So Premier Perrottet, it's perfectly acceptable to drown a small coastal town in the name of of so-called progress?

This is a story about a small coastal town in New South Wales that is in the second stage of drowning.

It realised it was caught in a strong tide decades ago, started to tread water while looking about to see how far it was to the safety of a solid 'in good faith' urban planning riverbank, found it was in trouble and raised a hand high in the air hoping someone would notice its growing distress.

All that happened was that that successive federal, state and local governments waved at it from the shore and turned away to continue their discussions with property speculators and developers.

 

Click on images to enlarge

For decades this town has been told by federal and state governments that it needed to expand to grow their respective economies. Local government has said it needs to contribute to the local economy (and by implication grow Council's rate base) as well as the regional economy. 

Time and again developers have told the town that clear felling more and more land, as well as draining the marshes, natural flood ways and flood storage land then covering these areas with landfill, will benefit local communities by increasing the supply of housing in the town - that they are in fact 'good neighbours' to have in the community. If the community pushed back these same developers more often than not quickly fell back on their 'rights' as owners of portions of the hundreds of hectares in question and, not infrequently pointed to barely activated development consents they had hoarded as nest eggs until a more favourable political or economic climate developed.

And because all three tiers of government frequently talk in terms of legal ownership of land and its cash value as rateable land, regardless of its aesthetic, environmental, cultural and social value to the community, towns like Yamba at the mouth of the Clarence River often get sucked into responding in terms of the degree to which overdevelopment within long established urban precincts impacts on property ie., loss, damage and/or reduced amenity. 

It's understandable. Like many other coastal towns, a good many Yamba residents are home and/or business property owners themselves.

However, this conversation needs to be firmly turned away from an almost bloodless actuarial view of potential property losses and a new thread has to enter the argument - risk to the life, health and wellbeing of the town population on a individual and collective level.

Because is not just property or lifestyle that will be affected as the climate change risks increase.  

Therefore, all three tiers of government as well as property developers and those contracted to assist the progress of their development applications, need to be forced to face the potential for loss of life, injury and chronic illness if they proceed with political agendas and commercial aspirations on a 'business as usual basis'. 

Yamba, along with the entire east coast of Australia, is facing a rising level of risk because: 

Australia's climate is now on average 1.44°C(± 0.24°C) hotter than it was in 1910 with 1.0°C of this rise occurring since 1960; 

the surface waters of the ocean which forms the eastern border of the town are becoming warmer; 

the East Australia Current has increased in speed moving further down the NSW coast; 

wave patterns have changed and waves breaking on local beaches and estuary soft shorelines are more erosive;

sea-level rise has commenced;

season of the year patterns are changing; 

adverse weather events are becoming a fact of life;

and Yamba can no longer boast that it has one of the best climate systems in the world. 

Floods now move through the Lower Clarence River estuary on average once every three years with some intervals between floods being much shorter than that and, out of control bushfires driven by high winds have proven that the town is not immune to the threat of fire. East-Coast Lows batter the town during adverse weather events.

During such events - especially flood events - Yamba can be cut off from the wider Clarence Valley for days to weeks and experience disruptions to its food and medicine supply chains.

To date there is not one piece of state legislation, regulation or instrument which guarantees that ALL these risks are taken into consideration whenever a development application is lodged and progressed to the point of denial or consent.

Every battle against inappropriate development in coastal towns like Yamba has to be fought on a case by case basis and, again like Yamba, fought in towns whose topographies are being reshaped time and time again with no overarching understanding on the part of decisionmakers of potential consequences of their actions. 

When Yamba asks local government about safety in times of natural disaster it holds aloft a leaflet with a cry of "Nothing to worry about!" or words to that effect. Then tells residents that they should either 'self evacuate' (leave town ahead of its one road to the outside world being cut), 'shelter in place' (stay at home), go to stay with unspecified family or friends on the only high ground in the town - Pilot Hill with its mix of approx. 200 private and holiday rental dwellings clustered either side of three streets. Alternatively residents are told they could make their way to the ‘evacuation centre’, a low-lying local bowling club where an unspecified person/s will record their details but seemingly do little else.

So knowing that Yamba is vulnerable to almost the full suite of climate change risks - risks being exacerbated right now by inappropriate large scale development consents - who in this small town surrounded on all sides by bodies of water might be the most vulnerable?

How does Yamba bring this range of personal vulnerability to the notice of those overly complacent federal, state and local government decision makers?

A Brief Outline of Demographic Characteristics Which Potentially Indicate Vulnerable Persons within the town boundaries of Yamba, NSW, during an Adverse Weather Event caused by Bushfire or Riverine Flooding which may be intensified by Ocean Storm Surge or Stormwater Inundation.

