Ballina Shire opposes height of Gateway development
Ballina Shire Council today voiced its opposition to a proposed seven-storey development on the riverbank just west of the RSL Club.
The council voted to advise the Department of Planning that the Ballina Gateway project be amended to comply with the Ballina Local Environment Plan (LEP) and the Combined Development Control Plan (DCP).
Parts of the Gateway development exceed the five-storey limit imposed on development in the CBD.
The development is worth an estimated $120 million and is proposed by the Mills family.
Under the plan, the developers have offered a 14m public access strip in return for an increase in height.
Maintaining riverfront public access has long been an issue in Ballina, with local activist group WATER Inc campaigning long and hard to ensure that new developments allow continued public access along the CBD riverfront.
Their efforts have been successful, and most likely were prominent in the thinking of the Gateway developers in planning the new residential and retail property.
Despite the council’s opposition to the height increase, it will not have the final say in whether Gateway goes ahead.
That decision rests with the New South Wales planning minister.
