Around The Traps Archive

Most people are not aware that Byron Shire Council has finally released its Residential Land Strategy. This important document will dictate new housing coming online for the next few decades. It promises much-needed new housing, mainly around Mullumbimby and Brunswick Heads. It will include a small amount of social and affordable housing included in an innovative Community Land Trust on Saddle Road in Brunswick Heads. We need a lot more of it to keep the diverse nature of our community now that house and land prices are so high.

Byron Shire is full of interesting and unique people. I often come across residents who have amazing life stories. Chris Dewhurst is one of them, and his story of setting up Byron Bay Ballooning would be enough. But his recent book about his life includes drug running for the CIA, mountain climbing challenging peaks, and ballooning over Everest. He had to wait 50 years to tell the story, and Everest, Guns and Money is a page-turner. If you want your local adventure, take off with Chris and his team for a ballooning flight over Byron Shire with Byron Bay Ballooning. Chris will be at the Byron Bay Writers Festival this month.

On September 24th, “unhosted” Short-Term Holiday Letting in Byron Shire will be reduced to a maximum of 60 days per year. It will be interesting to see if it works as intended. With all the new hotels popping up in town, it looks like the accommodation industry may be looking ahead. We recently did an article on the soon-to-be-transformed Jonson street, with many new developments underway. The latest to join the ranks is Basq House, whose address is 4 Fletcher Lane. However, it can be seen on Marvel Street opposite the not-dissimilar Hotel Marvell. Many other LGAs are watching to see if this is going to work as we are not alone in having a problem with the holiday letting industry.

It would be great to get more bike lanes in the shire, and this would be a really good one, especially if you live in Brunswick Heads or Ocean Shores. Most people living in Ocean Shores must take a circuitous route to the beach. That route is also up a high hill, so it is hard to walk or bike. This proposed walking and bike path would be well utilised. Please sign this petition, and let’s push it along.

It seems we have a theme around units developing in this issue of the Newsletter. An emerging problem with unit holders who are also owners of EVs (Electric Vehicles) is how to build enough charging units. It looks like this company, Smartpoint enables EV drivers to plug in their safe portable charger, which comes with the vehicle, and pay for its usage. The installation cost of $299 seems very reasonable.

Unfortunately, the new EV charging units being rolled out by the Minns government will not benefit us in the regions. For now, they are only for Sydney and Newcastle.

Byron Shire residents interested in housing issues could do well to attend this event. Cr Mark Swivel has been conversing with local experts on various topics over May and June. On Wednesday, June 19th, the last one will be on housing — A Fair Go. The panellists will be developer Brandon Saul, someone on the front line of creating new affordable housing, and Belinda Mackie, the former NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner. Tickets are available through Humatix.

At least once a year I speak at the Byron and Beyond Networking breakfasts. Next month, it will be at the Galery Cafe in Ballina on June 19th. It is fun, and I get to talk about the Northern Rivers property market, which I never tire of. It starts at 7:30am and includes an excellent breakfast and coffee. There will also be lots of time for questions and discussion. Hope to see you there.

It’s millionaires versus billionaires in the exclusive enclave of Wategos Beach. Long-term residents are arching-up against the uber-wealthy newcomers who max out the 9-metre height limit. Councillor Asren Pugh thinks the new mansions look out of place, and there needs to be a new height limit of 8 metres. When the foundations are dug into the high slope and the three stories are built, they look like high rises. Mayor Michael Lyon thinks it is hard to make a specific height limit for one area only.

ABC Landline TV recently did a segment on Byron Bay. The focus was balancing the high demand for developable land while maintaining enough fertile farmland. It’s still an ongoing issue. It’s worth a look – click here to watch.

Chris Hanley is a long-term Byron local and the principal of First National Real Estate Agency. He has been involved in the Byron Bay Writers Festival, and his podcast ‘Our Byron Community’ has been going on for a while now. For anyone interested in local history, I commend the Oliver Dunne episode. If you are interested in the housing debate, listen to the one with Rob Doolan and Jack Dodds, who have much knowledge in this area.

Big things are afoot in Mullumbimby. The next stage of the master plan’s rollout will involve changes to the main drag, Burringbar Street. It will become more pedestrian-friendly, and more traffic will be encouraged to use the bypasses.

I was a participant in the Mullum Master Plan Reference Group before COVID-19. Each of the attempted innovations since then has been scaled back, amended or ignored, mainly by vocal opposition from a few and people who don’t want change. Let’s hope the walking street concept gets through the gauntlet, as I think it will be positive.

Kaleido Mullum

Mullum will soon be alive with its Laneways Activation events. The centrepiece will be a three-day culture and arts fest on the first weekend of May. You can get involved by contacting Kaleido Mullum.

Local politics is ugly when you watch how the sausages get made. Byron Council finally landed the contentious legislature, the Residential Land Strategy 2041. It was supposed to be delivered in 2016 but is only eight years late. The state government threatened to take their planning controls away, giving them the incentive to deliver.

