Property developers continue to come after State Significant Farmland in the Northern Rivers region

 

Historically three facts are clear about farmland in New South Wales.

1. Approximately half of the state's land mass can be considered to have moderately low to extremely low agricultural value [Adams VM & Engert JE, 2023]. Yet New South Wales produces about $15.1 billion of agricultural food and $38.1 billion of manufactured food & beverage products each year [NSW Govt, Investment NSW, 2024], with agriculture and primary production generally being an important industry on the North Coast as one of its largest employers and a significant contributor to the regional economy.

2. The state's 1,973km long coastal strip from the ocean to the Great Dividing Range has historically produced around 20 per cent of its primary production annually [Melville JM, 2012].

3. Agricultural and pastoral land is being removed from the state's coastal zone at an alarming rate. With up to 60% of agricultural land within the Greater Western Sydney 'food bowl' - which produces more than three-quarters of the total value of agricultural produce in the metropolitan region - being lost to property development in the last ten years. However, agricultural land loss to property development is not confined to major cities, but can be found all along the coastal zone. Wherever there are regional cities, towns & villages seen as highly desirable by those seeking a tree change or sea change lifestyle.

Such is the case here......

ECHO, 3 May 2034:

The contentiousCudgen Connection development proposed on State Significant Farmland (SSF) on the protected Cudgen Plateau next to the Tweed Valley Hospital (TVH) site was in front of Tweed Shire Councillors at yesterday’s planning meeting.

The council staff report had recommended that the application for gateway determination should be approved however, Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association (KRAPA) were clear in their objections to the proposal and highly critical of the inaccurate statements and reports relating to the SSF site.

When the TVH was proposed on the SSF the issue split the local community and when the hospital was approved and the site re-zoned from SSF both sides of the political spectrum gave ‘iron clad’ promises that there would be no further development of or rezoning of SSF on the Cudgen plateau.

Six to one in favour of refusal

‘We are so grateful to the six councillors who voted to refuse this application,’ Peter Newton, President of KRPA told The Echo.

‘Particularly the community could not have had better representation than from Mayor Cherry, Deputy Mayor Dennis and Councillor Firth who forensically addressed every community concern in speaking to the item. It’s disappointing that it was left to Mayor Cherry and others to detail the clear shortcomings and inconsistencies within this proposal, which we would have expected to see in the Council report.’

Mayor Cherry spoke to the proposed refusal telling the meeting that, ‘In order to support a variation allowed for under the North Coast Regional Plan, we need to be satisfied that the variation is supported by a sound evidence base addressing agricultural capability and sustainability. Is the land capable, is this sustainable?

‘We’re required to form a view as to whether the proposal has to strategic and site specific merit. For the clarity strategic merit means that the proposal has alignment with the New South Wales Strategic Planning Framework and government priorities. It also needs to have alignment with our priorities, and those that have council that have been approved by the state government. Is it consistent with the North Coast Regional Plan? Is it consistent with the Tweed Local Strategic Planning Statement with our strategies with the Tweed Regional Economic Development Strategy.

‘These are the questions we’ve had to consider and this is the site suitable for the relevant development. This is one question that hasn’t really come out in this assessment at all. Where’s the strategic assessment and the demonstrated need for 120 bed private hospital in this location, where is consideration of the impacts that that might have on our Tweed Valley Hospital on the existing private hospital John Flyn, on our other day surgeries in Tweed Heads? Does the proposal give regard and assess the impacts of the natural environment, including the known resources and what is our SSF but a finite resource? We can’t make any more of it.’......

Developer won’t back down

Speaking to the meeting conservative Cr Warren Polglase told the meeting that the developer wouldn’t be walking away from the proposal.

‘Well I support the proposal as it is,’ Cr Polglase told the meeting.

‘I will be voting in favour of it and I realise that the applicant is definitely going to go to review and I guess a determination will be put forward to the Regional Planning Panel, which will finish up on the minister’s desk.’

Mr Newton told The Echo that, ‘This result was the outcome our community wanted and deserved. While this decision is a very clear endorsement for protecting our precious SSF and the unsuitability of the Cudgen Connection proposal, we do appreciate that this is one step in the process.’.

