Donvito v Hawkesbury City Council [2022] NSWLEC 26

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Donvito v Hawkesbury City Council [2022] NSWLEC 26 Hearing dates: 1 December 2021, 9 February, 4 and 14 March 2022 Date of orders: 24 March 2022 Decision date: 24 March 2022 Jurisdiction: Class 4 Before: Moore J Decision: See declaration and orders at [64] Catchwords: DEVELOPMENT CONSENT - Applicants seek declaration consent has not lapsed - construction work undertaken prior to expiry of lapsing period - development proposed to be undertaken in stages - condition of development consent imposed precondition to issuing of construction certificate - question of whether precondition required satisfaction prior to issuing the construction certificate for the stage where the conditioned activity would occur - submitting appearance by the Respondent - construction certificate for works relied upon as preventing lapsing did not satisfy precondition - document approved by Respondent disclosed precondition would be satisfied prior to construction certificate for second stage - no objection raised by Respondent - held precondition required to be satisfied by the stage encompassing the relevant activity - appropriate to declare that consent had not lapsed - declaration made Legislation Cited: Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, s 4.53(1)(a) Cases Cited: Baulkham Hills Shire Council v Dix and Another [2004] NSWLEC 404 Hunter Development Brokerage Pty Ltd v Cessnock City Council [2005] NSWCA 169; (2005) 63 NSWLR 124 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Carol Donvito (First Applicant) David Donvito (Second Applicant) Hawkesbury City Council (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: Mr N Eastman, barrister (Applicant) Submitting appearance (Respondent)