Bayside Brunswick Heads: The Facts

The below outlines key information about Clarence Property’s development of the final stages of the Bayside Brunswick Heads – including development approvals, environment and habitat management, frog habitat protection and creation, public amenity and access.

Development Approval and Timeline

• Publicly available historical aerial imagery (below) from the NSW State Government shows that the Bayside site and surrounding land has been clear since at least the 1950s and has been maintained in its current state ever since.  The imagery shows almost all vegetation within the development area is regrowth and not remnant vegetation.  The land on which the development is proposed was zoned ‘residential’ under both the Byron Local Environmental Plan 1988 and the updated LEP of 2014.
• The original Concept Plan for the Bayside site was lodged by the site’s previous owner Codlea Pty Ltd and received approval from State Government in 2013.  Stage 1 of that Concept Plan approval was subsequently constructed by Codlea (the existing Bayside Brunswick residential estate). Clarence Property acquired the site from Codlea in 2021 and lodged an amended proposal for the remainder of the site, which was approved by the State Government’s Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) following extensive community consultation.  This project is not a ‘zombie DA’ and has been continually worked on since Concept Plan approval was first received in 2013.
• Clarence Property’s amended Concept Plan reduced the amount of development land from 17.3 hectares to 12.3 hectares, retaining 18 hectares – or 60% of natural wallum country on the site –  to save flora and fauna habitats and existing vegetation, including the protection, extension and enhancement of specialised acid frog habitat.

Community Consultation

• Clarence Property initiated community consultation prior to the lodgement of the development application for the masterplan of the final stages of Bayside Brunswick Heads. The consultation program included an onsite event on 29 May 2021 which was attended by approximately 40 local residents. This was advertised via site signage, online, quarter page newspaper advertisement in the Byron Shire Echo and letterbox drop. There were no Covid-19 restrictions in place preventing attendance at the consultation event.
• Once the development application was lodged, Byron Shire Council commenced its public exhibition process from 7 October to 3 November 2021, including newspaper notice, online information, letters to adjoining and surrounding landowners, notice to community members and site signage.

Landscape Management – Tree Removal and Retention; Native Species Management

• Management of vegetation is guided by Australian Wetland Consulting (AWC), who have been working on the Bayside site since it was originally approved for development in 2013.
• Retention of trees on site is guided by a Vegetation Management Plan (VMP) developed by AWC. The highest quality habitats on the site are to the eastern and western extents of the site and these are being retained as conservation areas.
• Clarence Property also revised the design of the final stages of Bayside to save approximately 3,000sqm of forest vegetation on the land to the south, which would have been cleared under the previous designs.
• The Concept Approval process saw proactive engagement with local organisations with cultural heritage interests and we worked with them to identify and save any trees or artefacts of significance.  The consultation process was open to any and all Indigenous persons or representative groups.  Both main local Indigenous bodies responded to invitations to inspect the site and following those inspections, it was documented within the agreed report that, “There are no issues in regard to items or places of historic heritage significance within the Subject Lands to be addressed”.
• Prior to the Subdivision Works Certificate approval by Byron Shire Council, Council engaged their own independent ecologist to review the ecological report, who confirmed that all conditions of consent had been fully addressed.
• Clarence Property has also had extensive investigations into the impacts of the development prepared by their ecological consultants.  These investigations have been peer reviewed by no fewer than three further independent ecologists, who all agree there are no impacts on threatened species which require further assessment than has already been completed.

Native Wildlife Protection (Koalas and Habitat Management)

• In the final stages of the Bayside community, 80+ new hollows have already been established, to offset the expected loss of 20 hollows within existing trees.  Hollows identified within scribbly gums marked for removal are unsuitable breeding habitat for the glossy black cockatoo, due to being too close to the ground.
• Independent studies have shown that correctly installed man-made hollows are highly effective, with cameras showing a near 100% investigation rate, and fauna investigating or using the hollows within hours of creation.
• BioNet records provided by the Sharing and Enabling Environmental Data (SEED) have determined the Bayside site is unlikely to be frequently used by koalas. The removal of 21 secondary koala food trees will be offset in a conservation corridor on site at a 2:1 ratio, resulting in a gain in food trees in the long term.  Numerous koala food trees will be retained within the residential zoned land, in addition to the 13-hectare eastern conservation area.
• Clarence Property will save and enhance approximately 2.6ha of high-quality acid frog habitat, providing foraging, breeding and sheltering areas for acid frogs on the eastern and western extents of the site. Such habitats are not ‘experimental’ and in fact are a well established and recognised method of habitat creation with a long demonstrated record of success across both private sector and government agency projects.
• A Wallum Froglet Management Plan (WFMP) will be administered by Australian Wetland Consulting (AWC), which has extensive experience and documented success in creating and managing acid frog habitats in South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales.

Landscape Management (Soil Testing, Flood Mitigation)

• Multiple assessments at the Bayside development site, in accordance with the legislated Acid Sulphate Soils Manual (Stone et al., 1998), have concluded that Acid Sulphate Soils are not present at the site.  Speculation to the contrary based on broad-scale Council maps is demonstrably false and misleading.
• The Bayside Brunswick Heads site has never been known to flood and was not the subject of flooding in the unprecedented regional flood event of 2022.  Clarence Property has completed extensive research into flood levels on site and the lowest level of the lowest lot is 940mm above the 1 in 100-year flood level, and 440mm above the Probable Maximum Flood level.

Public Amenity / Access

• Upon completion of Bayside, Clarence Property will deliver public access to Simpsons Creek, via a picturesque walking trail, complemented by public artwork installations and educational signage, informing locals on the flora and fauna native to this spectacular wallum country
• Clarence will also deliver a new community garden.
• The final stages will provide a series of accessible public open spaces and environmental experiences that can be shared and enjoyed by residents of the broader region. Experiences that will create meaningful environmental legacy for this region.

Sales / Land Supply

• Local buyers were offered the first opportunity to purchase in the Bayside Stage 7 Release 1, following receipt of Development Approval in May 2023. To date, 19 homesites in Stage 7 of Bayside have sold to purchasers, all of whom are from the Northern Rivers.
• Clarence Property’s development, the final stages of the Bayside Brunswick Head community – is the only zoned and approved residential development site in Brunswick Heads included as part of Byron Shire Council’s Future Housing Strategy – and is a key project in helping address the housing crisis.
• Read more about how Bayside Brunswick Heads is a key part of the solution to Byron Shire’s current housing supply crisis here. 

EnviroDevelopment Certification

Bayside Brunswick Heads is a certified EnviroDevelopment.

EnviroDevelopment certification recognises development projects of all types (including residential projects) that achieve outstanding sustainability outcomes in the areas of ecosystems, waste, energy, materials, water and community.  Developments may be awarded a 4, 5 or 6-leaf certification. Bayside has been certified in all 6 of these environmental categories.

Read more here.