Read the full article at:

https://www.echo.net.au/2024/05/contentious-cudgen-connection-development-refused-but-developer-not-backing-down/

Help get resurrected 'zombie' development applications out of the NSW planning system. Sign this petition now.

 

"Zombie development applications (DAs), or legacy DAs, are old approvals that are resurrected by a developer and pursued under outdated legislation....‘When a zombie DA gets resurrected, it isn’t measured against current environmental and natural disaster legislation, but instead is tragically measured against older, out of date standards, that are vastly out of step with local community values and crucial environmental regulations,’....‘zombie developments are an ecologically harmful leverage of loopholes in planning legislation, which pushes local populations of threatened species all the way to the edge of their ability to stave off extinction, and robs local communities of places they truly value....‘The accumulative impacts of zombie developments all along the coastline is a “death by a thousand cuts” effect to our threatened species and their rare and beautiful habitats.’"  [Echo, 2 December 2023] 

Property developers and land speculators are using zombie DAs to build large residential subdivisions on high risk floodplains along the 1,973 km length of the NSW coastal zone. Raising the level of communal risk for long-established local communities in times of natural disaster and/or climate emergency.

"GET THE ZOMBIES OUT OF THE PLANNING SYSTEM

Property developers are taking advantage of legal loopholes to force through decades-old developments which are driving the extinction crisis, filling floodplains and causing pain in local communities. These developments are against the evidence of modern science, against modern environmental protection laws and against the wishes of local communities.

They may not like it, but developers should at least follow the law of the day, even if it changes. We can’t have long-dead development proposals haunting our communities forever.

There’s been a groundswell of incredible community action in response to these zombie developments - thousands of locals signing petitions, showing up to rallies and taking direct action. A movement is building to put the planet and people before the profit of property developers.

NOW IS THE MOMENT TO CALL ON THE MINISTER FOR PLANNING PAUL SCULLY TO SHUT THESE ZOMBIE DEVELOPMENTS DOWN."

Sign the petition to NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully MLA at:

https://www.suehigginson.org/zombie_development_sepp

Fight continues over the fate of those parts of Wallum Wetlands in private hands

Wallum Land
IMAGE: Mac Maderski at savewallum.com
 

“You are literally holding a front line between extinction and survival.... We must stand strong together. You are mighty powerful. You are the frontline. You are even bigger than this magic place, Wallum, and together we are going to win this.” [Greens State MP & Northern Rivers resident Susan Higginson addressing the March Against Zombies on 1 March 2024]

Torakina Road, Brunswick Heads NSW, Lot 13 DP 1251383 and environs

Vegetation mapping of Lot 13 DP 1251383 and environs

Echo, 19 April 2024:

The company behind the Wallum housing development in Brunswick Heads is once again taking Byron Council to court, this time for allegedly holding up its planned earthworks at the site in an unlawful manner.

As thousands of locals continue their campaign to save the heathland site from becoming home to 124 housing lots, Clarence Property has lodged an appeal against Council’s ‘deemed refusal’ of its stage 2 subdivision works certificate.

The developer needs Council to issue this certificate, which is essentially a procedural box-ticking exercise, before it can start undertaking bulk earthworks at Wallum.

But the process has been delayed by Council requesting additional information from Clarence about stormwater management, and seeking further consultation with the traditional owners.

The developer is arguing that this delay amounts to a ‘deemed refusal’ of its subdivision works certificate because of the length and nature of the delay, and has lodged an appeal against this refusal in the Land and Environment Court (LEC).

‘An application to the Land & Environment court is an increasingly common approach that Developers look to take in order to preserve their legal rights with local councils,’ Clarence Property CEO, Simon Kennedy told The Echo.

‘It’s not Clarence Property’s preferred approach; however, where a matter becomes protracted or political, it may be the best way to resolve the issue.’

Second court case

It is the second time Clarence has commenced proceedings against Council in the LEC for deemed refusal of a subdivision works certificate in the past three months.

