The lack of easily accessible on-street car parking is a common source of frustration to residents of inner-city neighbourhoods, not just in Sydney but the world over (as the writer knows first-hand from his own experience driving (endlessly) around in circles looking for a spot in Brooklyn New York, thankfully now many years ago!). Unfortunately for city-dwellers in Sydney, the attempt to solve this problem by creating "off street" parking space on one's own property may conflict with a local council's planning controls.
This is exactly what happened in a case that was handed down on 4 November 2014 by Commissioner O'Neill of the Land and Environment Court, in the fortuitously mis-named case of Double Happiness Company Pty Limited v Waverley Council (2014) NSWLEC 1225 (as the outcome in the case was not one that would possibly have resulted in "happiness", double or otherwise, for the applicant, how lost the case!). Here's a link to the Commissioner's decision:
http://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/action/PJUDG?jgmtid=175240
The background of this case was that the property that was the subject of the development application was located in an area of North Bondi that was characterised by what the council described as "extreme parking stress" due to their being a number of other properties also without off-street parking and a nearby shopping village which created further demand for parking. The Commissioner's judgement notes that the owner of the property expressed frustration during the "on-site" phase of the hearing concerning his inability to regularly find parking in the vicinity of his home.
To attempt to resolve the parking problem, the owner advanced a development application which proposed the creation of a car parking spot at the front of the house. The application called for the demolition of the masonry balustrade, footing and floor of the front verandah of the dwelling (leaving only the piers of the verandah, the stairs to the verandah and the verandah roof in place), the removal of a section of the front fence, and the paving of the area below the verandah. There was evidence that a number of other properties in the locality also had car spaces at the front with either remodelled front facades or verandahs.
The development application, however, was in direct conflict with a provision of Waverley Council's Development Control Plan which specifies that the design, location and size of off-street car parking areas should not unreasonably detract from the appearance and quality of the dwelling house or streetscape. In this particular case, the Commissioner concluded that the proposed demolition of the elements of the verandah would "unreasonably erode the integrity" of the existing dwelling house and detract from its appearance.
Several valuable lessons can be taken from the result in this case. The first is that the judgement confirms venerable old maxim of NSW planning law that "two wrongs don't make a right". In other words a previous historical pattern of similar inappropriate development in the locality (as was the circumstance in this case with the fabric of other houses having been altered in order to make room for off-street parking) does not imply that the same poor planning outcomes should be repeated, especially when contemporary planning controls seek to avoid these poor outcomes.
Secondly, the case illustrates that (at least where planning regimes similar to Waverley Council's are in place) that "buildings will beat cars" and that a higher value will be placed by the Court on preserving the integrity and appearance of streetscapes than on "shoehorning" car spaces at the front of houses, especially when the creation of the car parking space will result in changes to the fabric of the building that will worsen its appearance.
There is also a cautionary note for those choosing to purchase homes in congested neighbourhoods where space for parking is in short supply. It may not always be possible, due to limitations imposed by planning controls, to create new spots for parking cars on one's own property to compensate for the unavailability of convenient on-street parking. Potential home buyers would be wise to keep this in mind!
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