With Byron Shire Council adopting the Development Control Plan (DCP) for the Bayshore Village site on Bayshore Drive, West Byron, these Questions and Answers provide some background to the plans for the site.
The site, originally owned by Council, was subdivided in 1989 to provide a mixed-use village-style development to nurture artistic and creative industries.
Council’s vision back in 1989 was for a contemporary ‘village’ – a place with a mix of uses and activities, a range of housing types, an emphasis on communal rather than private amenity, and a place that would be an incubator for small to medium creative industries.
The land was purchased by Bayshore Property Trust in 2000 with the intention of following through with Council’s vision.
Since then the Trust has worked in close consultation with Council staff to balance the original vision with realistic solutions to environmental, social and economic issues.
There is always a need to strategically plan for a range of housing and working environments – in any local area.
In Byron, the need for a creative, living neighbourhood is critical. Already in the West Byron Arts and Industry Estate there is a desire for people to live and work in the same place.
Bayshore Village can achieve this in an affordable way that considers potential conflicts, provides residential amenity and suits the West Byron area.
A variety of work places, studios and small retail premises will be complimented by consulting rooms, a spa and a well-being centre, offices, an on-site canteen, a community meeting place, a park and a community swimming pool.
A total of 68 dwellings proposed that all have integrated workspaces, Byron’s first live work precinct, set within extensive indigenous gardens.
A ‘site-specific’ Development Control Plan (DCP) has been adopted by Council for the Bayshore Village site. Adopting a DCP with specific and detailed controls is the best way to ensure the quality of the development – irrespective of the developer.
The Bayshore DCP is the product of detailed considerations regarding overshadowing, privacy, water management, and vehicle movements. Any Development Application must meet the stringent requirements set out in the DCP. the current DA meets the requirements of the DCP and exceeds them in some respects.
The preparation of a site-specific DCP for the Bayshore Village site was requested by Council.
From a planning perspective, Bayshore Village is unique to Byron Shire. It is classed as a ‘mixed-use development’, and while the existing Byron Development Control Plan 2002 (DCP 2002) has provisions for this kind of development (refer to the next FAQ), these provisions aren’t suitable for Bayshore Village.
At Bayshore Village, ‘mixed-use’ will mean a wholly integrated creative community of residents, small businesses and individual workers. This creative hub requires clear and specific controls.
The specific DCP also means that the whole, development can be thought of in an integrated and holistic way: the way buildings relate to each other spatially and how the water can be managed for example, rather than simply dropping random designs on identical lots.
DCP 2002 is mainly for conventional residential or commercial development. Its objectives – such as providing flexibility for innovative and imaginative development, achieving an ecologically, socially and economically sustainable urban environment or utilising existing infrastructure and encouraging sustainable transport options – are fully supported in the Bayshore DCP.
The Bayshore DCP sets out relative location, form, character and density controls to provide attractive, safe and workable neighbourhoods for residents and suitable areas for commercial tenants.
Through the Bayshore DCP, Bayshore Village will achieve better outcomes than it would have under DCP 2002 because of the different approach to improved amenity, sociability, economic viability, affordability and overall sustainability.
The Bayshore DCP does not override existing planning controls; it simply meets the objectives of the Byron Local Environmental Plan (LEP) more appropriately. The process and outcome is entirely consistent with the original intentions of Council when the site was originally rezoned.
The controls in the Bayshore DCP are more specific and prescriptive than DCP 2002 in recognition of the greater complexity and mixed-use nature expected for a development in a 2 (v) Village zoning (see next FAQ)
The Bayshore DCP places greater emphasis and stronger controls on the relationship between building forms and street layout, the amount of open space and the management of stormwater than is possible with DCP 2002.
As a specific example, one of the principle means of ensuring amenity in DCP 2002 is the provision of private gardens. The Bayshore DCP goes further: 12% of the site is set aside for private gardens through the DCP, with a further 36% of the site opened up as publicly accessible, communal landscaping. This means the Bayshore DCP allows for a total of 48% landscaped area, a significantly higher figure than would be delivered by DCP 2002.
The Bayshore Village site was originally subdivided after the land was rezoned to 2 (v) Village zoning under the Byron LEP, with the intention of establishing a contemporary version of an artisans’ village.
This zoning was the most flexible urban zone within the LEP. The objectives of 2 (v) Village include:
to provide for integrated newly developing residential neighbourhoods;
to encourage a range of housing types in appropriate locations;
to enable development for retail commercial and service purposes where the scale and type of development is compatible with living areas;
to ensure adequate water supply and sewerage disposal and to ensure consideration of the likely impact of the development on the area; and
to ensure new development retains and enhances the existing character of the village or neighbourhood.