On the first occasion, which related to a construction certificate for ecological rehabilitation works, Clarence halted its action against Council when a slim majority of councillors voted to sign off on the certificate.

The February 8 casting vote by mayor Michael Lyon was supported by councillors Mark Swivel, Asren Pugh and Alan Hunter.

They argued part of the reason for authorising the works certificate was advice provided by Council’s legal team, which suggested that Council had few prospects of successfully defending such a case.

This was largely because the development had already been approved by the Northern Regional Planning Panel.

If Council had chosen to pursue the matter and then lost, they suggested Council could have faced a substantial legal bill that included paying Clarence Property’s legal costs.

However, there is strong support from the Save Wallum campaign, the community and other councillors, to pursue legal action regardless of the likely outcome.

They argue that taking this step could encourage the developer to amend its plans, or at least buy time for other avenues to bear fruit.....

The Wallum site, located next to the Bayside housing estate, is home to multiple threatened species, including the wallum froglet and the wallum sedge frog....

On the morning of Thursday 18 April 2024 at its monthly meeting Byron Shire Council again considered the matter set out below. As of Sunday 20 April the minutes of this meeting have not been published on its website.

BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL

STAFF REPORTS - SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMY 13.9

Ordinary Meeting Agenda

18 April 2024 page 148

Report No. 13.9 Wallum Subdivision DA10.2021.575.1 -

Response to Council Resolution 23-454 -

Stormwater and Cultural Heritage Site

Inspection Plan

5 Directorate: Sustainable Environment and Economy

Report Author: Chris Larkin, Manager Sustainable Development

File No: I2024/260

Summary:

Council considered a Notice of Motion 9.2 Wallum DA10.2021.575.1 referral and assessment Agenda of Ordinary (Planning) Meeting - Thursday, 12 October 2023 and resolved under Parts 5, 6 and 7 of Resolution 23-454 to receive certain assessments of certain plans, and for those assessments to be reported back to Council.

This report responds to Parts 5(e) and (f) in terms of stormwater maintenance management plan for the existing drain (Condition 12), the Cultural Heritage Inspection Plan (Condition 18), Part 6 in terms of further consultation with the traditional custodians of the land and Part 7 in relation to further stormwater commentary around Condition 11.

The development has been approved in a number of stages. The matters for consideration in this report relates to three of the sixteen conditions relevant to Early Stage 2 Bulk Earthworks.

Based on the assessment below, staff recommend that Council notes the report.

RECOMMENDATION:

That Council notes the report Wallum Subdivision DA 10.2021.575.1 - Response to 25 Council Resolution 23-454 - Stormwater and Cultural Heritage Site Inspection Plan.... 

Put on the spot in state parliament last month the NSW Minister for Planning & Public Spaces Paul Scully pointed to his referral on 10 October 2023 of the question of historical development applications to the NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and Planning.

The Committee only announced its Inquiry into historical development consents in NSW and called for submissions on 19 March 2024 but makes no mention holding public hearings and is yet to publish any submissions it may have received to date.

This state parliamentary inquiry will do nothing to halt unlisted Clarence Property Corporation Limited - issuer of the PDS for Clarence Property Diversified Investment Trust (formerly Westlawn Property Trust) & Epig Lennox Property Trust - as it continues to swing its wrecking ball through what remains of natural landscapes in coastal areas of the NSW Northern Rivers region.

Housing estate being built on a floodplain leaves flooded homeowners outraged

Ch 9, "A Current Affair" segment, 2 April 2023:

Locals' outrage as $34m estate approved to be built on a floodplain

With sweeping views on the New South Wales coast, it's easy to see why Yamba has gone from being a small, sleepy, coastal town to a holiday favourite for tourists.

But locals say their idyllic lifestyle is now under threat because the town is being drowned by developers who were given the green light to build on a flood plain.

Dozens of Yamba residents turned up to protest outside a $34 million development being constructed in the town's west.

(NINE) Click on image to enlarge

Locals claim developers are filling the land in with 3.5m of dirt.

They say it's towering over their backyards, means constant vibration and trucks, and worse - has changed the area's water flow and is causing their homes to flood.

