Review sought of Paton St refusal
A review is being sought of the refusal by the Local Planning Panel of a development application seeking to build two units while retaining an existing house at 95 Paton St, Woy Woy.
Responding to objections raised by the panel, owner Mr Thomas Bowyer has amended the application to increase the deep soil area and landscaping.
Other changes include the partial demolition of the existing house.
In making the request for a review, Mr Bowyer stated: "The front landscaping-deep soil planting has been increased from 4.8m to 6.3m with 10 trees proposed.
"The landscaping-deep soil planting along the north-eastern boundary has been increased from one metre to 3.5 metres to accommodate 10 trees and continuous hedging for privacy.
"The landscaping-deep soil planting along the south western boundary has been partly increased from 0.3m to 0.6m to accommodate five trees and continuous hedging for privacy.
"The rear landscaping-deep soil planting has been increased from 3.2m to 3.5m to accommodate six trees and continuous hedging for privacy."
Mr Bowyer also changed the driveway design: "The proposed concrete driveway has been replaced by a grass paved driveway throughout the site.
"This means landscaping on the site has increased from 238.73sqm to 371.73sqm (53.34% of the site)," he said.
Mr Bowyer also noted the considerable environmental benefits of retaining the major part of the existing dwelling, rather than demolishing and rebuilding.
The application also contained references to past decisions by Central Coast Council planning staff and legal proceedings in the Lands and Environment Court.
Mr Bowyer claimed that the Central Coast Council had virtually "abandoned the standard", perhaps implying that the council had been remiss in its legal responsibilities.
In the Panel's refusal of the application at its April 21 meeting, it stated that the applicant had not successfully made a case for exemption from provisions for "minimum lot sizes for attached dwellings, dual occupancies, multi dwelling housing and residential flat buildings".
The Panel referred to "environmental impact" that would result from the loss of deep soil area compared to what would be available with a larger lot size.
The Gosford Local Environment Plan which applies until August 1 mandates a minimum lot size of 750 square metres for a multi dwelling development where this lot is 698 square metres.
The new consolidated Central Coast Development Control Plan which comes into force on August 1 has virtually no controls in relation to deep soil.
The current plan mandates a minimum of two metres at side boundaries and six metres at front and back.
The new consolidated plan states that that at least "half of the landscaped area" must be deep soil.
However, it does not specify minimum areas of landscaping, rather "objectives".
The new consolidated Local Environment Plan has removed the minimum lot size requirement altogether.
The rationale for this, as stated by the Central Coast Council, was that "there are enough controls in the DCP" in relation to this.
This application is currently on the Central Coast Council website and available for public exhibition and submissions until August 12.
This date was extended from July 22 due to late posting of some documents.
SOURCE:
DA Tracker, 22 Jul 2022
DA61493, Central Coast Council