Shopping Center DA Approved!

🎉 BIG NEWS FOR CUMBALUM 🎉

Stages 1 and 2 of the Development Application (DA) for the Cumbalum Village Precinct have finally been approved by Ballina Shire Council (BSC).

This has been a long time coming, and we know the vast majority of our community has been waiting far too long for this moment, but it is finally happening! 🙌 

Residents of Cumbalum/Ballina Heights will be relieved to hear that DAs for Stage 1 (commercial spaces) and Stage 2 (supermarket and bottle shop) have been finally approved after 2 years since its first submission. That said, residents have been promised by Real Estate agents and Developers in the estate for almost 20 years for these amenities and are rightfully frustrated it has taken this long.

The question is, why did it take so long in the first place?

Originally, the shopping precinct was zoned and planned for development at the top of the Ballina Heights Estate on a much larger parcel of land with a larger supermarket slated for development.  Woolworths originally expressed interest in taking up the lease.  However, this lease fell through for reasons fully unknown to us - possible due to a shift in location to Lennox Head or due to Woolworths committing to rebuilding the shop in Ballina that had been damaged in a fire. Many years in the waiting passed, with no action, and then the land owners and Council agreed on a deal to move the shopping precinct to a smaller but more accessible location at the bottom of the estate (corner of Power Drive and Ballina Heights Drive) as the developers stated that they were not able to secure a large commercial supermarket willing to take up the lease.

Two development applications were then submitted by the Ballina Catholic Parish in June and December of 2023 for the current developments. It has taken Council over 2 years to review and finally approve the developments after numerous back and forth requests for information by Council and the developers.  This requests for further information occurred on three separate occasions with Stage 1.  When the CRA queried why a single request for information with all of the conditions set out by Council was not given, Council informed the CRA that due to the high volume of DAs being processed, several external contractors had been called in to assess the DAs, and that each of them were separately requesting additional information which contributed to the delays. 

Now both the DA's have finally been approved - so what does this mean?

Although the DAs have now been approved, which is a positive step forward, the Ballina Catholic Parish is now investigating potential litigation around contesting the development contributions that Ballina Shire Council has set for Stage 1 of the development as a condition of the development consent. The developer's rationale is that development contributions should only be applied if there is an increase to the demand for public services and arterial roads.  The developers argue that the shopping precinct will actually decrease the demand on the arterial road network.

Will this litigation slow down further the development and construction of the shopping center?

The CRA has contacted representatives of the Ballina Catholic Parish and have received information that despite the potential litigation, they are committed to commencing the development, beginning with the preparation of Construction Certificate drawings. The CRA has also been in contact with Ballina Council representatives to determine how far the development can proceed if the developers are taking up legal action - this has yet to be determined. So in short, we are moving along in a positive direction but not totally “out of the woods” yet…

Below you can see the Stage 1 and Stage 2 plans - Stage 1 comprising of the shops and Stage 2 the food store/mini supermarket.

You can follow all updates via our CRA website or come to our meetings (see meeting schedule under EVENTS).

If you have any concerns about construction, please direct them to Ballina Shire Council:

💬 Lodge a quick webform - Customer Feedback

📱 Or use the super-easy app - “Snap Send Solve” App

For further reading, you can also check out our previous article on the Cumbalum Shopping Precinct: Shopping Precinct and Village Square needed, Cumbalum has been promised a shopping center for over 20 years. This has been advertised by the real estate agents with each block of land sold.