120 Carrs Dr, Yamba: application resubmitted in West Yamba Urban Release Area

A revised $79 million pitch for a home estate could further fuel discontent in a booming North Coast town, with locals claiming flooding will only get worse if such developments are given the green light.

A development application for a 216 lot manufactured home estate in Yamba.

A push to increase the amount of fill used in a massive $79 million development proposal could further fuel community discontent about flood plain development.

The Trustee for Yamba Land Trust has relodged a controversial proposal to build a 216 dwelling manufactured home estate on a 40-acre lot at 120 Carrs Dr, Yamba.

This month the development application was relodged so minor landscape and layout adjustments could be included, as well as plans for an extra metre of fill and changes to the stormwater drainage system.

The proposed development site at 120 Carrs Drive, Yamba.

Signs with “Stop the fill, don’t drown our town” written in red greet visitors as they drive into Yamba.

The signs refer to the large amount of fill being trucked into the WYURA – a section of Yamba, including the Carrs Dr development site, slated to provide more housing for the lower Clarence.

It’s a hot-button issue in the coastal town, with residents claiming the fill worsens run-off and can lead to increased flooding in other parts of Yamba.

Stop the Fill signs (pictured) are seen throughout Yamba.

Earlier this month, Yamba CAN (Community Action Network) launched an online petition asking for the WYURA to be rezoned from residential to conservation or conservation/rural land.

The petition also asks Clarence Valley Council to write to the state government asking for a halt to any further development on the West Yamba flood plain.

Local residents have voiced their support for the petition online.

Yamba CAN protesting the fill at a 2023 council meeting.

“Yamba is a beautiful place and it’s understandable that people want to live there. However, there is limited area for expansion and it’s insanity to sacrifice existing residents to feed developer greed,” one woman wrote.

“I am a resident of Yamba and have been cut off by previous flooding. It will only get worse with all this land filling taking place,” another local chimed in.

In a heated council debate last year, Councillor Greg Clancy backed the push to rezone the area and said it was an issue which needed to be tackled from the grassroots up.

“We have to be brave. We have to take decisions at this local level,” he said.

Carrs Drive, Yamba, during the 2022 floods.

If the development is approved, it will be constructed in 13 separate stages.

On top of the housing, there would be a car park with 50 visitor spaces, a swimming pool, bowling green and croquet lawn.

There would also be a community building with a library, cinema, craft room, games room and gym.

Records show the 17.68ha site was sold in April 2001 for $230,000. Two decades later, in July 2021, it was again sold, but for more than $5 million on that occasion.

Residents have until April 15 to have their say about the development.