14 projects that got the green light in 2020
NORTHERN Rivers councils have been busy with proposals in 2020: here are some of the major DAs that were approved.
Lismore
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It took a long six years, but a future for Nimbin’s old museum site was secured with a Lismore City Council decision in September.
The Nimbin Museum, on Cullen St, burnt to the ground on August 14, 2014.
After a convoluted process, Lismore City Council granted deferred commencement consent to developers with a new vision for the site.
The plan involves retail shops, take away food and drink premises, a 12-seat cafe and a medical centre.
Northern Rivers Community Gateway was given conditional consent to build a $3.4 million shop top housing development in the Lismore CBD in April.
The proposal, for 76 Carrington St, had sought approval for a business space and open-air car park on the ground floor, 10 units, communal areas, tenants and garden plots.
According to minutes from a pre-lodgement meeting, NRCG had first considered building an ordinary residential flat building on the site, next to its existing hub.
The approved proposal involved the retention of that hub.
3. ‘Fit Farm’
A two-year trial period for a ‘Fit Farm’ outdoor obstacle course was approved by Lismore City Council in February.
The proposal was passed by a slim majority after at least 20 speakers opposed the proposal.
The DA had proposed an obstacle course, a sand bag carrying track, a billy cart track and car parks at a Tuncester property.
4. Lennox Head commercial space and shop top housing
BALLINA Shire Council gave approval to a $2.6 million Lennox Head development in June.
The development application for 74 Ballina St had proposed demolition of an existing post office in the town’s main street, to pave the way for a new three-storey building.
The proposal detailed that the development would include food and drink premises and retail shops on the ground and first floors, business premises on the first floor and two residential dwellings above that.
Ballina Shire Council approved a residential subdivision involving 99 lots and five “super lots” at Lennox Head in August.
The proposal related to the 15-hectare site commonly known as Reservoir Hill.
The development site has frontages on Henderson Lane, North Creek Rd and Hutley Drive.
Byron Shire Council received a total of 48 submissions when the $14.9 million development was released for public comment on two occasions.
A BOUTIQUE organic cooking school and on-site cabins was approved for the Ballina hinterland in August.
The $2.2 million proposal for a property on Fernleigh Rd in Brooklet was approved under a range of conditions.
Those conditions included that the proponents must protect and support adjoining premises in circumstances where excavation may be required close to existing buildings.
All but one Ballina councillor voted in support of an expansion of a waste transfer station in Alstonville when it went before then in May.
The industrial estate site had been used as a concrete batching plant in the past.
The existing waste transfer facility was approved in 2017 and the owners had been approved to process up to 5000 tonnes of waste a year.
But this year’s DA approval meant that figure increased to 28,000 tonnes a year.
The expansion was also slated to allow for sorting of construction and demolition waste, general mixed waste, recycling, paper and cardboard, green waste, steel and timber.
AFTER years of community opposition and a drawn-out process, one of two DAs for major residential subdivisions in West Byron has been approved.
A Land and Environment Court judgment was handed down on Tuesday, December 8, following a lengthy process.
The Harvest Estate development, pursued by NSPT Pty Ltd, was subject to a conciliation conference between the applicant and Byron Shire Council.
This led to approval of a significantly changed proposal.
Compared to the original DA’s proposed 290 new lots, the approved version will include just 149.
A $19.3 million mixed-use development which includes the first new permanent housing in central Byron Bay in decades was been approved by Byron Shire Council in May.
The applicants were Graham and Jason Dunn of JGD Developments and their DA sought approval for ground-level commercial spaces and 28 residential units across two storeys of shop top housing.
The DA was approved, subject to a range of conditions.
Housing availability and affordability has been big on Byron Shire Council’s agenda throughout 2020 and long before this year.
A proportion of units in an approved 15-home development in Bangalow will be required to be affordable, as defined by state legislation.
Lismore Venture Pty Ltd, the company behind The Kollective, received approval to build the complex at 23 Lismore Rd following a conciliation agreement between the developer and the council.
The Kollective already has developments in Byron Bay and Mullumbimby and has proposed a mixed-use complex for Brunswick Heads.
Of 15 units, the Bangalow site is required to have one studio dwelling and three other dwellings only used for the purposes of affordable housing.
These affordable homes must be managed by a registered community housing provider for at least a decade.
Byron Shire Councillors voted to approve a scaled-down version of a housing proposal in Ocean Shores.
The DA for Kumbellin Glen was lodged with the council in March this year.
It drew criticism from some in the community for the scale and density of the development compared to surrounding properties.
The proponent sought approval for seven three-storey homes on one residential block.
Councillors voted in favour of the development, only on the condition the plans be reduced down to five homes.
Owners of a 42 hectare Talofa property were given the green light to build six tourist cabins with plunge pools alongside them in October.
Byron Shire Council made changes to the required amount of carparking on the Bangalow Rd property, which is also home to a palm tree farm run by Talofa Palms Pty Ltd.
13. Jerky expansion
New World Foods had an application for an expansion to its Casino facility approved in April.
The company owns the locally-produced Mariani and Local Legends brands.
The existing facility was already producing jerky, but among the plans touted in the proposal was a plan for the producers to begin their forays into the vegan market.
14. Movement on new stage of development
After being on hold for years, site work has been under way on the next stage of the Hundred Hills residential development in Murwillumbah.
The broader development was approved after a deemed refusal appeal went before the Land and Environment Court in 2006.
An application to amend details of the next phase of the development was approved by Tweed Shire Council earlier this year and earthworks are continuing on the site, at the end of Riveroak Drive.
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