Go-ahead for GemLife land lease community after six-year fight
The long-running battle over GemLife’s planned community appears to have come to an end with the NSW Land and Environment Court ruling in favour of the ASX-listed operator on 16 February.
GemLife originally lodged a development application for a $74 million 230-home land lease community on 56.36ha of land in West Ballina in the NSW’s Northern Rivers region in June 2020.
The development area, which includes the proposed built form and earthworks, comprises 10.17ha, with a conservation area of 46.59ha. There are approximately 18.275ha of mapped coastal wetlands on the site, all of which will be protected within the conservation area.
In September 2020, GemLife lodged a ‘deemed refusal appeal in the NSW Land and Environment Court (LEC) after Ballina Shire Council did not determine the DA within the statutory period.
In November 2021, the LEC refused the development application, finding the land was ecologically sensitive and raising concerns about impacts on the freshwater wetland and flood‑related issues.
Gemlife kept negotiating for a resolution but Ballina Shire Council subsequently moved to rezone the land from its former medium‑density residential setting to Environmental Conservation, and the NSW planning department approved this rezoning request in late 2023.
GemLife submitted a new development application to the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) on 30 November 2023, with the capital expenditure risen to $48.8 million (63% increase). That application was refused on 11 December 2023.
Ballina Councillor Keri Dicker said before NRPP’s formal refusal, GemLife commenced new ‘deemed refusal’ proceedings in the LEC, legally correct in using the existing zoning framework, before it was zoned Environmental Conservation.
The first hearing in the LEC was in September 2024.
Approval has now been given for 110 independent living units built over five stages, together with a manager’s residence, outdoor recreation areas and a clubhouse with recreational and dining facilities.
The court in its ruling directed GemLife and Ballina Shire Council “to confer and reach agreement on conditions of consent that reflect the findings in this judgment by 27 February 2026”.