Lynne, who is spearheading the town's campaign to 'stop the fill' said the developments are "devastating (the) local people". 

"It's 136 manufactured housing estate, very small lots from 240 to 280 square metres per block, it's all cramped in," she said.

Video of full Current Affairs segment (including February-March 2022 Yamba flood footage) at:

https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/yamba-flooding-locals-outrage-as-housing-estate-approved-to-be-built-on-a-floodplain/0ef4a211-74de-4b0e-835d-8fbbc6ca202d

Tonight A Current Affair will be taking a look at what one large American residential land lease company is willing to do to a small Australian coastal town in order to make a quick buck for its stateside owners.

A Current Affair

7pm on Channel 9 tonight

Tuesday 2 April 2024

https://www.9now.com.au/a-current-affair/season-2024

Yamba CAN Inc Community Action Network - Protest Banner

Tonight A Current Affair will be taking a look at what one large American residential land lease company is willing to do to a small Australian coastal town in order to make a quick buck for its stateside owners.

Some of the program's promotional pics showing the approx. 6ha Park Ave, Yamba landfill site. 

 

YAMBACAN image showing the increased height of the landfill and boundary fencing in relation to existing housing.

BACKGROUND

Hometown America LLC is a residential land lease company in the U.S. operating over 60 manufactured home sites containing over 24,000 home sites styled as affordable housing.

The corporation is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and has two business divisions – the Hometown America Family Communities and Hometown America Age-Qualified (55+) Communities.

Hometown America has been the defendant in multiple legal actions principally brought by individuals and groups of individuals who were residents in its U.S. land lease-manufactured home sites. In December 2023 Hometown America management was named in a class action alleging collusion between a number of land lease companies to fix and inflate lot rental prices.

Hometown America is the parent company of Hometown Australia headquartered in Queensland and when it was establishing itself in Australia was composed of the following entities:

A.C.N. 626 522 085 Pty. Ltd – registered in NSW on 31 May 2018

Hometown Australia Management Pty Ltd (ACN 614 529 538)

Hometown Australia Nominees Pty Ltd (ACN 616 047 084) atf Hometown Australia Property Trust (Hometown).

Through its Australian subsidiary Hometown Australia this U.S. corporation currently operates est. 51 sites in Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales, marketed as affordable housing and lifestyle living for the over 50s. By 2021 these land lease sites reportedly housed 10,000 people. Four of these sites are in the Northern Rivers regions, with more on the drawing board.

On completion of construction, 8 Park Ave will be Hometown America’s sixth site in the Northern Rivers region – bringing its land lease sites in Yamba to two manufactured homes estates.

It will also increase the Yamba population by between 136 and 272 people over 50 years of age, in a town where 57.50% of the population are already aged 50 to 85 years of age and older [Australian Census, August 2021].

This development will also increase the population in the 0.37sq.km SA1 statistical precinct it lies within – from 654 persons to between 790–926 persons depending on number of occupants per dwelling at 8 Park Ave.

Note: This statistical precinct is bounded by sections of Park Ave, Wattle Drive, Gumnut Road, The Links, The Mainbrace, Shores Drive and Yamba Road and currently contains more than 200 houses, townhouses and apartments/units. Along with one childminding centre and one motel [maps.abs.gov.au, 2021]

Hometown America’s land-lease sites in NSW are governed by the provisions in the Residential(Land Lease) Communities Act 2013.

In the first financial year Hometown America LLC was operating in Australia 2019-20 its local arm Hometown Australia Holdings Pty Ltd declared an income of $185,480,667 with no taxable income and no taxes paid. In 2020-21 its second financial year its local arm declared $314,117, 781 in income with no taxable income or tax paid. [Australian Taxation Office, Data Sets, Corporate Tax Transparency, Report on Entity Tax Information 2019-20 & 2020-21]

Hometown Australia is gaining a similar reputation to its U.S. parent company when it comes to resident’s complaints and concerns about its business practices – particularly in relation rent increases and poor maintenance of community facilities [media report 2020, media report 2021 & media report 2022].

