A SLICE of the closed North Coast rail corridor has been purchased by a developer planning to build a 19-unit luxury apartment complex in Shirley St, Byron Bay.
Transport for NSW agreed to sell the land in February to the developer, Wollongbar Properties, for $465,000 plus legal costs and GST.
The 611sqm parcel sits at the rear of the proposed development at 17-21 Shirley St on the current site of the Wollongbar Motel.
It’s understood the developer is in the process of settling the purchase from the Department of Transport.
Wollongbar Properties has already been given consent to construct a 17-unit luxury apartment complex on the site in a development application lodged with Byron Shire Council last year.
However, on November 29 the company lodged a second DA which included notification it was purchasing the rail corridor land as well as some amendments to its original DA.
The new DA included an additional storey on the planned southern building in the two-building complex, and a total of two more units.
The purchase of the rail corridor land was required so the development would not exceed the maximum ratio between floor plan and the site, which is capped at 60%.
It’s not the first time small parcels of the rail corridor have been sold to developers in Byron Bay.
A glance at the Six Maps website provided by the NSW Government reveals another private encroachment on to the corridor three lots to the west of the planned development.
The proponent noted in the DA that: “The railway has not operated for many years and currently been made inoperative by the removal of several low level rail bridges along its route.”
It also mentioned the imminent launch of the tourist train from Elements to the Byron CBD, which would run past the site.
“The proposed development is not expected to adversely impact on the operation of the tourist train,” it noted.
Perhaps more of an issue for the proponent are the “isolated breaches” of Byron Bay’s building height restrictions of 9m in the new DA.
The two buildings on the existing site will be demolished, which include the Wollongbar Motel built in the late 1980s.
Story by Hamish Broome • Northern Star
LOL LOL LOL knew it all the shitty people didn’t want a rail trail. Got ya you bunch of wankers