Based on data collected by Australian Bureau of Statistics on CENSUS NIGHT, 10 August 2021, spatial information from id.com.au and Yamba Floodplain Risk Management Study 2008.

Yamba township is approx. 16.92 sq. kilometres in area with a current population density of 376.9 persons per sq. kilometre.

At all times there is one road acting as access and egress for the Yamba resident population and it is a designated evacuation route in times of bushfire or flood. This road along its length is at its lowest point 1.4mAHD and highest point 2mAHD. Note: Australian Height Datum (AHD) expressed as mAHD indicates height in metres above mean sea level. 

There are recognised difficulties to safe evacuation in and from Yamba in times of Lower Clarence River flooding:

“These are likely to be high on account of:

• the distance to high ground,

• Yamba Road will be cut early making access difficult,

• the roads will quickly be inundated by up to 1 m depth or

greater,

• the emergency services (SES, Police) will be “stretched”

answering calls throughout the area.”

[Webb, McKeown & Associates, October 2008]

Three significant flood ways taking water from the southern sections of the town to the Clarence River are now either partially built upon, impeded by poorly designed infrastructure or in the process of being blocked by hectares of new land fill.

There are within Yamba:

• est. 2,747 occupied residential dwellings housing 6,405 men, women & children;

• est. 875 lone person households in Yamba & another 1,191 two-person family households;

• est. 273 lone parent households;

• at least 136 residential dwellings with no car;

• est. 625 households without an internet connection at the dwelling. Note: Based on 2016 Census data as this question was not asked in Census 2021.

• est. 758 private dwellings being rented, excluding holiday rentals;

• est. 49 social housing properties being rented – 17 freestanding houses, 32 townhouses/duplex units;

• On the basis of vulnerable age groupings:

(i) 830 children aged between 0-14 years of age

(ii) 2,414 adults aged between 65-100+ years of age;

• On the basis of self-reported chronic health conditions:

2,482 persons with between 1 and 3 or more chronic conditions, including

(i) est. 71 children between 0-14 years of age with one or two health conditions

(ii) est. 200 adults aged between 65-85+ years of age with between one and three or more chronic health conditions:

Note: the range of long-term health conditions include but are not restricted to arthritis, asthma, cancer, dementia, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, lung conditions, stroke and mental health.

• On basis of possible inability to finance their own self-evacuation:

402 households with weekly family incomes of $0-$499 dollars, including

(i) est. 105 family households

(ii) est. 302 lone person & group households;

• the est. 300-1,000+ visitors staying in the town's hotel, motels, caravan parks, holiday rental accommodation who may be unfamiliar with the topography or road network in Yamba if/when required to seek safe shelter.

A word Premier Perrottet.....

Mr. Perrott, when heavy rainfall and major to extreme flooding events occurred earlier this year in the Northern Rivers region from Clarence Valley to the Qld-NSW border, members of your government - including yourself - called much of what happened "an unprecedented event, an unprecedented situation". 

But that is not really an accurate description is it?

It was a predictable event and a predicted situation.

Time and time again the United Nations has warned Australia that it was going to be the first continent to face the full force of climate change impacts. Successive NSW state governments have been aware of the rising level of risk since the 1990s.

You have been a member of the NSW Division of the Liberal Party since 2002, a member of the NSW Parliament and a member of the NSW Coalition Government since March 2011 and, a minister in that government since April 2014. You were NSW Treasurer for 4 years, 8 months, 6 days and went on to be state premier these last eleven months.

I have never heard anyone suggest that you were someone of limited intelligence. So there is no way you had not noted the increased risk of coastal erosion, bushfire and flood along the 1,973km long and 100km wide NSW mainland coastal zone, particularly in the last two decades. 

However, like many in positions of power before you Mr. Perrottet, you have ignored the situation and refused to face the issue of what that meant in terms of physical protection of the population. Or confronted the need to instigate reforms to land use as well as to planning legislation, regulations and instruments, in order to better reflect the circumstances of a society living in a changing climate.

As premier your electorate is the entire state. It's long past time you started to genuinely represent all those most vulnerable to climate change induced fire, storm and flood in that very large electorate - not just the NSW Liberal Party, foreign investors, big business, land speculators, property developers, political donors and your deeply suspect coalition partner, the NSW Nationals.

BRIEF BACKGROUND 

A handful of not so fun facts for Yamba residents  

Matters that state government, local government and regional planning panels should consider (but more often barely notice in passing) before granting consent for large scale residential developments along the NSW coastal zone.

Take Yamba for instance, bounded by the Clarence River estuary and Pacific Ocean...

