Ballina’s St Francis Xavier parish proposes shopping centre
A Catholic Church parish is behind a push to build a bottle shop, supermarket and public art in the form of “happy hoops” in a rapidly growing residential area of a NSW north coast town.
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A northern NSW church has unveiled plans to develop a neighbourhood shopping centre, with a supermarket, a bottle shop and public art in the form of “happy hoops”.
A $2.7 million development application lodged by Ballina’s St Francis Xavier parish is part of a broader push to transform the Ballina Heights Estate at Cumbalum.
The proposed shops would sit on a 2.1ha parcel of land, at the intersection of Ballina Heights Dr and Power Dr.
The bottle shop and supermarket are just part of a broader masterplan which is guiding the church’s development of the land and would see the construction of a childcare centre, commercial premises, food and drink stores and a “live-work” precinct.
In documents submitted to council, town planner Stephen Connelly said the supermarket and bottle shop proposal came in response to a “strong demand” from local residents.
“The primary object of this proposal … (is) to serve the needs of the residents of Ballina Heights and Banyan Hill Estates,” Mr Connelly said.
There are also plans for “public art” in the form of so-called “happy hoops” in the area near the shops
“The design philosophy behind Happy Hoops is centred around local design and local craftspeople from the Northern Rivers,” planning documents state.
“The culture of Ballina and Northern Rivers (sic) is deeply rooted around the beautiful environment we live among, we would develop the hoops to reflect this lifestyle.”
The ‘hoops’ consist of a peace loop, wave window, sun follower and rainbow ring, each holding their own “northern NSW significance”.
For example, plans state: “The peace symbol is the most suitable icon for our region. Catch a local surfer passing a Peace (sic) sign to a friend”.
Last year, the parish also announced its plans to build 34 residential plots on a neighbouring rural parcel of land at Cumbalum.
At the time, the parish manager Paul Lloyd said a number of the homes would be low-cost housing and could help to improve housing affordability in the area.
“(We) hope this will help ease the burden on housing pressure in the area,” Mr Lloyd said.
“What it really comes down to is we’re just trying to get land on the market for people to buy houses.”
The recent development application for the shops will be determined by Ballina Shire Council in the coming months.
If approved the proposed running hours of the new shops would be from 7am to 8pm.
There would also be 66 onsite carparking spaces and five spaces for bicycles.
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