The result is fairly safe and predictable. It will not deliver much of the ‘missing middle’ that the shire desperately needs: medium-density units and townhouses that will, in time, be more accessible and affordable. Most of it will be greenfield residential lots, which are safe and easy. The council does not have consent controls over developers to deliver the necessary housing mix.

We will get more housing in South Bangalow, Mullumbimby, and Brunswick Heads sometime. Only the one on Saddle Road, Brunswick Heads, has the possibility of delivering more interesting diversity. It also has a good developer team behind it (who brought us The Habitat). A late entry to get approval is the 1982 Coolamon Scenic Drive, Mullumbimby, which also has the potential for something interesting.

Don’t hold your breath for those suffering in the housing crisis. It will be many years before these sites are shovel-ready. To those who say this will cause an oversupply, take a deep breath. Yes, we are under enormous pressure because this is a desirable place to live, but we have had decades of minimal growth because of our anti-development ethos. This has come at a cost.

The highest-rated TV show is called Married At First Sight on Channel 9. It allows narcissistic sociopaths a platform to display their worst personality defects. This season, a Byron Bay local named Lucinda Light is one of the participants. She at least shows a degree of humanity, self-awareness, and goodwill and, as a marriage celebrant, has a legitimate reason to be on it as it promotes her business.

The other star is the property where they housed the couple’s retreat – Hinterland House in Bangalow. The property is at 1390 Hinterland Way, Bangalow and prior to this recent makeover was known as Jeblon Leigh, a stately manor house built in 1906. Luckily, the original inhabitants are not around to see the mismatched couples preening and bickering around the elegant rooms, pool and rolling green hills.

Byron Council’s introduction of Rural Dual Occupancy has been a success. This is where rural property on acreage is allowed to build a second home but not have a second title. For council, it means they can get more residences in place without having to spend big on roads and infrastructure. For rural land owners, it is a way to provide a second dwelling for family members, friends, or tenants.

The rule used to be it needed to be 100 metres from the main house and use that same driveway. That has now been scrapped and owners can now site their 2nd home anywhere they want (STCA).

That did not help the 50 or so property owners in Ballina’s boutique Fig Tree Hill estate near Lennox Head. They have been denied from building second dwellings indefinitely owing to sewage concerns. The existing sewerage system servicing this area is not able to handle any more sewerage. There aren’t any plans to increase the network’s capacity, Ballina Council staff say because the project is considered too costly.

Thanks to long-term resident Kerry McDonald Baunach for putting together this website of old and gold images of Byron Bay. It’s easy to forget that Byron was not long ago a sleepy, little, coastal town where the main industry was either killing whales or cows. What happened? I have selected just a few of them here with some commentary. Thanks to ex-councillor Jan Hacket who donated a lot of the pics.

 

The sign we used to have entering Byron Bay before the new one was put there: Cheer Up, Slow Down, Chill Out. The new sign was put there by an independent wag and was not planned or authorised by the council. It is now very popular and council should provide a small parking bay there as it is dangerous with people stopping to take selfies.

 

Byron Landmark on the Jonson and Lawson St roundabout. It was the Orient for many years and home of many restaurants.

 

For a time in 80s the corner shop was called Get Frocked which I thought was a pretty good name for a dress shop.

 

This is a pic of the BB surf lifesaving clubhouse during the 1974 floods. Apparently, one of the houses on Border Street, Belongil Beach was also hanging over the edge during this storm and decided to sell for $1000 at the Great Northern on the night. The house is still standing there.

 

This is an aerial of the old Byron Bay meat works. It was used for whale processing as close as the 60s. It was then an abattoir and after that had a life as the Epicentre, where it was a venue and used for artist studios. John Cornell and Paul Hogan even used it to shoot a few scenes of Crocodile Dundee there. It was torn down and eventually developed into residential building lots. John Cornell and Delvene Delaney bought a chunk of it and the remaining ones have now the beachfront lots have been selling for over $20 mil.

 

The original Byron Bay School of Arts building was erected in 1895. It went through a variety of names and uses and the iteration pictured was after a renovation in the early 1980s. The murals were added by two local artists. The Byron Bay Community Centre we know now was completed in 2002 after nearly 20 years of fundraising. It was designed by architect Ian McKay and faced fierce opposition by opponents wanting to keep and restore the original.

 

An aerial of Wategos beach – probably circa 1970s. In 1933 Murray (Mick) Watego leased some of the land. He and his wife, Mary and 10 children grew bananas and other fruits and vegetables to supply local and Sydney markets. In 1961 Council put up for auction approximately 86 lots of land. The average price in 1961 was $700, and in 1970, $2320. It would take over 25 years for all of the lots to be sold and built on. The last Wategos record for a house was $22.5 mil and blocks with tear-down houses on them have sold for $5-7 mil.

 

A disheartening picture of a Bunjalung man – the original, and only true local resident of the time. SAY YES TO THE VOICE!