Probable Maximum Flood (PMF). The largest flood that could conceivably be expected to occur at a particular location, usually estimated from probable maximum precipitation. The PMF defines the maximum extent of flood prone land, that is, the floodplain.

[NEW SOUTH WALES STATE FLOOD PLAN GLOSSARY , February 2018]

“Evacuation

1. Reliable access for pedestrians or vehicles required during a 100 year flood to a publicly accessible location above the PMF”

[RESIDENTIAL ZONES DEVELOPMENT CONTROL PLAN, effective from 23 Dec 2011 , FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT CONTROLS, LOWER CLARENCE RIVER FLOODPLAIN, YAMBA FLOODPLAIN & OTHER FLOODPLAINS]......

Approach to Yamba Bowling Club for most of Yamba population will be blocked by 1-in-100yr Flood at 2.09-2.2m & Extreme Flood at 3.56-3.68m. [https://maps.clarence.nsw.gov.au/intramaps97/]

In both flood types Yamba will be isolated from the wider Clarence Valley by floodwaters for a matter of days or weeks....

* 

Yamba Residents Group formed in response to inappropriate overdevelopment of a flood prone small coastal town

 

Clarence Valley Independent, 10 August 2022:

A new Yamba Residents Group was born, and unanimous opposition was shown to the sale of the Wooli Street hall by council at a community meeting on Saturday.

The public meeting was convened to highlight issues impacting the community including developments at Park Avenue, Orion Drive and West Yamba, the Yamba bypass and the proposed sale of the Woolli Street hall by Clarence Valley Council.

The meeting began with a screening of Suburban Intensification of Regional Towns – Urban and Environmental Planning Issues, a film by Dr Tony Matthews, senior lecturer in Urban and Environmental Planning at Griffith University.

Clarence Valley Councillors Bill Day, Debrah Novak and Steve Pickering all attended the meeting in the packed hall that the community showed it was willing to fight for.

The video, which was prepared for a meeting in 2021, illustrated seven possible issues facing the Yamba and wider Lower Clarence communities as a result of intensive residential developments such as those planned for Yamba.

Dr Matthews said the community will face issues including Traffic Congestion, Environmental Degradation, Limited Internet, Lack of Urban Greenery, Infrastructure Lags, Excessive Densities and Disappearing Backyards, many of which he said can snowball into social and health impacts on nearby residents.

Lynne Cairns then spoke about the 136 moveable home development proposed by the Homeland group for Yamba’s Park Avenue, which is currently before the Northern Regional Planning Panel for determination.

Mrs Cairns showed photos and videos of stormwater inundation in this year’s floods of properties around the Park Avenue site, which will raise by up to 1.6 metres of fill if developed, in Telopea Avenue, Yamba Road, Treelands Drive, Park Avenue and Shores Drive.

“It is going to be reconvened on the week of the 22nd of August, so we really need people to put in more submissions,” she said.

“This will be the last time you have a chance to make an impact on this development and I believe this development is just a forerunner for the future of developments in Yamba.”

Trisha Bowes then spoke about the expansion of Yamba’s Palm Lake Resort on Orion Drive, stating since the initial Development Application DA was approved, the developer has applied to modify the DA for 81 double storey houses up to nine metres in height (increased from 78 houses).

“Their latest modification is to say, on 3.4 hectares of land we are going to put 81 double storey houses, plus a clubhouse,” she said.

Ms Bowes questioned how the modification, which would see 81 double storey houses in a facility designed for seniors and people with a disability, was suitable for its target population.

“What they then say is we’re putting a lift in there…81 lifts,” she said.

“The people don’t own the land and when they buy a house they will say if you want a lift you have to pay for one and you can’t relocate it.”

Another modification to the DA, Ms Bowes said, was to move the location of the clubhouse and change the site boundaries to allow them to put the additional three houses in.

Ms Bowes reminded everyone they only have until this Friday, August 12, to lodge submissions with council concerning the proposed amendments to the DA.

Long term Yamba resident Col Shepherd then spoke about the proposed Yamba bypass, something he has been told ‘you won’t see that in your lifetime’ numerous times by council since the 1970’s.

Over the years, Mr Shepherd said there had been numerous variations of what the bypass would look like.

“Initially the idea was that there would be a bypass that would act as an alternative route from the vicinity of Oyster Channel approximately 500 metres to the south of Yamba Road, and proceed into the central part of town, he said.

“Since then, there has been change, after change…so much so that we are now talking about a bypass that is primarily from Shores Drive to town, or thereabouts.”

