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OUR
COMMENTS
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1. For a period of several weeks after the original notification,
it will not be known to the Applicant or to neighbours whether
the DA will be determined by Delegated Authority, or whether
it will proceed to consideration by the Planning and Building
Subcommittee or full Council.
2. Lane Cove Council's Web page provides some information on
the progress of current DAs, but it appears necessary for the
Applicant or concerned neighbours to make a number of calls
to the reviewing officer to ascertain its current status. This
can be frustrating for all concerned, and it might be helpful
if the Web Page could provide more information on the current
status of DAs being processed than it currently does.
3. A reviewing officer may have on-site discussions with the
Applicant and meetings with neighbours to try to resolve points
of contention. It is not clear if this is always attempted,
as a matter of Council policy, though it seems a helpful procedure.
4. In the event that the DA is approved under delegated authority,
neighbours who have made formal submissions may receive no notification
of the determination, other than what is published monthly in
the "Village Observer" and on Council's Web page.
This does not seem entirely satisfactory.
5. In these same cases, it seems that the Council Officer's
report on the approval is not easily accessible, except through
persistent visits to Council Offices.
6. In cases where the DA will be considered be elected Councillors
at a scheduled Planning and Building Committee meeting, a copy
of the officer's report and recommendations will be published
on Council's Web page (as an Agenda attachment for that meeting)
and will be available in hard copy form for inspection in Council
Offices. The report is only available for a few days before
the meeting, however, which gives very little time for proper
consideration by all parties before the issues are discussed
at that meeting.
7. The Applicant (and possibly their professional advisers)
will likely attend the Planning and Building Committee meeting
at which their DA is discussed, and they - as well as concerned
neighbours - may address that meeting. The Chairman may try
to resolve points of contention by some form of mediation at
or soon after the meeting.
8. If the DA is not determined at that meeting, then the last
chance proponents and opponents of a DA will have to address
Councillors formally will be either (a) on site at the Inspection
Meeting, or (b) at the subsequent full Council meeting which
will determine the matter - assuming this falls on the 3rd Monday
of the following month.
9. In the case or larger or more controversial DAs, the proponent
may threaten recourse to the Land and Environment Court, where
he may or may not receive a more favourable result. Resolution
through this court will incur further delays, and is an expensive
process. Hence Council will be reluctant to reject DAs or set
conditions if such decisions cannot be defended with confidence
in Court.
10. It appears that neighbours and other objectors generally
have no right to be heard at a Land and Environment Court appeal,
since Council is deemed represent the community interest. Objectors
should thus try to ensure that their concerns are included in
Council's Statement of Issues to the Court.
11. Neighbours and others can, apparently, be heard at these
Appeals if it can be shown that Council did not follow 'due
legal process' in assessing the DA, or if Council's decision
contravened one of its legal planning instruments.
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