Australia, July 28 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on June 27:

1. This is a Class 1 Development Appeal pursuant to s 8.7 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) by the applicant against the respondent's refusal of the applicant's development application (eDA0166/23) (Development Application) seeking consent for the construction of a dwelling house with basement car parking, swimming pool, tennis court and associated landscape works including retaining walls and tree removal on land identified as Lot 50 in Deposited Plan 880017, also known as 195-197 The Comenarra Parkway, Wahroonga (Subject Land).

2. The Court has power to dispose of these proceedings under its Class 1 jurisdiction pursuant to s 17(d) of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (LEC Act).

The Development Application

3. The Development Application was lodged with the respondent on 5 February 2024.

4. The Development Application was notified to owners and occupiers of surrounding properties from 27 February to 12 March 2024. No submissions were received during the notification period.

5. On 16 June 2024, the Development Application was determined by way of refusal.

6. On 11 December 2024, the proceedings were commenced by the applicant, being within the appeal period prescribed by s 8.10 of the EPA Act.

7. On 28 January 2025, the applicant was granted leave to amend its Development Application (January Amendments) and the matter was listed for a conciliation conference under s 34AA(2)(a) of the LEC Act on 23 and 24 June 2025. The January Amendments relevantly included:

1) revisions to proposed landscaping on the Subject Land, including:

a) reduction of lawn area; and

b) subsequent increase to offering of shrub, hedge, fern and feature trees as per ecology recommendations;

2) reduction of tennis court (proposed instead as a "pickleball court") by 170.28m2;

3) alterations to streetscape presentation and materiality of dwelling proposed, including:

a) introduction of warmer main and secondary render colours;

b) increased depth of double carport area to 5400mm;

4) reduction of pool coping by 220mm -to be maximum 500mm above ground level at its highest point;

5) increased setback to eastern boundary by an additional 2.28m (through reduction in tennis court size - now pickleball court); and

6) alterations to stormwater pits/pipe placement to avoid tree roots and further information provided on rainwater tank.

8. On 13 February 2025, the respondent filed its statement of facts and contentions.

9. The parties' experts then completed joint conferencing, and the following joint reports were prepared and filed with the Court:

1) Joint Town Planning Report prepared by Mr Alli Hammoud and Ms Tamara West filed 16 May 2025 (Joint Planning Report);

2) Joint Arboricultural/Ecological Report prepared by Mr Ross Jackson, Mr Alex Fraser, Ms Fiona Ambrosino and Mr John Whyte filed 14 May 2025 (Joint Arboricultural/Ecological Report); and

3) Joint Civil Engineering Report prepared by Mr Hassan Narimani and Mr Vincent Ooi filed 19 May 2025 (Joint Civil Report).

10. Following joint expert conferencing, and prior to the s 34AA conciliation conference, the parties reached agreement as to the terms of a decision in the proceedings that would be acceptable to the parties.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/197a9ee3b58f467d187dc427)

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