Rebadged and revised: Broulee Road subdivision for 685 lots comes before Council
By Alex Rea
Brightway Development Group has lodged its revised planning proposal for a 685 lot subdivision at 207 Broulee Road, Broulee called Broulee Ridge.
A former Development application for ‘The Farm’, an 800 lot ‘agri-hood’ subdivision on the site was rejected by Council and the Southern Planning Panel in 2024.
The site is situated between the crematorium and Carroll College and is zoned RUI (rural) and C2 (environmental conservation) and would require rezoning.
The previous pitch for a ‘sustainable community’ has shifted to ‘affordable housing’ with 20% of homes to be affordable, rental and key worker housing.
Brightway Development Group says “It sets out a 685-lot master-planned community built around one of the South Coast’s most pressing problems: local workers and families who can no longer find a home they can afford.
The proposal commits 35 homes to affordable housing in perpetuity (not the usual 15 years), 35 build to-rent homes and 70 homes for key workers, with up to 100% finance available.
More than 50 hectares of the 125-hectare site would be kept as wetland, bushland and public open space. Housing for the people who keep the South Coast running Brightway Development Group CEO Edward Fernon said the plan was designed around the people the region relies on most.
“Eurobodalla has a major housing problem with nurses, teachers, tradies and young families who can’t find somewhere to live. This plan is built around them,” Mr Fernon said. “Most affordable housing schemes expire after 15 years, and then those homes go back to market. We have committed to 35 homes staying as affordable permanently, for the next generation of locals, not just this one.”
The proposal includes:
- 293 compact lots (from 300 m²) for first-home buyers, downsizers and smaller households
- 331 standard lots (from 550 m²) for families
- 51 lifestyle lots (from 1,000 m²) and 10 large lots (1 hectare and above)
- 35 affordable homes in perpetuity and 35 build-to-rent homes to add long-term rental supply
- 70 key worker homes, with a finance pathway of up to 100% to remove the deposit barrier
The site adjoins Carroll College, is about 1 km from Broulee village and is a 14-minute drive from the new $330 million Eurobodalla Regional Hospital in Moruya, which is expected to create around 600 direct jobs.
“The new hospital will bring hundreds of health workers to the region, and they need homes within a short drive,” Mr Fernon said.
“Broulee has amazing beaches, three schools, close to Moruya airport and a short drive to the hospital making this community exactly the right place for them.”
At the Councillor information session yesterday, Director Gary Bruce said “It is a very significant planning proposal and is likely to be controversial. We need to decide whether to submit it to the Dept for gateway determination. The DA was lodged in March and we have spent several months in discussion.”
Brightway says “The revised proposal follows feedback from the community, Council and State agencies on earlier versions of the plan. It has fewer homes than the original 800-dwelling scheme, a maximum building height of 8.5 metres across the whole site and an overall density of about six dwellings per hectare. “
“We listened. This is a lower-scale, lower-density plan that keeps the wetlands and bushland that make Broulee special,” Mr Fernon said. “Growth is coming to the South Coast either way. The question is whether it’s planned well, with the right mix of homes, or happens piecemeal.”
About 30.8 hectares would be protected and expanded as environmental conservation land, including the coastal wetland on the site, with a further 19.7 hectares of public recreation land.
A 9.3 km network of walking and cycling trails would link the community with Broulee village, local beaches and the schools. This includes a proposed path along George Bass Drive to Train Street, to be negotiated as part of a planning agreement with Council.
A neighbourhood hub with a pre-school and local shops, a community clubhouse, a playground and an outdoor community and events space would sit at the heart of the development.”
Mr Fernon said the Broulee proposal was a test of whether regional towns could grow with a deliberate housing mix.