Lawyers for developer Site R & D and Byron Shire Council have highlighted areas of dispute including habitat impacts and the ‘social need’ for housing

Conflicting views have been aired in the Land and Environment Court hearing that is considering the proposed major residential subdivision.

The lawyers for developer Site R & D and Byron Shire Council have given their closing submissions in the Land and Environment Court appeal hearing into a major West Byron development proposal on Wednesday, June 23, 2021.

UPDATE: 4pm

A court has heard submissions from Byron Shire Council and a developer in the appeal hearing of a contested subdivision proposal.

The Land and Environment Court hearing relates to the Site R & D proposal for 162 new lots to be created within the West Byron Urban Release Area to the south of Ewingsdale Road.

The court heard some contentions, including that of flooding issues, earthworks and fill and stormwater management has been resolved between the parties while other matters were still disputed.

The two areas which relate to the Site R & D development application for a residential subdivision in the West Byron Urban Release Area along Ewingsdale Road.

Ecological and habitat impacts

Counsel for the developer, Clifford Ireland, argued there was no evidence the site was home to “core koala habitat”.

He told Commissioner Michael Chilcott even if this was the case, it wouldn’t preclude him from approving the development.

Mr Ireland said 4.65 hectares of “good or moderate quality native vegetation” was to be removed from the site along with a “larger amount” of lower-quality vegetation.

The court heard the trees for removal included 265 of 521 koala preferred food trees.

The council’s lawyer, Adam Seton, said there were “various records of koala activity on the subject site” between 2010 and 2017.

“You will not find evidence of things you do not look for,” Mr Seton said.

“And that’s the context in which the applicant asks you to make findings about core koala habitat on this site.

Numerous swamp mahogany trees would be removed from the site, under the proposal.

“There is clearly evidence of the use of this land by koalas over a period of time

“There is evidence of actual koalas being sighted on this land including a female koala.”

He said it would be “proper and appropriate” for the court to find a section of the property involved “part of a core koala habitat”.

Mr Seton said the “impact upon the frogs” which use habitat there would also “weigh against the approval of this application in terms of the biodiversity values this site presently exhibits”.

Mr Ireland said it was his client’s position that native vegetation including koala-preferred food trees on the property does not constitute “core koala habitat”.

“Overwhelmingly it is a positive proposal for this Urban Release Area, socially and environmentally, and economically in this LGA,” Mr Ireland said.

“It achieves ecological improvement for the site, in my submission, in the long term, by turning degraded farmland … into an area that will be the subject of community associations and a community title arrangement and conditions of consent that will require the augmentation of the existing vegetation by compensatory planting, management of this compensatory planting.

“There will be no adverse impact on the Belongil Creek special purpose zone.”

The properties (in red) which relate to the Site R & D development application for a residential subdivision in the West Byron Urban Release Area along Ewingsdale Road, close to the Byron Bay township (right). The Harvest Estate area sits between the two Site R & D properties.

Urban release area

The Site R & D proposal makes up part of the West Byron Urban Release Area, the remainder covered by the approved Harvest Estate.

The urban release area was gazetted by the Planning Minister in 2009.

Mr Seton argued environmental considerations were still relevant.

Mr Ireland spoke to the “social need for the subdivision” made out by “the need for additional dwellings for housing in the Byron Shire.

“It’s a matter of common knowledge (this has) has only become more acute,” he said.

“This development is proposed for a site that has a long planning history and has been identified specifically as an urban release area at the highest level of planning, administerially, in this state.”

Significant amendments were made to the proposed Harvest Estate in West Byron before it was approved through a Land and Environment Court process.

Existing approval of Harvest Estate

Mr Ireland said his client’s proposal was “integrated with the adjoining, approved, Harvest Estate subdivision”.

He said his clients proposed to use a road within Harvest Estate for access to their proposed light industrial area, which he said would reduce impacts on the wallum sedge frog on his client’s land.

Mr Ireland said it was “a matter of prime importance” that the other development was approved.

He said his clients would take on the responsibility of building a shared path along the entire frontage of both developments, if approved.

Mr Seton said the matter of Harvest’s approval was “not an answer or an excuse” to the “inadequate and insufficient road network” proposed for access to Site R & D’s industrial area.

“The proposal is significantly deficient,” Mr Seton said.

Mr Seton said the Harvest Estate property, unlike the site subject to this appeal, had no evidence of koalas inhabiting it.

Some issues between the parties are expected to be tackled in July and the Commissioner has reserved his judgment.

It is not known when a final decision on the matter will be handed down.

EARLIER:

Closing remarks will be heard today in the hearing of a contentious Byron Bay development proposal.

The Land and Environment Court has been hearing an appeal against the refusal of Site R & D’s development application for a residential subdivision within the West Byron Urban Release Area to the south of Ewingsdale Road.

The DA, which originally sought approval for 387 lots, was refused by the Northern Regional Planning Panel in early 2019 and a subsequent amendment has reduced the proposed lots to 162.

The hearing, between Site R & D and Byron Shire Council, has heard evidence from expert ecologists regarding the site’s prospects as koala habitat.

The areas which relate to the Site R & D development application for a residential subdivision in the West Byron Urban Release Area along Ewingsdale Road.

Traffic engineers fielded questions from the parties about the interaction between industrial and residential zones in the broader vicinity, pedestrian refuges and the ability for proposed roads to cater to articulated heavy vehicles.

The court heard one dispute between the two experts regarded the length of articulated vehicle that should be planned for in the road design.

This has in the past been 19 metres but the Australian standard has more recently been dictating 20 metres, the court heard.

Clifford Ireland, lawyer for the developer and Adam Seton, representing the council, are expected to make their closing submissions on Wednesday.