This original intention has been carried through into the Bayshore DCP.
There is also, under the Byron LEP, an explicit requirement that under 2 (v), a specific DCP should control development ‘to ensure … the location, form, character and density of permissible development’.
Overall, the dwelling density of the proposal is comparable to a conventional subdivision and consistent with DCP 2002. The impacts of the residential population will be the same as if the site were developed for purely residential purposes
However, the design elements of Bayshore, such as proposals to use the floor area differently, achieve significantly more sustainability gains than conventional residential development. Less pressure will be placed on rural and local bushland and cars can be used less. At the same time, there’s a greater ability to strengthen and diversify the local economy.
Higher overall density provides opportunities for live/work solutions and affordable rentals (as offered by the one-bedroom dwellings). From a commercial perspective, allowing people to live and work on site can build local businesses in an environment where resources and services can be shared.
While some of the buildings appear to have site coverages and density, this is balanced by large areas of common space. The emphasis on public and shared amenity is at the heart of the village philosophy.
There is currently no development like this in Byron. Residents need to either pay for housing as well as a workspace – or simply break the law.
The Bayshore DCP facilitates a holistic and integrated approach to community and the economy. It raises to bar to achieve significant social, environmental and economic benefits for the community of Byron Shire.
This integration means a better ability for social cohesion within the creative village community. As an example, retail and commercial areas will look out on courtyards that are open to everyone. This is offered in addition to recreation facilities.
Roads and common spaces will be shared accessible landscapes, comprising 36% of the site. This is possible only through an integrated design in which roads occupy only 14.5% of the site and open vegetated swales are used instead of curb and guttering. All pervious car parking – comprising 9% of the site – is part of the water management strategy.
Lanes are designed as landscaped avenues. Only 15% of the site is hard surfaced roads thanks to greater emphasis on soft and pervious landscaping.
Bayshore Village is one of several proposed developments in West Byron, yet is completely separate to the Belongil Fields proposal (which Council included in the Byron LEP when adopting the Bayshore DCP) and any proposed development on the 100 hectare site from Belongil Creek west to Sunnybrand Chickens.
The planning for infrastructure and impacts such as traffic levels, construction issues, and amenity for nearby neighbourhoods will be considered in the context of the wider West Byron area rather than just the Bayshore site.
Ecological enhancement works around the edges of the site have been approved by Council. These works, designed with Council’s ecologist and consultants working on the Acid Frog Monitoring program for West Byron, will not just compensate for any impacts of development – they will provide significant new habitat in the area.
The works will be funded by the developer and undertaken in conjunction with, and under the supervision of, Council. The Bayshore Village community will look after the ongoing and perpetual maintenance of this new enhanced habitat.
On site, the development will minimise its environmental footprint by building up densities and co-locating work and living spaces in one area. Architectural features and servicing arrangements will minimise energy and water use. Rainwater harvesting is proposed, and recycled water from the STP can be integrated into the development, should it become available for residential use.
Byron Shire needs to find ways for local people – including those without access to significant financial means – to afford to live in or run a business in Byron Bay. Bayshore Village provides an opportunity to bring in a development which both offers the wider area some economic prosperity while giving local people an affordable, creative option.
The Village will offer a diversity of housing, ownership patterns, price and building types to meet the diverse needs of the local community. This will have a positive impact on the affordability and choice of housing for prospective buyers and tenants.
Council’s adoption of the DCP does not mean that development can automatically proceed. It merely represents a framework to help assess a Development Application (DA) for the site which will still need to be lodged.
The DA will be detailed, thorough, and may be publicised for comment and input from the community, as is normal Council practice. The development will be judged on its merits under the Bayshore DCP, which sets a high standard.
No. The land is already zoned urban, and so is not subject to the 2007 Settlement Guidelines that apply to land being rezoned from rural to urban.
The Bayshore DCP is zoned for urban development under the Far North Coast Regional Strategy and has been included within the growth modelling for the region.
Bayshore is a well designed, sustainable development which will link to the adjoining Arts and Industry Estate. The Bayshore DCP provides the framework to provide significant social, environmental and economic benefits. Further planning processes, including assessment of the DA, will help ensure the right outcome for the site.
All relevant planning issues including noise, odour, habitat, fire and traffic have been considered in the current DA.
