Taylor Developments Group Pty Ltd v Waverley Council [2019] NSWLEC 200

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Taylor Developments Group Pty Ltd v Waverley Council [2019] NSWLEC 200 Hearing dates: 17, 18 and 19 December 2019 Date of orders: 20 December 2019 Decision date: 20 December 2019 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Duggan J Decision: See paragraph 55 Catchwords: APPEAL – development application – mixed use development – breach of height development standards – heritage item – amenity – public interest Legislation Cited: Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Taylor Developments Group Pty Ltd (Applicant) Waverley Council (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: Mr To (Applicant) Mr C McEwen SC (Respondent)

Solicitors: Mills Oakley (Applicant) Wilshire Webb Staunton Beattie (Respondent) File Number(s): 2018/387887 Publication restriction: No

Judgment 1. Taylor Developments Pty Ltd (the Applicant) seeks development consent for the partial demolition of an existing building and construction of a four-storey mixed use building containing two basement levels of car parking and associated facilities, ground level retail, and 10 residential units over three levels (the DA) on the land at 20-24 Hall Street, Bondi NSW (the Site) within the local government area of Waverley Council (the Council). 2. The Applicant has appealed the refusal on 28 November 2019 of the Waverley Local Planning Panel of the DA. 3. The Hearing of the Appeal commenced with a visit to the Site where oral evidence was given by a number of individuals opposed to the development. I deal with that evidence below. The site visit also permitted an inspection of both the immediately adjoining properties and the broader town centre locality in which the Site is situated. 4. Since the commencement of the Appeal the DA was amended with leave of the Court on 6 August 2019. Since the commencement of the hearing, as a consequence of the evidence of the expert witnesses, the resident objectors, and after a view of the Site, the DA has also been amended to take into account some of the concerns raised by the Council in the Appeal as set out in the Amended Statement of Facts and Contentions dated 29 October 2019 (the Contentions). Leave was sought to rely on the Amended Plans and associated documents on the third day of the hearing. Leave was granted and the DA was amended on 20 December 2019 (the Amendments to the DA). As a consequence of the Amendments to the DA the contentions raised by the Council have been resolved to an extent such that the Council, subject to the imposition of conditions, no longer submits that the DA should be refused. 5. Notwithstanding the Amendment to the DA, the Court, as consent authority, is required to be satisfied that the DA is worthy of approval having regard to the relevant considerations set out in s 4.15 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act). Accordingly, I will consider the contentions that were in dispute at the hearing.