A rainforest minutes from the CBD, a food production bowl and riverside walkways are among the big ideas being discussed for Lismore as it continues to recover from the 2022 floods.<\/p>\n
As the northern New South Wales city’s most flood-prone suburbs empty out, the NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA) is turning its attention to what will happen with the land left vacant by its housing buyback scheme.<\/p>\n
The state government has purchased more than 800 houses \u2013 including more than 500 in Lismore \u2013 in an effort to move people to higher ground.<\/p>\n
The RA, which has sold 80 houses for removal and demolished 149, plans to continue until the properties are cleared from the flood-plain.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Abandoned buildings such as the Italo Club in North Lismore have been left to the mercy of vandals.\u00a0 (ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross)<\/p>\n
The RA announced on Monday that it and the Lismore City Council would develop precinct plans to determine how to use the vacated land, which would be informed by input gathered during a series of in-person and online community feedback sessions.<\/p>\n
The first plan, focused on Lismore’s centre, will be developed from early 2026 and North Lismore, South Lismore and East Lismore will follow.<\/p>\n
Lismore MP and NSW Recovery Minister Janelle Saffin said the recovery and transition to a new normal could take decades.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Janelle Saffin says she understands that the transition is difficult. (ABC North Coast: Leah White)<\/p>\n
In North Lismore, where an estimated 95 per cent of houses have been bought back, the council may look at rezoning the area to allow for uses such as recreation, rainforest restoration and food production.<\/p>\n
“Things change dramatically, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be a beautiful, liveable, a place to be,” Ms Saffin said.<\/p>\n
She said a more piecemeal approach would be taken for vacant land in low-lying parts of South and East Lismore.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Adiyah Tyson (right) and Reed Fraser live in one of two houses still occupied in their neighbourhood. (ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross\u00a0)<\/p>\n
‘Great in theory’<\/p>\n
Weeds have sprung up around the fenced-off houses in North Lismore, one of the most flood-prone areas, where almost every house now sits vacant.<\/p>\n
Student Adiyah Tyson, who rents one of the two houses that are still occupied, says she has stayed because it is affordable and because housing options are limited in general.<\/p>\n
“Some of the ideas for what will happen in this area \u2014 they are great in theory, but I’d rather have somewhere to live,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I’d rather be near my community.<\/p>\n
“I’ve got mixed emotions about the ideas that are being thrown around because I just don’t know where people would go, because there’s nowhere really to go.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jack Nilon’s home has withstood several major floods over the years. (ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross)<\/p>\n
Jack Nilon, who has lived on Simmons Street, North Lismore for more than 50 years says it has been sad to see the demise of his neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
“You used to talk to your neighbour this side, that side, across the road \u2014 that’s all gone now,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s just me and the empty street.”<\/p>\n
He said he had no idea what would become of the area, but predicted it would grow “into wasteland”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Joe Weismantel says South Lismore will adapt to change, but he worries about what the future might bring. (ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross)<\/p>\n
Security was a concern for South Lismore resident Joe Weismantel as his suburb emptied out.<\/p>\n
“As far as fencing goes and being able to distinguish a line between private property and parks and reserves, who knows who will take responsibility for that type of thing in the future?” he said.<\/p>\n
Exploring big ideas<\/p>\n
Living Lab Northern Rivers has documented the changing landscape of the city and the impact of the changes on residents since the 2022 floods.<\/p>\n
It has also been working with the community on blue-sky ideas for the vacant land.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dan Etheridge is part of the Living Lab team that is working on big ideas for the future of the vacant land. (ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross)<\/p>\n
“As a society we are choosing to reverse some decisions that these were good places to settle,” Living Lab engagement director Dan Etheridge said.<\/p>\n
“Who owns that land, who’s responsible for its maintenance or liable for things that happen on that land? What is a good use of that land that supports the entire community?”<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t say the challenges are difficult to know \u2014 we just have to work hard at understanding them and discussing them and exploring what we do.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The NSW Reconstruction Authority is continuing to demolish or relocate houses. (ABC North Coast: Hannah Ross)<\/p>\n
In a statement the RA said the planning process would be guided by community input and a shared commitment to long-term resilience and safety.<\/p>\n
It said while the land remained under its ownership it would continue to carry out maintenance such as vegetation management and fencing to ensure the safety of neighbours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rainforest minutes from the CBD, a food production bowl and riverside walkways are among the big ideas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[79230,115135,64,63,115137,115138,52871,115136,44,115134,115133,40797,115132],"class_list":{"0":"post-178126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-2022-floods","9":"tag-2022-nsw-floods","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-flood-buybacks","13":"tag-lismore-flood-recovery","14":"tag-lismore-floods","15":"tag-lismore-house-buybacks","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-northern-rivers-floods","18":"tag-ra","19":"tag-reconstruction-authority","20":"tag-urban-planning-lismore"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}