Joe Touma v Bankstown City Council [2012] NSWLEC 1157

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Joe Touma v Bankstown City Council [2012] NSWLEC 1157 Hearing dates: 01 June 2012 Decision date: 08 June 2012 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Smithson AC Decision: 1.The appeal is upheld. 2.Application DA 443/2011 for a boarding house development at 12 Weigand Avenue, Bankstown is approved. 3.The development conditions in Annexure A apply. 4.The exhibits are returned to the parties with the exception of Exhibits A, B, C, 1 and 3. Catchwords: DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION - boarding house, Affordable Rental Housing SEPP, SEPP 65 applicability for boarding houses, car parking, cross ventilation, internal amenity for boarding house residents, and public objection to boarding house Legislation Cited: Bankstown Development Control Plan 2005 Bankstown Local Environmental Plan 2001 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 State Environmental Planning Policy (Affordable Rental Housing) 2009 State Environmental Planning Policy No. 65 Australian Standard AS 1688.2 - 2002 Cases Cited: Nil Category: Principal judgment Parties: Joe Touma (Applicant)

Bankstown Council (Respondent) Representation: Counsel Dr Berveling (Applicant) Solicitors M Bonnano, Lyndsay Taylor Lawyers (Respondent) File Number(s): 11206 of 2011

Judgment 1This is an appeal against the refusal by Bankstown Council (the Council) of a boarding house at 12 Weigand Avenue, Bankstown (the site). 2The proposed development is located on the western side of Weigand Avenue. The site is rectangular in shape with a fall of 1.9 m from the front to the rear boundaries. It has a 20.115 m street frontage with a total site area of 915.1 sqm. The rear boundary adjoins the Bankstown-Yagoona rail line. Three storey residential flat buildings adjoin both side boundaries and the locality is primarily a mixture of detached dwellings and three storey residential flat buildings. 3The site contains an existing two storey dwelling, an associated swimming pool and no significant onsite vegetation. A 1.8 m high concrete wall extends along the rear and side boundaries surrounding the swimming pool and is proposed to be retained within the development.