State Significant Developments Part III
Cartoon from The Echo, Byron today, Gold Coast tomorrow.
The impact of multiple State Significant Development (SSD) proposals represents a fundamental departure from the way
Byron Bay has historically been planned.
The concern is twofold.
1. Scale and cumulative impact.
Should the NSW Government consider the effects of applying a State policy designed to fast-track housing delivery in cities to enable private developers to fundamentally alter the scale and character of Byron Bay, a globally recognised coastal town?
Three State Significant Developments (+ a Regionally Significant DA) have been recommended without first assessing the cumulative impacts on the town’s character, tourism economy, infrastructure, height and density, local planning framework and community expectations.
2. Policy effectiveness and public benefit.
There are broader questions about whether the State housing pathway is achieving its intended purpose around housing. The Luxcon developer does not own the Jonson St site, (it’s currently in the hands of creditors) and in similar process at Manly, a Luxcon SSD site exceeds local height controls by nearly three times and is reducing the number of apartments from 34 to 23 (with only five affordable).
These circumstances and outcomes warrant consideration of whether State intervention is delivering genuine additional/affordable housing — and whether that outcome is sufficient to justify what the community loses when local planning controls are overridden and a place is changed forever.
“State intervention should be exceptional — and should only occur where there is a compelling State or regional interest, such as essential public infrastructure or a genuinely new precinct of State or regional significance.
Are we getting a cultural precinct or a permanent home for the Byron Writers Festival?”
Three SSD developments mean three sets of impacts; on traffic, flooding, drainage, water and sewer, parking, public space, services, infrastructure and the character and liveability of the town. In addition, there are 7 or 8 large development sites either under construction, approved or proposed within 1.6 km.
Find details about the proposals in a previous post here
These impacts cannot be properly understood by looking at each project in isolation.
WE HAVE ASKED FOR A PAUSE & MORE.
We are asking the Minister of Planning, Paul Scully: to immediately pause and review the SSD/HDA declarations in Byron Bay until a focused, proportionate Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) has examined the combined effects of the current and proposed SSD developments on the town’s infrastructure capacity;
We are asking the NSW Government to create a new Distinctive Character Settlement planning category for towns where protecting landscape, heritage and village character is a primary planning objective.
We are asking the State to work with communities, councils and planning experts to develop a clear public-interest framework for State intervention in distinctive settlements such as Byron Bay. And to provide genuinely affordable housing in perpetuity.
Most importantly, we need to get the planning pathway right — and make sure Byron Bay isn't changed forever by a system that was never designed with places like ours in mind.
We're a surf town. A beach town. A town of early mornings, ocean swims, bikes, cafes, village streets and a remarkable natural environment.
That character has social and economic value — and once it is lost, it cannot be found. With this kind of gamble, you might win some, but you risk losing much more — and Byron Bay residents, businesses and global reputation will pay the price.
WRITE TO THE MINISTER: wollongong@parliament.nsw.gov.au
SIGN THE PETITION : https://www.change.org/p/byron-bay-our-fight-about-height
JOIN THE CAMPAIGN: peopleofbyron@gmail.com
Read more in The Echo
“The only thing we want to see breaching in Byron Bay are whales. Not buildings. 🐋”