Lawyers acting for Council are calling for residents to speak in the Land and Environment court about development application 52083/2017/C.
That’s the half built block of units at 5 – 7 Church Street, Terrigal.
The applicants want to add a sixth storey to the building which has approval for five storeys only.
The Local Environment Plan (LEP) allows for four storeys only.
The applicants took council to court after the Local Planning Panel (LPP) knocked back their development modification for the sixth storey.
The hearing is listed for 6 and 7 February 2023 and is to commence in the NSW Land and Environment Court in Sydney.
So far, proceedings have included a visit to the site for a conciliation hearing last year.
This week residents have received an update from lawyers.
“The purpose of this correspondence is to ask that any person who wishes to give evidence at the commencement of the hearing on 6 February 2023 to please inform us of this by no later than 31 January,” the letter states.
“We propose to seek the Court’s permission to allow for any persons who may wish to give evidence (i.e. make a submission) at the commencement of the hearing, to be able to do so virtually via Microsoft Teams – noting that the hearing will not be commencing on-site.
“For those persons who would prefer to make their submission to the Court in person (in Sydney), you may still do so.”
All written submissions made to Council to date in relation to the Modification Application will be provided to the Court as part of the proceedings.
The LPP in June, 2021, and again in May of 2022, rejected the proposed modifications stating that it was not substantially the same development as the one for which consent was originally granted and that the proposal would result in unreasonable adverse impacts as a result of non-compliance with the Gosford LEP and Gosford Development Control Plan.
The panel said the proposed modification would constitute an undesirable precedent for future development and threaten the achievement of the strategic planning objectives for the desired future character of the retail core of the Terrigal Village Centre area bounded by Kurrawyba Avenue, Church Street, Campbell Crescent and Terrigal Esplanade.
In 2018, when Council had councillors, the majority voted against allowing a fifth storey, with the then mayor Jane Smith saying Council needed to enforce its own planning controls.
In 2019, after vigorous debate, the councillors approved the five storey development application even though it didn’t comply with height and floor space ratio under the Local Environment Plan as well as being non compliant on eight counts with the Development Control Plan and\or apartment guidelines.
In 2020, approved amendments added car spaces, reduced the floor space and changed the approved category of ground floor premises from shop to business premises and revised the internal layout of apartments.
In 2021, with work on the site already progressing, the applicant asked for further amendments including a Level 6 penthouse, increasing the number of residential units from 12 (approved) to 13 and revising the roof plan and enlarging the terraces of the approved Level 5 residential units
The applicant argued it was essentially the same development as the one approved and the extra height would not interfere to any great extent with existing views.
The land, at 5-7 Church St, has an area of 942m2; a frontage to Church St and a rear boundary frontage to Hudson Lane.
For many years it was used as a carpark.
Don’t let them do it, save the view for many residents located behind