It's like dealing with a new Development Application
The original (2017) and subsequent (2018-19) Development Applications for building 202 manufactured homes on the block of land at 303 Blackhead Road were rejected by the Mid Coast Council acting on the wishes of the 11 Councillors (our elected representatives).
Long Live the Councillors!
However, a developer has rights as well. Not only did the owners of the land change developers for their second attempt, but they also made some simple changes to their plans. Within their rights they lodged a second Development Application, again for 202 manufactured homes. Once again, with our full blessing and "encouragement", the MCC rejected the DA acting on the wishes of the Councillors.
Most people would stop there. But no, the owners decided to appeal the rejection decision to the Land & Environment Court. This is quite within their rights. Despite several changes to the Planning Tools used by Council to assess a DA, the owners pushed on with some minimal changes to their DA. The changes have been accepted by the Land & Environment Court, and will assess the DA in September.
Yes, September. It takes a long time to get on the Court Lists. The amended DA is being assessed by the Court, and Council's role is to defend their decision to reject the last DA.
So it is effectively like dealing with a new DA altogether. Everything that has come before, been said before, been written about, lobbied against etc IS ALL HISTORY. None of it is relevant to the L&E Court as they have not heard or seen any of it. We have to start again to make our voice heard.
That is not to say that our reasons for objecting are irrelevant. You see, the developers believe that the changes they have made satisfy the objections and facts that were held up in front of Council on 2 previous occasions.
But have they? Well, Council has the job right now to review the amendments, looking at the Statement of Facts and Objections from 2019 and lodging their defence case against their decision to the L&E Court. We can help them defend the decision by making sure that the "small print" in the amendments actually does satisfy our concerns.
When you read some of the "new" material, you may not be so sure.......