Since the late 1990’s costing of $6.5 million, Mr Shephard said environmental studies had forced route changes and this year council had allocated $150,000 for ‘scoping studies’ into what is required for a bypass.

Helen Tyas Tunggal was the next to speak on the growing development zone of West Yamba.

Ms Tyas Tunggal showed photos and videos of the area, which was first gazetted as West Yamba, now known as Crystal Waters, plus images and maps of the original West Yamba and Wyura areas.

The audience also saw images of more than five sites that are planned, or development was underway on Carrs Drive, West Yamba.

After a short break, Graeme Granleese then addressed the meeting on the proposed sale of the Wooli Street Hall.

He said in 2018 council resolved to expand the Treelands Drive precinct at a cost of $11.5 million and they applied for a grant of $9.9 million, with the shortfall to be covered by council.

“The other source of possible funds for this contribution is the sale of the Wooli St library and hall,” council staff reported at the time.

Mr Granleese said a recent valuation of the Wooli Street hall and library was $2.8 million

At the July 26 council meeting, Mr Granleese said it was revealed that the sale of Wooli Street hall would be used to cover the shortfall for the Treelands Drive upgrade.

Fears were expressed that once council rezones the Wooli Street hall site it could open the door to potential multi-level developments on the land.

Bobby McCaughey then also spoke passionately about the Wooli Street Hall and the diverse range of community activities it has hosted over the years…..

The full article can be read here.

Queensland white shoe brigade onboard as owner of around 33.49ha of James Creek land has another run at overdevelopment

 

The Daily Examiner online, 12 November 2021:

The James Creek plan could see hundreds of residential lots opened up.

The current proposal at Lot 104 James Creek Road, James Creek was lodged by Madison Ruygrok through Kahuna No 1 Pty Ltd. If approved by Clarence Valley Council it would see 327 residential lots, one commercial lot and two open-space lots created.

According to civil engineering drawings prepared by Geolink in October this year, the majority of proposed sites would be between 600-799 square metres in size with the subdivision to be delivered in five stages with most to have two or three sub-stages.

It’s not the first time the site has raised the ire of nearby residents so it is expected there will be some strong opposition to the most recent plan.

In the March 2014 fiery remarks were hurled from the public gallery as James Creek residents watched Clarence Valley councillors agree to rezone the lot from primary production to general residential and medium density residential.

Then, in November 2020, multiple submissions were made opposing a development application that proposed 336 residential lots, four drainage reserves, one commercial lot and one public reserve.

However, residents against the development were relieved to discover that a month later, the application was withdrawn.

But despite their best efforts to thwart that development, a future of medium to high-density housing in this quiet, semi rural Lower Clarence suburb seems inevitable.

Over a decade ago, James Creek was targeted as an ideal spot for urban growth.

According to the Mid-North Coast Regional Strategy 2006-2013, James Creek was identified as an area for proposed future urban release, along with Gulmarrad and West Yamba.

Residents and members of the community have until December 3 to make a submission to Clarence Valley Council on the development application (number SUB2021/0042).

The owner & only listed shareholder of Kahuna No.1 Pty Ltd is Billabong founder Gordon Stanley Merchant of Tungan Qld and Madison Ruygrok is currently listed as a Town Planner with Place Design Group Pty Ltd of Fortitude Valley Qld.

Oddly in SUB2021/0042 - currently before Clarence Valley Council - it lists the developer of the land as The Trustee for MPD INVESTMENTS UNIT TRUST not Kahuna No1.

Presumably The Trustee for MPD Investments Unit Trust - an entity created in 2021 with an ABN registered in Queensland - is associated with Gordon Merchant.

Mr. Merchant's financial difficulties became known when the Australian Taxation Office reportedly penalised him around $13 million "after an audit by the tax office has ended with Mr Merchant being disqualified for “recklessly contravening” superannuation laws, as well as owing $45m in back tax".  

Administrative Decisions Tribunal April 2021 records show that Mr. Merchant lodged an Income Tax Objection in October 2020 and, he remains disqualified from acting as trustee or responsible officer of corporate trustees of superannuation entities, under subsections 126A(2) and 126A(3) of the SIS Act. 

One has to wonder if either Kahuna No 1, MPD Investments Pty Ltd or The Trustee for MPD Investments Unit Trust are financially secure enough to meet all the fees and charges associated with this development application and commencement of works. 

Or indeed if it is wise to pack an est. 818 persons into such a sardine tin housing estate on approx. 33.49ha between Maclean and Yamba in what is essentially still an agricultural area on a sensitive part of the flood plain where floodwaters are  liable to cut off access to & egress from farms and urban areas in a strong flooding event.

