Back in August 2024, the Lismore App wrote an article about the Diocese of Lismore investing $27 million in the Lismore CBD through the building of a 29-townhouse complex and a new Catholic School Education Office in Keen and Orion Street.

The townhouses were initially proposed to provide accommodation for healthcare professionals who were to be working at the new private hospital, the Diocese said it was looking at building opposite the Lismore Base Hospital. Those plans have no been scrapped.

The shortage of accommodation for doctors, nurses and medical staff in Lismore remains, so its initial intentions may well remain.

The townhouse site is 9,172 square metres and borders Keen Street and Orion Street (to the left of the roundabout). The site slopes down towards Coleman Street (near the Molesworth Street roundabout, where the old greyhound track operated pre-flood). There is an area of vacant land with shipping containers.

The top of the site is surrounded by overgrown plants and weeds, with two houses on the site. The house on Orion Street will remain (shown above); however, the house with a Keen Street entrance will be removed.

The development application (DA) said the 29-unit dwellings will be of modular design, so transportable. Fifteen (15) of the 29 will be stand-alone, and there will be a mix of 1-bedroom (5), 2-bedroom (16) and 3-bedroom town homes (8).

It is proposed that 41 parking spaces be provided near Coleman Street, with driveway access from Keen Street and Orion Street. There will be a communal BBQ area and landscaping works.

Conditions associated with the approval include building all habitable floor levels above the flood planning level, which is 14.03m, a Flood Evacuation Plan, and relocating the homes and associated structures like a caravan park and camping grounds if the habitable floor level is not achieved.

As we wrote in August last year, Units 1 – 24 are flood-free during the 1%AEP_CC design event, and Units 25- 29 will have a maximum depth within the lot of 0.42- 1.58m (Figure 7) and a velocity of 0.01-0.05 m/s. These will need to be able to be moved during a flood event.

(An aerial view of the new development)

There would be some land flood-free in the event of a PMF, at around 17 metres.

The second DA to be approved was the construction of a new Catholic School Education Office. To date, no plans have been viewed for this development.

The DA pointed to a change of use for the old Trinity Catholic College site that fronts Dawson Street with Keen Street access. The building of the Catholic School Education Office is estimated to cost $8.4 million.

This will be a staged development consisting of 5 stages, to change the use of existing buildings from an educational establishment to office premises and associated:

· demolition works;

· building alterations and additions (including building façade upgrades);

· new driveway, additional car parking, tree removal, landscaping; and

· a boundary adjustment subdivision

A DA approval has five (5) years to begin construction in Lismore. With these plans fast tracked for approval, it will be interesting to see if the Diocese of Lismore is keen to start work sooner rather than later.