To deliver the vision and initiatives of the Byron Bay Town Centre Masterplan, changes to our planning controls in the town centre are required.
We wanted to hear from the community at the very beginning of the process as to how the planning controls should perform. In June 2018, a series of workshops were held. We heard great ideas and suggestions about zoning, building heights, design excellence and parking, that formed the starting point and foundation for us to review how the planning controls should be amended.
Planning proposals (documentation to amend our Byron Local Environmental Plan LEP 2014) have been progressing to enable the changes. The first planning proposal to make changes about how parts of the rail corridor can be used, was finalised in September 2019.
The second draft planning proposal proposes to introduce a new ‘B3 Commercial Core’ zone for the town centre as well as development standards around design excellence, height, floor space ratio, activation of commercial frontages, maximum parking rates and mixed use development.
Alongside the planning proposal, we have prepared a new Chapter E10 of our Development Control Plan 2014 (DCP) to outline detailed planning controls.
Where are we now?
Following initial public consultation in November 2019, some changes were made to the planning proposal as a result of the feedback received. We are now awaiting approval from Dept Planning Industry and Environment to proceed with consultation on the amended proposal. The changes include:
- keeping floor space ratio
- design excellence provisions
- more DCP controls about roofs, sustainability, heritage and green infrastructure
- minor changes to height allowance mapping.
View the update report to 10 December 2020 Council planning meeting and Council's decision.