Latest information on a development application to build a number of new residential dwellings in apartment buildings and townhouse buildings at 11 Jennifer Street, Little Bay.

The property at 11 Jennifer St is located on the eastern side of Jennifer Street at the intersection with a crown road providing access to St Michael’s Golf Course.

It is a trapezoidal shape with a 110 metre frontage to Jennifer Street. It has a site area of approximately 1.161 ha. The site contains Eastern Suburbs Banksia Shrub (ESBS) which has been identified as a Critically Endangered Ecological Community (CEEC) in the Sydney Basin Bioregion.

The cost of development exceeds $30 million, which triggers the need for referral of the application to the Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel (the Panel) for determination.

The applicant appealed to the Land and Environment Court (LEC) against deemed refusal of the application on 25 August 2021.

The DA was listed for LEC hearing on 10 to 12 May 2022.

During the hearing, the Court granted the applicant’s request for an adjournment to respond to the experts’ agreed position to retain native vegetation on the site.

The amended DA was on public exhibition from 23 June to 7 July 2022 and 11 submissions were received in response to the amended proposal.

The LEC hearing resumed on 20 and 21 September 2022 and an approval was handed down on 19 October 2022.

Update 21 October 2022

On 20 and 21 September 2022 an amended proposal was considered by the court as follows:

• The northern and southern portions of the site divided by a 2m wide, fenced (bushfire) defendable zone (equivalent to an asset protection zone, APZ, as described in the plans);
• Establishment of a biodiversity ‘conservation area’ with native vegetation of 5,069.8sqm, located across the southern portion of the site;
• Conceptual design of a development footprint and building envelope for a part 3, part 4 storey RFB comprising of 83 apartments, including 23 x 1 bedroom, 38 x 2 bedrooms and 22 x 3 bedrooms, with basement parking for 139 vehicle spaces, located across the northern portion of the site; and
• Tree removal, native vegetation maintenance, species relocation, landscaping and associated works through bushland management practice.

While the amended proposal has addressed the majority of the planning and urban design contentions, the unacceptable impact to biodiversity including threatened species,  the significant heritage impact to the surrounding heritage items and heritage conservation areas and public interest remain the primary contentions for Council.

Notwithstanding, the Land and Environment Court considered the amended proposal acceptable and approved the development on 19 October 2022 for the following reasons:

• The proposal relates to the conceptual development, which does not cause adverse serious and irreversible impact to biodiversity values or likely to affect threatened species.
• The proposal is compatible with the character of the local area and surrounding heritage conservation areas/items.
• The proposal is unlikely to cause adverse amenity impact.
• The approval of the application would be in the public interest

A copy of the LEC judgement can be obtained from the website link below:

Auspat International No.2 Pty Ltd v Randwick City Council - NSW Caselaw

Update 17 June 2022:

Council has received further amended plans from the applicant showing the following:

• Further reduction to the concept building envelope and footprint, and provide increased setbacks at third storey;
• Reduces the size of forth storey;
• Reduces the extent of the building height breach;
• Reduces the concept floor plate efficiencies from an anticipated floor space ratio of 0.75:1 to 0.7:1;
• Split northern building in two separate built form with 12m separation;
• Increased overall landscaped and protected ESBS areas;
• Deletion of the play area to the southwestern portion of the site; and
• Additional articulation zones on the Jennifer Street and Crown road elevations.

The amended documentation will be on public exhibition from 23 June to 7 July 2022.

All documents are available for public viewing from Council’s DA tracker website here.

The Land and Environment Court appeal has been listed for hearing on 20 and 21 September 2022.

Update 1 April 2022:

Council has received amended plans from the applicant showing the following:

• Reduces the concept building envelope and footprint, and provide increased setbacks at the fourth storey;
• Reduces the concept floor plate efficiencies from an anticipated floor space ratio of 0.92:1 to 0.75:1;
• Reduces the extent of the breach of the height of buildings standard;
• Provision of communal open space on the roof and at ground level;
• Highlights and provides for separation from a critically endangered community on the site; and
• Amendments to landscaping and stormwater concept design.

The amended documentation will be on public exhibition from 7 April to 27 April. All documents are available for public viewing from Council’s DA tracker website here.

The Land and Environment Court appeal has been listed for hearing on 10 to 12 May 2022.

Update 17 September 2021:

Council appointed an independent ecologist to review the applicant’s submitted biodiversity assessment report (BDAR) to ensure existing endangered flora and fauna communities will not be adversely impacted on and around the site. Council’s appointed ecologist did not support the proposed building footprint due to impacts on the endangered communities.

Council’s Ecologists advised that the footprint of the building as approved under DA/101/2018 by Land & Environment Court on 6 December 2019, with some modifications is more appropriate for the site. Accordingly, Council advised the applicants on 11 August 2021 to withdraw the development application or it will be recommended for refusal.

The applicants on 17 August 2021 advised Council that they would not withdraw the application. On 24 August 2021, the applicant lodged a Class 1 appeal in the Land and Environment Court against deemed refusal of this development application. Council is preparing to defend the appeal

ABOUT THE PROPOSAL

Latest information on a development application to build 101 dwellings in 3-4 storey apartment buildings and townhouses at 11 Jennifer Street, Little Bay.

The owner of the 1.161ha site at 11 Jennifer St, Little Bay is currently seeking development consent under Development Application No. DA/698/2020 (the DA) for a Stage 1 concept development to construct a part 3 and part 4 storey residential development in two building blocks comprising of 94 apartments, 7 townhouses, a community room, basement car parking for 145 spaces, tree removal, landscaping and associated works.

The DA, lodged on 21 December 2020, is separate to the previous development approved by the Land and Environment Court.

The DA was publicly exhibited from 4 February to 4 March 2021 in accordance with Council’s Community Participation Plan. Any submissions received will be considered as part of the detailed planning assessment.

The DA is currently under assessment and will be determined by the Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel.

For more information on the DA, please follow the below link to the online documentation (see the “documents” tab):

• Find an Application (nsw.gov.au)

The Site

The property at 11 Jennifer St is located on the eastern side of Jennifer Street at the intersection with a crown road providing access to St Michael’s Golf Course.

It is a trapezoidal shape with a 110 metre frontage to Jennifer Street. It has a site area of approximately 1.161 ha. The site contains Eastern Suburbs Banksia Shrub (ESBS) which has been identified as a Critically Endangered Ecological Community (CEEC) in the Sydney Basin Bioregion.

The site is zoned R3 Medium Density residential under Randwick Local Environmental Plan 2012 (RLEP) and the key development standards are an FSR of 0.75:1 and a maximum height of 9.5m.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park is to the south of the site and to the east is St Michael's Golf Course and driving range. There is a health facility for ‘Spinal Cord Injuries Australia’ to the north of the subject site.

The site was the subject of earlier development applications which have either been approved by the Land and Environment Court, withdrawn or refused by Council.