residents, and drawn a recommendation of refusal from Byron Council staff. The owner of 72 Lawlers Lane is proposing to build 12 self-contained cabins clustered around a central recreation building that is designed to cater for future rural functions and events. Five of the cabins would have their own swimming pools, and the site would have a new internal access road with bus turnaround. The Development Application (DA) for the site, which is owned
3D home-printing emerges from The Pocket ▶ p7
by ‘Mr M Mamone’, is due to come before this week’s Byron Council planning meeting for assessment. Council staff have recommended that councillors refuse permission on multiple grounds relating to the scale of the proposal, and its impact on the character, amenity, and future agricultural uses of the surrounding area.
Excessive in scale ‘The proposal is considered excessive in scale and fails to comply with Council’s adopted planning controls that generally limit rural tourist accommodation to no more than six holiday cabins per property,’ Council Planner, Ben Grant, said in his report, contained in the agenda to this week’s Council meeting.
‘Twelve tourist accommodation cabins, in combination with a large recreation building (and a potential future function centre), is of a scale that cannot be reasonably managed by the principal owner living on the property, and is likely to have an adverse impact on the character and amenity of the surrounding area if approved.’ Mr Grant found that the size and scale of the development was inconsistent with two key local planning policies, the Byron Local Environment Plan (LEP) and the Byron Development Control Plan (DCP). This included the amount of excavation and fill required to make the owner’s plans a reality. ‘The excessive scale and ▶ Continued on page 2
Aslan Shand
water flowed through and around their house. As two locals choked up, there was They said they have been uncomfortable foot shuffling by ‘moving, moving, moving’, between Byron Shire Mayor, Michael Lyon, a family and friends since the flood, spokesperson for Resilience NSW, and recently secured a rental as they and an engineer who worked on wait for their house to be gutted and the flood report for the Mullumrebuilt. They were hoping to move bimby pod site. back in at the end of this year, or the They told the homeowners beginning of next year, before their that their home will experience insurance support runs out. increased flooding in the future ‘What are we going to do?’ they because of the works Resilience asked the mayor. NSW is currently ‘We’ve been undertaking. out of our house ‘Éĕ Īĕĕō ƆëĈſĶǔĈĶëōȁ They were for nine months’ We pay our rates… the owners of they said. one of 13 proper- Why was the study done ‘We underties nearby (11 stand that ëĪƐĕſ ƷşƖ żƖƐ Ķŕ ƐIJĕ ǔōōȂ’ people need identified in the – A Mullum resident, report), that housing, we are affected by the pod site were finally told one of those – after months of people. What asking – that their worst fears had are you going to do to make us feel been realised. safe? You’ve made it worse. They were told emergency hous‘We know you know this. We feel ing for flood-affected ‘locals’ being sacrificial. We pay our rates, we’ve put in place at Prince Street, Mulalways been in front. Why was the lumbimby, would negatively impact study done after you put in the fill?’ their home, making the flooding This was a key question throughworse for them in the future. out the past nine months from the Two of these properties will now local community. have increased above-floor flood‘This community has been ing as a result of the fill. asking for the impacts since it In the February flood, the started. Council, everyone else, residents escaped the rising flood told us nothing. They just went and water in their house and found filled it up’, said the homeowner. safety with a neighbouring family ‘I’ve only been part of the whose property was just above the project for three months, but I floodline. They were then rescued acknowledge the lack of commuby friends in a boat. nication,’ said the Resilience NSW The SES had told them they spokesperson. didn’t know when they could ‘We’ve been working closely with rescue them, and suggested they Cr Michael Lyon, [GM] Mark Arnold, climb on the roof – but there was and engineers. We wanted to make nowhere safe to put a ladder as the ▶ Continued on page 2
North What’s federal Labor Show season kicks cks coast news up to? David Lowe off in Mullum this his ▶ p14 unpacks ▶ p16 weekend ▶ p277
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