Supplementary Agenda of Local Planning Panel meeting

Planning and Compliance Division

Date of Meeting: 26/07/2023

ITEM 1

LPP25/23 - DA/737/2022 - Construction of a Sport & Recreation Facility - 639 Old Northern Road, Dural

Additional information with NO CHANGE to Recommendation

1. Submission of an amended Plan of Management

On 25 July 2023, in response to the Local Planning Panel Report prepared for the July meeting, Council received a letter and an amended Plan of Management (PoM) from the Applicant regarding the proposed recreation facility (outdoor and indoor) at 639 Old Northern Road, Dural. A copy of the applicant’s letter and PoM is attached.

The applicant’s letter seeks a deferral of determination of the application by the LPP for Council to prepare draft conditions of consent and to allow the applicant additional time to address matters raised in the assessment report. The applicant has outlined perceived inaccuracies in Council’s assessment report relating to management of the operation of the facility, wastewater management and the selection of plant species. To address the management of the facility, the applicant has provided an amended PoM which includes a number of changes including the following:

· Change in bump in/ bump out time from 10 mins to 20 mins.

· Reduction in hours from the proposed 6am to 10pm to 7am to 9pm.

· Only 4 out of 6 playing fields used at one time.

· Clarification on total staff numbers.

· Revised Plan of Management.

· Clarification of the purpose of players’ lounge (team presentations, club meetings, children’s parties).

· Café limited to 20 seats and only drinks and pre-packaged food (no cooked foods).

· Capacity of gym limited to 21 patrons when games are on, or 50 patrons when games are not on.

2. Assessment of Plan of Management and cover letter

Council has undertaken an assessment of the submitted information and provides the following comments.

2.1 Response to report Inaccuracies

The perceived inaccuracies in the assessment report that the Applicant has raised are a result of the inconsistencies within lodgement documents submitted by the Applicant in support of the development application. As outlined in the assessment report, the applicant submitted a Traffic Report, Traffic Letter, Plan of Management, BCA Report, Wastewater Report and Acoustic Report which all included various inconsistent information relating to patron and staff numbers.

Council wrote to the applicant on several occasions seeking clarity on the proposed patron and staff numbers, given the inaccuracies in lodgement documentation. However, in the absence of clear and consistent information from the Applicant, Council prepared the Assessment Report in good faith based on the information before Council as of that date. As a precautionary approach, Council has based an assessment of number of patrons based on the maximum number of patrons possible on site given the size of the multiple facets of the development (soccer fields, spectators, café, gym, players’ lounge etc).

2.2 Plan of Management

A preliminary review of the revised PoM has been undertaken and the following issues are raised:

· It is not clear how the measures within the PoM would be enforceable. In particular the measures relating to the operation of the facility and noise management. It is uncertain whether appropriate, enforceable conditions would be able to reinforce the proposed measures in the PoM. The Applicant has not provided any examples of enforceable conditions.

· The acoustic report should provide detailed recommendations regarding the operation of the facility, which should then be referenced in the PoM. The applicant has not provided a revised acoustic report to accompany the amended PoM.

· There is still inconsistent information regarding staff numbers provided in the cover letter and the PoM. For example, the cover letter suggests there is a total of 10 staff including 4 permanent staff and 2 café employees. The amended PoM identifies 4 referees, 2 café staff and 10 administrative staff including a centre manager (total 16 staff). It is unclear whether the 21 occupants of the gym include staff such as personal trainers.

· There are also inconsistencies in the PoM relating to the scheduled timing of the adult football games and closure of the facility. For example, it is stated in the PoM that the gates of the carpark will be locked between 9pm and 7am. However, the adult games are scheduled between 6.20pm and 9pm.

While the revised operational information submitted on 25 July 2023 may resolve some of the issues raised in the Assessment Report, the PoM now provides additional information which was not previously provided, including the use of the players’ lounge for children’s parties, presentation nights etc which requires further assessment. Further, there are still outstanding wastewater and acoustic issues which have not been resolved.

2.3 Lack of opportunity to provide additional information

As detailed the ‘Background’ section of the LPP Report No. LPP25/23, Council met with the applicant on a number of occasions and provided ample opportunities to provide additional information. The Applicant was afforded a 3-month extension to provide additional information at the December 2022 HLPP Meeting. The Applicant also briefed the HLPP in May.

The Applicant raises concerns in their recent correspondence that they were not requested to provide some of the outstanding information referenced in the Assessment Report. This is because the issues regarding wastewater and acoustics were considered insurmountable. While the operational and car parking concerns may be able to able to be resolved via amended plans/ information and/ or conditions of consent, the wastewater and acoustic issues are not able to be resolved in a timely and efficient manner as part of the assessment of this development application.

2.4 Wastewater Management

All written correspondence received from Sydney Water received by Council to date states that the development should have an on-site wastewater system. Then subject to a feasibility assessment, connection to Sydney Water’s sewerage system may be feasible in the future. With the number of playing fields proposed, there is insufficient area on the site to accommodate as wastewater treatment system.

It is Council’s position that connection to an appropriate sewerage system cannot be dealt with via a deferred commencement consent. The off-site impacts of the approximately 950m long private sewer main is not known. There are multiple issues which could affect the feasibility of the private sewerage main. These include but are not limited to excavation, tree removal, relocation of services etc. The private sewer main would also be partially located within Hills Shire. It is unknown if the Hills Shire would support this sewerage connection.

2.5 Acoustic Impacts

The major acoustic concerns generated by this development is offensive noise. The proposal is not a typical development in the rural context and therefore would give rise to offensive noise concerns. The surrounding residential properties would experience and audible noise impact from the introduction of a commercial operation 7 days a week. While reducing the hours of operation is desirable, the applicant has not demonstrated that reducing the operation hours by 2 hours daily is sufficient to address the acoustic concerns. The information provided by the applicant, dated 24 July 2023 does not sufficiently address Council’s acoustic concerns.

2.6 Draft conditions of consent

The Applicant states in their correspondence that Council has not provided draft conditions of Consent. It is not Council’s practise to provide conditions, when the assessment report recommends refusal.

conclusion

Council acknowledges that the additional information provided by the applicant may assist to provide some further clarity on the proposal and may help resolve some matters, subject to sufficient assessment time and review by Council’s Technical Officer. However, the additional information does not address the main issues of wastewater disposal and noise impacts. There is insufficient information in the applicant’s correspondence, dated 24 July 2023 to alter the recommendation of Council’s Assessment.

Accordingly, there is no change to the recommendation as a result of the further submission by the applicant.

THAT Development Application No. DA/737/2022 for a recreation facility (outdoor and indoor) at Lot 11 DP 243960 No. 639 Old Northern Road, Dural be refused for the reasons outlined in Schedule 1 of LPP Report LPP25/23.

Cassandra Williams

Major Development Manager - Development Assessments

Planning and Compliance Division

Rod Pickles

Manager - Development Assessments

Planning and Compliance Division

Attachments:

1.⇩

Applicant Statement & Amend Plan of Management

File Reference: DA/737/2022

Document Number: D08695954