RBFI Pty Limited v Wollongong City Council [2019] NSWLEC 1312

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: RBFI Pty Limited v Wollongong City Council [2019] NSWLEC 1312 Hearing dates: 25 – 26 June 2019 Date of orders: 04 July 2019 Decision date: 04 July 2019 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Horton C Decision: The Court orders: (1) The Appeal is upheld. (2) Development Application No.DA-2018/1167 for the construction of a two-storey dwelling house on land situated at, and known as 14 Mallangong Close, Figtree NSW, also known as Lot 8 in DP1242700, is approved subject to conditions in Annexure 'A'. (3) The restriction on the use of the land referred to as No.11 in DP1242700 benefitting Wollongong City Council and set out in the supporting s 88B instrument for Lot 53 in DP 838601 is varied as follows: "No dwelling house or other structure shall be constructed on the lots hereby burdened with habitable floor levels below the flood planning level of: +11.20m AHD for Lot 8 +12.30m AHD for Lots 2 to 7, and 9 and 10 +12.25m AHD for Lots 1, 11 to 14, and 20 to 22 +12.20m AHD for Lots 15 to 19." (4) All exhibits are returned, except for Exhibits A, 3 and 5. Catchwords: DEVELOPMENT APPEAL – subdivision – flood planning level – rainfall and runoff – Allans Creek catchment – variation to section 88B instrument Legislation Cited: Conveyancing Act 1919 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 Land and Environment Court Act 1979 Wollongong Local Environmental Plan 2009 Cases Cited: Pro-Vision Developments Pty Limited v Ku-ring-gai Council (2003) 131 LGERA 108; [2003] NSWLEC 226 Texts Cited: Australian Rainfall and Runoff: A Guide to Flood Estimation, 2019 Floodplain Risk Management Guide, Office of Environment and Heritage, 2018 Ghetti et al, 'Cooking Up ARR2016 Storms in Wollongong – the Importance of Using Local Ingredients' (Conference Paper, 2019 Floodplain Management Australia National Conference, 15 May 2019) Wollongong Development Control Plan 2009 Category: Principal judgment Parties: RBFI Pty Limited (Applicant) Wollongong City Council (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: Dr J Smith (Applicant)