Bundjalung elder Michael Ryan wins in NSW Land & Environment Court over North Lismore Plateau development application

Map showing AHIMs registered sites of Aboriginal cultural heritage value located at the southern end of the North Lismore Plateau land release site. Source: Converge Community and Heritage 2012 ‘North Lismore Plateau NSW Cultural Heritage Assessment 12043C/2012’ Figure 46 page 77

Lismore City Council, "North Lismore Plateau Urban Release Area", 2015

ABC News, 15 May 2020:

A major residential development underway on the New South Wales north coast is now in jeopardy after successful court action by a local Indigenous elder.

The Land and Environment Court has now ruled that approval of the development application was invalid, because no species impact statement was done.

Mr Ryan said he wept with joy when he heard the news.

"I didn't think we had any chance to win it, it was like a David and Goliath fairytale come true and we knocked them for six," he said.

"My old people told me a long time ago to protect this mountain with everything I had.

"This whole mountain is sacred, it's a story from the Dreaming … you can see in the landscape from the air the sleeping lizard."

Mr Ryan was assisted by veteran local activist Al Oshlack, from the Indigenous Justice Advocacy Network.

He said the case hinged on whether a species impact statement (SIS) should have been done for a site which is home to the threatened white-eared monarch and eastern long-eared bat.

"When they put in a development application, and it's going to have a significant impact on endangered species, it was up to the developer to attach the SIS with the development application," Mr Oshlack said.

"But then it became the [Lismore City] council's fault, because the council should have said that 'we can't accept lodging of this DA because it's not in the proper form'."

'They just rubber-stamped it'

The development application was approved by the Joint Regional Planning Panel in October 2018.

Mr Oshlack said he tried to raise his concerns at the time.

"They just rubber-stamped it," he said.

"During the hearing I yelled at them that we would be taking it to court and then [they] threw me out."…..

Work has already started on a housing development on the North Lismore Plateau, but the Land and Environment Court has ruled the approval invalid.(ABC North Coast: Bruce MacKenzie)

The development manager for the Winton Property Group, Jim Punch, said the court's decision came as a surprise to the developers……

Mr Ryan has said he will fight any future plans to develop the site, and will seek to have the land's heritage value formally recognised.

The matter will return to the Land and Environment Court later this month, when final orders will be issued.

NOTE

* A Native Title Claim by Widjabul Wia-bal people was registered with the Federal Court of Australia on 28 August 2013, applicable to the land which is the subject of this Development Control Plan.

* Originally Lismore City Council accepted with regard to the North Lismore Plateau (NLP) "Measures to conserve the habitat and movement corridors of Echidnas, in acknowledgment of the cultural heritage significance of this species. The NLP land was historically used as an “increase site” for Echidnas by the local Aboriginals." See Lismore City Council, "North Lismore Plateau Urban Release Area", 2015.

GJD Developments' Byron DA rejected by NSW Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel as “disrespecting the process”

A four-storey mixed use development covering three building lots totally 2,834m²  approx. 1km from Main Beach, comprising commercial premises, café, child care centre, 24 shop top residential units, 26 serviced apartments and underground parking for 120 cars, has failed to gain consent.

Echo NetDaily, 14 November 2018:

A contentious application to build a four-storey residential/commercial development at the southern end of Jonson Street has been refused by the Joint Regional Planning Panel, with one panelist branding it ‘disrespectful’.

There was a burst of applause from the public gallery as the panel unanimously rejected the $21.1m development at a meeting in Mullumbimby on Wednesday afternoon.

In doing so the panel went against a recommendation from Byron Council staff that the development be approved.

Instead, the panel accepted one of the main objections from locals, namely, that the proposed development was to be two-and-a-half metres above the current 9-metre height limit for that part of Byron.

This would have allowed the developer to squeeze a fourth storey into the building, going against resident’s long-held desire to maintain a three-storey CBD height limit.

In arguing that its proposal should be approved, the developer relied heavily on the fact that Byron Council has proposed to increase building height limits in this part of town to 11.5m.

But the panel found that until the proposed increase had gone through the appropriate community consultation processes and become law, the development could not be approved.

‘I’m concerned that we’re being asked to vary a height limit based on a proposal that hasn’t been subject to community consultation,’ panel member Pamela Westing said.

‘I find it disrespectful quite frankly, not to go through that process before making the application.’

Panel Chair Garry West agreed.

‘Who’s to say that, after the community consultation process, it [the new height limit] won’t come back to 10.5 metres or 10 meters?’ Mr West asked.

‘If we were to approve that at the moment we would be disrespecting the process.’

Earlier, the meeting heard from around a dozen residents and resident group representatives, all of whom objected to the proposal development.