Jays v North Sydney Council [2020] NSWLEC 1595

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Jays v North Sydney Council [2020] NSWLEC 1595 Hearing dates: 9 November 2020 Date of orders: 8 December 2020 Decision date: 08 December 2020 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: O'Neill C Decision: The Court orders: (1) The appeal is dismissed. (2) Development Application No. 225/19 for alterations and additions to an existing attached dwelling at 27 Edward Street, North Sydney, is refused. (3) The exhibits, other than exhibits 1, A, B and D, are returned. Catchwords: DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION – alterations and additions to an existing dwelling – impact on the heritage significance of the heritage conservation area Legislation Cited: Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 Land and Environment Court Act 1979 North Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2013 Texts Cited: North Sydney Development Control Plan 2013 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Linda Jays (Applicant) North Sydney Council (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: H Irish (Applicant) S Kondilios (Solicitor) (Respondent)

Solicitors: Conomos Legal (Applicant) Hall & Wilcox Lawyers (Respondent) File Number(s): 2019/354290 Publication restriction: No

Judgment 1. COMMISSIONER: This is an appeal pursuant to the provisions of s 8.7(1) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) against the refusal of Development Application No. 225/19 for alterations and additions to an existing attached dwelling (the proposal) at 27 Edward Street, North Sydney (the site) by North Sydney Council (the Council). 2. The appeal was subject to conciliation on 24 July 2020, in accordance with the provisions of s 34 of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (LEC Act). As agreement was not reached, the conciliation conference was terminated, pursuant to s 34(4) of the LEC Act. 3. Leave was granted by the Court on 8 September 2020 for the applicant to amend the application to rely on an amended proposal, subject to an order that the applicant pay the Council's costs thrown away as a result of the amendment, pursuant to s 8.15(3) of the EPA Act. Leave was unopposed and granted at the commencement of the hearing for the applicant to amend the application to rely on a further amended proposal (Ex D). 4. The hearing was conducted via MS Teams. At the commencement of the hearing, the parties requested that I view the site and I did so, in the company of the representatives and the heritage experts, during the middle of the day of the hearing and prior to closing submissions.