Hamod v Wollongong City Council [2014] NSWLEC 1121

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Hamod v Wollongong City Council [2014] NSWLEC 1121 Hearing dates: 20 June 2014 Decision date: 20 June 2014 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Morris C Decision: Appeal upheld Catchwords: Consent Orders: Modification of development application; roof top terrace; impact of privacy and amenity of adjoining property Legislation Cited: State Environmental Planning Policy (Major Development) 2005; Land and Environment Court Act 1979 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Anthony Hamod (Applicant)

Wollongong City Council (Respondent) Representation: Mr M Mantei Planning Law Solutions (Applicant)

Mr GJ Reilly Wollongong City Council (Respondent) File Number(s): 10125 of 2014

Judgment 1Mr Hamod obtained development consent DA-2011/856 (consent) from Wollongong City Council on 31 October 2011. That consent authorised the construction of a dwelling house at Lot 501 DP 1161858, No 2 Bowman Close, Bulli. The plans approved did not include a roof terrace as part of the development despite such a structure having originally been proposed by Hamod. 2An application seeking to modify the consent by amending the approved plans to provide for a roof top terrace was lodged with the council and subsequently refused and Hamod is appealing that decision. 3The issues in the case are visual privacy, acoustic impacts and visual impact. Those issues have been resolved through the submission of amended plans and the parties are now seeking consent orders from the Court.

The site and its context 4The site is a corner allotment having a frontage of 12.5m to Bowman Close and 33.7m to Geraghty Street. It rear boundary adjoins a riparian area and further to the north is land used for industrial purposes. The Illawarra railway line is to the west of the site with dwelling houses erected on the adjoining site to the east and around the cul-de-sac roadway that is Bowman Close. The site is within a recent subdivision at Sandon Point that contains large, single and two storey dwelling houses. It is also in close proximity to Bulli Beach. 5The dwelling house approved under the consent has been constructed and occupied. The rooftop terrace has also been constructed.