The Development Application (DA) for the Eastwood Estate in Goonellabah was given the clear thumbs up from Lismore City Councillors during yesterday's extraordinary council meeting.

The McCloy Group first commenced the development of Eastwood 18 months ago, in mid-2019, seeking to create a new lifestyle offering in the Goonellabah and Lismore areas.

The initial development, Precinct 1, was approved for 136 homesites on 21 hectares. McCloy then purchased Precinct 2, 37 hectares adjacent to the first development.

Initially, the proposal consisted of 203 residential lots, which was refused by councillors in 2022, this was upheld in the Land and Environment Court in 2023.

The McCloy Group came back to council with a revised DA addressing staff concerns. Council staff were satisfied the DA met guidelines and recommended councillors approve the DA. Yesterday, the DA was approved for 176 new lots, 9/2.

Councillor (Cr) Andrew Gordon acknowledged the adjusted DA, saying, "I think they've done a really, really good job".

"We keep on talking about providing relief for our residents through home ownership or other. Diluting the pool is always a good way to start if you want more ratepayers, it lessens the burden upon those in the pool, gives you more resources for community services and the other ideals and all the expectations the community have upon you to perform a role as council.

"176 lots off the bat. Wouldn't that be fantastic. As you walk through the existing subdivision they've done, it's fabulous. It really is. There's a lot of young families that are coming in, and it's my hope that Lismore will become the dormitory suburb for the Eastern Seaboard.

"You can't buy a block down there next to Mum and Dad; that doesn't exist anymore unless you've got a million or two, and I'm hoping people come to Lisbmore and live because if they do, then we will be resourced, things will improve for us.

"We have a population growth dilemma. We're going backwards. Have been for a number of years. You don't get more services when you're going backwards, you get less. You don't get more resources when you're going backwards, you get less. So if we start growing our population, we'll attract different services, more funding, we'll have better facilities, we'll have things for kids and others to do. That's what we want.

"And I think we have an obligation in this chamber to ensure that the growth of this city is maintained, so that we do have the resourcing for public facility and amenity."

Cr Jasmine Knight-Smith said she thought the DA, "was an improtant part of the mix of flood-free housing moving forward, and with Landcom for social and affordable housing, it is really important for this area".

Cr Virginia Waters felt there was still some aspects missing in the DA.

"I think, in this development, firstly, there's a lack of clear affordable housing component, and it does not align with our affordable and diverse housing strategy. The development misses a vital opportunity to deliver on this strategy, which is diverse, affordable housing that meets the long-term community needs.

"We've been wanting this for over 15 years; even with the reduction from 203 to 176 lots, this proposal is still over-developed, and some medium-density housing could have addressed this by using a smaller footprint while delivering more green space and also adding diversity to it.

"It does not include the necessary green space or village centre that would make this livable, which we did see in the Bruxner development, which I thought was really a great development.

Cr Waters was also concerned about the C3 conservation area.

"I would have liked to have seen something put in there about a Landcare group being developed, which I think is something we can look towards in the future, and asking some of our developers to also do so that we can actually have ensurance that we're looking after that.

"And although they've retained the koala trees, they are also on private property. So I think that is a little bit dubious in terms of, like, how protected are they? So I had some concerns around that as well, and also because the habitat is fragmented and there's roads and it's 50 kilometres, it's not a great opportunity for the koalas."

Cr Waters also mentioned there is no place for flood-affected homes to be relocated.

"We know there are homes on the flame plane that need to be moved to safer grounds, yet developments like this offer no relocation opportunities for our beautiful, big scrub hardwood homes. And in good conscience, I cannot vote for this.

"Unfortunately, this is a high-end car-dependent estate, while our flood-affected community members have nowhere to go. Our community deserves quality, diverse housing, but we must also preserve the balance between development and nature as nature is not an endless resource, and I think that this could do better in terms of the nature and the habitat for the koalas.

Cr Waters' fellow Green's councillor, Cr Adam Guise, said he will be singing from the same hymn book. " I do still object to this development".

"I still have grave concerns that it's just window dressing for a very unsustainable development, and the scale is still hugely impactful. You're talking about 176 residential lots, smack bang amongst koala feed tree habitat next to bushland, which is a koala corridor. It requires extensive internal roading and hundreds, if not thousands, over its lifetime, of car movements to and from the estate to places that people work and play.

Cr Guise also questioned Cr Gordon's 'dormitory suburb' vision.

"That, to me, is the worst possible thing that Lismore could be. We do not want dormitory suburbs where people just commute to and from Lismore to sleep here. We want active, vibrant members of our community living and working in Lismore, and we need to create a town and a city that enables that, and so just to create a suburb for the Eastern workers or players or entertainers who drive to and from Lismore is not in our best interest, is not in the roads best interests, and is not in the wildlife best interests.

The way they've done this to retain the, I think it was 50 or 60 or more core koala feed trees is simply to integrate them into private lots. And if I've seen in this chamber time and time again when there's a tree on a block, it somehow disappears over time. It might be six months, it might be a year, but we will incrementally, by the death of a thousand cuts, see those core koala feed trees disappear."

Cr Harper Dalton-Earls spoke for the DA. He believes that Lismore desperately needs more housing.

"It's a simple economic measure in terms of supply and demand. You need more supply to bring down demand, which brings down the prices. That's like economics 101, whilst it might be slightly imperfect in the issues raised by both Cr Waters and Cr Guise that I thank you for raising at the same time, if we keep knocking back developments, people have no avenues, we get less ratepayers, the burden becomes greater on those that remain, and people continue to leave.

"I am fundamentally against campaigns that wish to support people to stay in high-risk buyback homes, and I think that this is a good solution in terms of helping to open up more development. Yes, I would like to see developments in the future allow for relocated homes, but that's an issue New South Wales wide. It's not just subject to Lismore, and I think that's something that we can continue to work on as a longer-term strategy, but we must encourage housing development."

Cr Dalton-Earls also questioned Cr Guise's statement that koala feed trees would be knocked down.

"And just my own personal experience, I had a gum tree out the front of my house. It was one lone gum tree in South Lismore. I couldn't get anyone to maintain the thing. I tried for years because it's a risk; wherever it falls, it's going to fall on a house. Now, if I wanted to try and get rid of that gum tree, it was like pulling teeth. So, I don't actually think it's that easy to remove trees. It's an extremely arduous process that goes for a lot of checks and balances, and I think that that same due diligence would be in place if anyone was to try and remove these gum trees."

Precinct 2 of the Eastwood Estate was easily passed 9/2, with Crs Guise and Waters opposed.