That Australia faces rising air, land & sea surface temperatures is a situation that can no longer be denied and yet federal, state and local governments are not fully addressing the thermal mass of subdivision & individual residential dwelling design

 

The fact that ambient air temperature, lad surface and sea surface temperatures are rising across the Australian continent can no longer be denied.

GRAPH: Australian Bureau of Meteorology

In New South Wales generally average maximum temperatures in the month of January 2024 ranged from around 24°C to 36-39°C, spiked by days on end of heatwave temperatures which often broke temperature records for individual localities.

MAPPING:  Australian Bureau of Meteorology

In the north-east coastal zone of the state the minimum air temperature was 1°C higher and maximum air temperature 1-2°C higher than they were between 1981-2010.

In January the highest Northern Rivers region minimum & maximum recorded daily temperature range was:

Evans Head 24.8—38°C

Grafton 24.5—37.6°C

Yamba 25.6—37.2°C

Murwillumbah 27.1—36.2°C

Casino 27.1—36.2°C

Lismore 24.5—35.6°C

Tabulam 23.0—34.9°C

Byron Bay 25.6—32.7°C

Ballina 24.9—34.2°C

Note: These are the nine official Bureau of Meteorology weather stations in the Northern Rivers region.

Yet despite all this new subdivision schemes and housing designs are paying little more than lip service to sustainability and mitigating the thermal load of both the internal road networks of these subdivisions or the collective & individual loads of dwelling contained there in.

Apparently, multi-dwelling structures that increasing look like a collection of boxes are skating through BASIX requirements on the presumption that each individual box within these boxes will be fully air conditioned at some point before occupation or that if ceiling fans are fitted to some of the rooms then this will mitigate heat.

An assumption which:

(i) takes no account of the increasing stress air conditioning places on a household's cost of living. Because the price per kilowatt hour & associated charges of residential electricity supply continues to rise and commonly these multiple dwelling boxes are not built with any rooftop solar power grid to mitigate cost;

(ii) completely ignores the increasing risk of destructive storms causing levels of damage to power supply infrastructure that cuts power supply to both collections of streets or entire towns for days/weeks at a time. As occurred in heatwave conditions in 2024; and

(iii) appears to leave the thermal load of closely clustered internal roads out of the equation completely.

I expect the latest collection of boxes being considered by Clarence Valley Council will also get the nod because I have yet to see this local government apply the full suite of climate change policies to every development application before deciding consent. The heat footprint of an application rarely rates a mention in Council-in-the-Chamber debates or elicits questions to senior staff attending. Neither are there many mentions of the heat island affect caused by new roads, pavements and driveways. Nor does the wind resistance factor of a proposed building arise - and given the entire Clarence Coast is now in a cyclone risk zone that borders on the negligent when assessing new development applications.

Artists impression of street view of 6 Yamba Road, Yamba proposed subdivision. IMAGE: BDA

Set out below are some basic facts about how the freestanding houses, town houses, duplexes, units and flats we live in attract and retain heat.

Australian Government, Your Home, retrieved 19 February 2024:

Passive Design

What is thermal mass?

In simple terms, thermal mass is the ability of a material to absorb, store and release heat. Materials such as concrete, bricks and tiles absorb and store heat. They are therefore said to have high thermal mass. Materials such as timber and cloth do not absorb and store heat and are said to have low thermal mass.

In considering thermal mass, you will also need to consider thermal lag. Thermal lag is the rate at which heat is absorbed and released by a material. Materials with long thermal lag times (for example, brick and concrete) will absorb and release heat slowly; materials with short thermal lag times (for example, steel) will absorb and release heat quickly.

Thermal mass

Thermal mass, or the ability to store heat, is also known as volumetric heat capacity (VHC). VHC is calculated by multiplying the specific heat capacity by the density of a material:

• Specific heat capacity is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1kg of a material by 1°C.

• Density is the weight per unit volume of a material (ie how much a cubic metre the material weighs).

The higher the VHC, the higher the thermal mass.

