The Bright side: Developer says estate will ease town's housing pain

With almost 300 Bright properties used as short-stay accommodation through Airbnb, chief executive of Melbourne-based Deague Group Will Deague, speaking at the sales launch of the Bright Valley estate on Thursday, May 2, said the construction of hundreds of new homes would in turn address a shortage of affordable housing.

"In the last three or four years, there has been about 130 new houses built in Bright. Obviously, an additional 350 houses done the right way will be a great addition to Bright for the housing affordability issue," he said.

"We have got some stuff that is not exactly affordable, but it's a lot less than the median house price in Bright."

According to view.com.au, the median house sale price for Bright was just over $990,000.

"I've sat on a lot of committees to try and solve the key worker accommodation problem, and it's very difficult in a very sensitive community where not many houses are being built to try and help solve that problem," Mr Deague said.

"No one wants to rent their house long term for $200 a week, they all want to rent short term, 250 nights a year at a high rate rate per night and obviously get the most revenue.

"We believe by adding this many houses, it will add some longer term rental accommodation and some beautiful houses to Bright."

Mr Deague labelled the estate, to be developed on the Great Alpine Road on the entrance to Bright, an Australian first "master planned community where every single house and landscaping is designed right down to the last detail".

Homes ranging from two bedroom to double-storey five-bedroom options will be offered at Bright Valley and constructed by Border-based Afonso Building Solutions, with inspiration taken from modern alpine housing, including exterior timber and pitched roofs seen in Queenstown in New Zealand.

More than 300 jobs are expected to be created during project construction.

Deague Group said it wanted the majority of the uptake of the homes to be owner-occupier.

"I truly believe once the community sees what we're building, there's going to be some movement and upgrading of size and quality of houses, and some downgrading. People who are in a big-four bedroom house in Bright on a bit too much land can come and downsize into a much smaller product," Mr Deague said.

"The reality is the town needs it. It's bursting at the seams for accommodation.

"They can't attract doctors, they can't attract people to work at the pub, they can't attract other staff because they can't come up and afford $200 a night for a week.

"A lot of the houses here are aged and people aren't upgrading them because they're getting that great income."

Walking trails, an outdoor gym and the possibility of a general store within the estate have also been factored into the planning.

Mr Deague said more than 1500 expressions of interest had already been registered.

Bright and District Chamber of Commerce president Marcus Warner said while it was easy to criticise Bright Valley as not helping with the affordable housing situation in Bright "any houses being built is better than no houses being built".

"Let's hope that this development will then stimulate further investors to look at opening up more parcels of land in Bright to allow us to have more affordable housing, which ultimately leads to more people being able to live here and service the jobs that we desperately need," he said.

Deague Group finalised a VCAT appeal last week and will adhere to a BAL (bushfire attack level) 29 rating across the entire site after concerns were raised from the community about the risk of fire to residents of the estate.

Ember and radiant heat protection are required in the construction of buildings with that rating.

"We've done a deal to accept BAL 29 down here (on the bottom level) and that'll obviously mean BAL 29 across the whole site, which will be a benefit for the buyers and their insurance and their sense of wellbeing," Mr Deague said.

"It adds a significant cost per house, so hopefully we can absorb that in the build price and we don't have to make things more unaffordable, but we're prepared to accept that and move on and get going with the development."

Mr Deague also acknowledged the avenue of elm trees on the gateway into Bright, which have been the subject of a community petition and led to the formation of Bright's Gateway Protection Group, after it was feared many would be lost as a result of the development.

A nomination for the street trees of Bright, including the Great Alpine Road next to the estate, was accepted to be considered for inclusion into the Victorian Heritage Register on Wednesday, April 16.

"We've had confirmation yesterday (Wednesday, May 1) that council and VicRoads are going to continue with the application for the entrance, which I believe is weeks off, and the heritage listing doesn't affect that. Hopefully all these trees get heritage listed and all the others in Bright," Mr Deague said.

"It's been a contentious issue, and it's been a hard one for us when there's been petitions and thousands of people signing up and talking about 13 or 15 trees being lost, which never entered our heads to do something like that.

"We've worked very hard to only lose two trees, and, with the tick from council, we're going to infill with some mature trees in gaps in the avenue, and we're replacing the two trees that are to be removed with four trees. Hopefully it's a net benefit for the beautiful avenue of trees."

Alpine Council mayor John Forsyth and chief executive Will Jeremy were among the guests at the launch, but declined to speak on the development.

Bright's Gateway Protection Group secretary Sue Ronco questioned the need for the mayor to attend prior to the event.

"As it is purely a 'marketing event' and a photo and media opportunity, I think the residents and ratepayers should have some clarity around the mayor's proposed attendance," she said.

The advocacy group will march in support of the avenue of trees in the Bright Autumn Festival parade on Saturday, May 4,

"We truly have something to celebrate this autumn, with Bright's street trees being accepted as a nomination for the Victorian Heritage Register," Dr Ronco said.

"This is a huge achievement and one we have been working towards for 12 months. Thanks go out to all those wonderful people who got behind our campaign."

Mr Deague expected the first homes to be built on the 40-hectare site, sold to Deague Group by Olympic skier Malcolm Milne for $35 million in 2021, by the second half of 2025.