Byron Shire Council refuses to waive fine over flood victim’s bright house colour

The flood-affected owner of a ‘purplicious’ Northern NSW home has been dealt another blow after the local council refused to waive $3000 fine for painting the house the bright colour.

A Northern NSW flood victim has suffered another tough blow after the Byron Shire Council refused to waive a $3000 fine for painting her house ‘purplicious’.

Mullumbimby resident Nicole Haberecht has been fighting the council since being slugged with the fine in November 2020 for painting her Stuart St home ‘a bright lilac colour’ in breach of heritage conservation laws.

She launched a change.org petition which attracted more than 2000 signatures from locals supporting her bid to ‘live in peace without harassment from Byron Shire Council’.

The bright colour was in breach of heritage conservation laws. Photo: Supplied

Her supporters included Byron Greens councillor Duncan Dey who lodged a motion at the latest council meeting to lift the fine.

Cr Dey told the meeting that Ms Haberecht had been ‘punished enough’ and if the heritage law was aimed at stopping people ‘painting Mullumbimby in slightly more friendly and bright colours, then that purpose is a silly one’.

“If we spend our days being so drab and sombre as had to be the case 100 years ago when colour wasn’t available, (then) the heritage we’re repeating is to stick to an era that was a time of austerity,” he said.

Nicole Haberecht said she had lost her business licence for refusing to pay the fine. Picture: Supplied

Cr Dey said when the house was actually being painted would have been a ‘great time’ to engage with Ms Haberecht ‘rather than waiting until the job was finished’.

Mayor Michael Lyon told the meeting he was in a difficult position over the house because ‘I actually quite like the look of it’.

“(But) I’m not sure that the look or the vibe is part of our decision-making process when enacted properly,” he said to chuckles from fellow councillors.

However, Cr Asren Pugh told the meeting that it would be ‘absolutely outrageous’ to waive the fine because Ms Heberecht had been given ‘multiple opportunities’ to engage with council but had refused.

A council officer told the meeting that Ms Haberecht had been offered a heritage grant to repaint the house ‘in a more appropriate colour’.

Ms Haberecht told Facebook supporters that she had lost her home-based holistic therapies business licence for not paying the fine and been denied a flood relief payment.

She said had now sold the house and was ‘moving elsewhere’.

Originally published as Byron Shire Council refuses to waive fine over flood victim’s bright house colour