Water has the highest VHC of any common material. The following table shows that it takes 4186 kilojoules (kJ) of energy to raise the temperature of 1 cubic metre of water by 1°C, whereas it takes only 2060kJ to raise the temperature of an equal volume of concrete by the same amount. In other words, water has around twice the heat storage capacity of concrete. The VHC of rock usually ranges between brick and concrete, depending on density. Most common building materials with high VHC also tend to be quite conductive, making them poor insulators.

Thermal lag

How fast heat is absorbed and released by uninsulated material is referred to as thermal lag. It is influenced by:

• heat capacity of the material

• conductivity of the material

• difference in temperature (known as the temperature differential or ΔT) between each face of the material

• thickness of the material

• surface area of the material

• texture, colour and surface coatings (for example, dark, matte or textured surfaces absorb and re-radiate more energy than light, smooth, reflective surfaces)

• exposure of the material to air movement and air speed.

To be effective in most climates, thermal mass should be able to absorb and re-radiate close to its full heat storage capacity in a single day–night (diurnal) cycle.

In moderate climates, a 12-hour lag cycle is ideal. In colder climates subject to long cloudy periods, lags of up to 7 days can be useful, providing there is enough solar exposed glazing to ‘charge’ the thermal mass in sunny weather.

Embodied energy

Some high thermal mass materials, such as concrete, cement-stabilised rammed earth, and brick, have high embodied energy when used in the quantities required. This highlights the importance of using such construction only where it delivers a clear thermal benefit. When used appropriately, the savings in heating and cooling energy from the thermal mass can outweigh the cost of its embodied energy over the lifetime of the building. Consideration should be given to using high thermal mass materials with lower embodied energy, such as water, adobe or recycled brick.

Why is thermal mass important?

When used correctly, materials with high thermal mass can significantly increase comfort and reduce energy use in your home. Thermal mass acts as a thermal battery to moderate internal temperatures by averaging out day−night (diurnal) extremes.

In winter, thermal mass can absorb heat during the day from direct sunlight. It re-radiates this warmth back into the home throughout the night.

In summer, thermal mass can be used to keep the home cool. If the sun is blocked from reaching the mass (for example, with shading), the mass will instead absorb warmth from inside the home. You can then allow cool breezes and convection currents to pass over the thermal mass overnight to draw out the stored energy.

Conversely, poor use of thermal mass can reduce comfort and increase energy use. Inappropriate thermal mass can absorb all the heat you produce on a winter night or radiate heat to you all night as you try to sleep during a summer heatwave.....

A suspicious person might wonder if the well-heeled owners and operators of Airbnb-style short-term rentals in Byron Bay may have been lobbying both Macquarie Street and Darcy Street to protect their lucrative income earners

A suspicious person might wonder if the well-heeled owners and operators of Airbnb-style short-term rentals in Byron Bay may have been lobbying both Macquarie Street and Darcy Street concerning Byron Shire Council’s desire to place a 60-day annual cap on short-term rentals by June 2024.

With the following consequences.......

The Echo, 9 August 2023:

Byron Shire Council risks losing its planning powers to ‘independent intervention’ if it does not ‘demonstrate how it intends to improve its housing supply’.

In an aggressive letter to Council’s general manager, Mark Arnold, Sydney-based Deputy Secretary NSW Planning, Marcus Ray, outlined what he believes is Council’s failure in fast-tracking housing supply for the area, adding that Council’s development application (DA) processing times ‘are among the slowest in the state’.

In the letter, which was provided to The Echo, Mr Ray demands that Council outline ‘commitments it intends to make over the next three, six, 12 months and beyond, to deliver at least 4,522 new and diverse homes to 2041’.

It’s a target that he says Council will fall ‘well short of’.

Where is the flood data?

The demand comes despite his own department still sitting on the long-awaited 2022 flood data that will underpin further developments.

In previous years, the NSW planning department told The Echo that housing targets are set by councils, are flexible, and not enforceable.

Regarding the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) report recommendations on short-term rental accommodation (STRA), which are yet to be adopted/rejected by NSW Labor Minister Paul Scully, Mr Ray says, ‘it remains critical for Council to demonstrate how it intends to improve its housing supply before any decision on Council’s planning proposal can be made’….

Read the full article here.