Category: Case Law

Once again, pleased to have assisted our client in obtaining Development Consent for an 80-place child care centre with basement parking in the Blacktown Council LGA.

The contentions raised by Council included arguments relating to:

• The primary street setback (as opposed to a secondary street setback) on a corner allotment,
  
• Issues relating to waste management, including the storage of waste in basement parking, temporary waste storage on street, and the necessary requirement to use mechanical bin tugs to transport between waste enclosures,
  
• Unencumbered outdoor play areas when you have on-site detention tanks in these play areas,
  
• Entitlement to moveable planter boxes over OSD inspection pits and their contribution to interactive play for children,
  
• Building form and scale, and the contribution to streetscape and character, having regard to the location of the child care centre in an R2 zone,
  
• The rather unusual issue of considering whether underground storage of stormwater (including pits/grates) is considered “storage” for the purpose of calculating unencumbered outdoor space in child care centres.

This link provides a copy of the judgement in the matter.

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Pleased to have assisted our client in obtaining Development Consent for a staged Torrens Title subdivision–and a subsequent Community Title subdivision to ultimately allow for the development of six dual occupancies and a single dwelling–over an extensive parcel of land in the Parramatta LGA.

The matter was before the Court and contained a number of significant contentions, including the staging of subdivisions, the issue of a private versus public road, significant landscaping issues, bushfire issues (being partially located in a bushfire protection zone), minimum lot sizes to allow dual occupancy developments, and contentions involving other Statutory authorities including RMS, RFS, Endeavour Energy, and the proximity of the petroleum pipeline.

A copy of the judgement in the matter can be found here.

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Pleased to have assisted our client in obtaining approval through the Land & Environment Court for a boarding house development in Harris Park.

There were significant issues relating to heritage, bulk and scale and dedication of land to council in the rear laneway which materially affected the area of the site that could be included as part of open space in the development application.

The matter was also complicated by the issues surrounding the amendments to the Affordable Housing SEPP which essentially precluded this form of development in an R1 zone.  The ambiguity surrounding the savings provisions of the amending SEPP had to be dealt with as a fundamental legal issue before the balance of the merit issues could be resolved. The issues that had to be also overcome included, setbacks, parking and disabled access.

We worked through the issues with the legal representatives for Parramatta City Council during the court process to achieve an excellent outcome for the client given the challenges of this very small parcel that adjoined multiple heritage items in a significant heritage conservation area.

It was a great result for the client and, as always, I look forward to seeing the finished product.

The full judgement can be found here.

Very pleased to have assisted our client in negotiating an agreement with Blacktown Council and obtaining approval through the Land & Environment Court for a new generation boarding house in the suburb of Mt Druitt.

The judgement is in the link.

The predominant issue that had to be overcome on this development was the complex flood control issues that had to be engineered considering the location of the development.  Multiple flood modelling had to be carried out to facilitate a final design.  The architecture of the proposal also blends extremely well into its streetscape setting in an R2 zone.

It was also a very satisfying outcome for the client considering the recent amendments to the State Environmental Planning Policy on Affordable Rental Housing which would have rendered this project prohibitive in its zone.

We worked through the issues with the legal representatives for Blacktown Council during the court process to achieve an excellent outcome for the client.

Pleased to have assisted our client in obtaining approval through the Land & Environment Court for a town house development in the suburb of Hillsdale.

As can be seen from the judgment here, the issues that had to be overcome included overshadowing, height, scale and setback. 

There was also a relatively unusual contention relating to “toxic risk” associated with the Botany Industrial Park.  The development had to be located and constructed within “toxic injury risk contours” that have been imposed by the NSW Department of Planning to restrict the density of any development in the vicinity of the Botany Industrial Park. 

We worked through the issues with the legal representatives for Bayside Council during the court process to achieve an excellent outcome for the client given the challenges of the location.

It was a great result for the client and I look forward to seeing the finished product.

Happy to have assisted another small developer who has tried to dip its toes into property development by making an application to Council for a duplex development with granny flats at the rear of each proposed dwelling.

Council initially resisted the application, because whilst the development was permissible in the R2 residential zone, the building of the duplex and granny flats all at the same time (and before subdivision) now categorised the development as multi dwelling housing which became prohibited in the zone.

Proceedings were commenced in the Land & Environment Court, and Council insisted that the duplex had to be constructed and have a Final Occupation Certificate issued before the granny flats could be built, which would have made the construction of the granny flats in such a confined space difficult and prohibitive.

Thankfully, as part of the court process, Council were persuaded to issue a staged development consent where the duplexes and granny flats would be built at the same time, but the granny flats not finally completed (i.e. the kitchen still to be installed), which got the client over the permissibility argument and allowed a development consent to be issued.

A difficult case for a small-time developer, but a very pleasing result in the end.

We look forward to seeing the final product once it is finished.

Pleased to have assisted our client in obtaining approval through the Land & Environment Court for a boarding house development in Belmore Road Randwick under the Affordable Housing SEPP.

The application was originally refused by Randwick Council.

As can be seen from the judgment, the issues that had to be overcome included maintaining a heritage façade, parking, overshadowing, accessibility, height, scale and character, all on a very narrow and constrained site.

We worked through the issues with Council in the court process to achieve an excellent outcome for the client and a development that will sit well in its location.

It was a great result for the client and I look forward to seeing the quality finished product once it is constructed.

You can find the full judgement here.

Very pleased to have assisted our client in obtaining approval through the Land & Environment Court to increase the capacity of the childcare facility from 24 children to 45 children after commencing proceedings against Penrith City Council who originally refused the proposal.

It was a great outcome for the client who is a family operator, runs a great child care centre, and is extremely pleased at being able to offer an increased child care capacity to that area.

The full decision can be found here.

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Thanks to the representation of Macquarie Lawyers, an appeal was successfully upheld in the NSW Land and Environmental Court to allow the construction of a new 15 room boarding house in Blacktown, and to reverse the decision of Blacktown Council to refuse the application.

The result is most pleasing for our client. The commissioner stated that “The development expands affordable rental housing to cater for the needs of lower income people.” She also noted the development’s encouragement of alternative methods of transportation, citing its proximity to public transport and bike storage.

A link to the full decision can be found here.

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