UNUSABLE RESIDENTIAL ZONED LAND
76Unusable Residential zoned land has an area of 3,958 m 2 . It is unusable because of its steepness. It is adjacent to steep land zoned Open Space, which is adjacent to Cattai Creek.
77Naturally, the unusable Residential land is not part of the hypothetical development assessment. Its relevance is that Mr Maundrell added value for it of $118,740 calculated at $30/m 2 . He adopted the rate of $30/m 2 for 6(a) Open Space zoned land determined in the 2005 Appeal after a 50% reduction from $60/m 2 for time, risk and delay. Mr Bowen does not add value for the unusable Residential land because he considers it worthless.
78In the 2005 Appeal the Council's contributions plan under s 94 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and an acquisition clause, cl 44, in its local environmental plan influenced Jagot J's determination of the value of the Open Space zoned land: at [6] and [38]. The land within the 6(a) zone is part of the Cattai Creek Conservation Area. Cattai Creek is the major creek in the area connecting to the Hawkesbury River. The Council's contributions plan under s 94 authorised the collection of funds for the acquisition of an Open Space corridor along the creek. The local environmental plan supports these provisions with its acquisition clause, cl 44, in the following terms:
(1) The owner of any land within Zone 5 (a) and lettered on the map "Community Facility" or "Local Drainage" or any land within Zone 6 (a) may, by notice in writing, require the Council to acquire the land.
(2) On receipt of such a notice, the Council must acquire the land if:
(a) the land is included in a program for the acquisition of land by the Council current at the time of receipt of the notice, or
(b) the Council is of the opinion that the owner of the land will suffer hardship if the land is not acquired within a reasonable time,
but the Council is not required to acquire the land if it might reasonably be required to be dedicated as a condition of consent to a development application.
(3) Until the land referred to in subclause (1) is acquired by the Council, a person may, with development consent, carry out development on that land.
(4) Such a consent may be granted subject to conditions requiring either or both of the following, with or without the payment of compensation by the Council:
(a) the removal of the building or work for which consent is granted,
(b) the reinstatement of the land or removal of any waste material or refuse.
(5) In considering whether to grant consent as referred to in subclause (3), the consent authority must take into consideration:
(a) the effect of the proposed development on the cost of acquisition, and
(b) the imminence of acquisition.
(6) Land acquired under this clause may be developed with development consent for any purpose, until such time as it is required for the purpose for which it was acquired.
79In the 2005 Appeal, Jagot J concluded at [38]:
The concerns raised by Mr Barlow about the open space land cannot be lightly dismissed... Although I accept Mr Maundrell's reduction for size to $60 per m2 I consider his further 25% reduction for the time and risk factors too low having regard to the size of the open space and the lack of any capacity of the buyer to require acquisition unless and until the land is placed by the Council on the acquisition program or the Council forms an opinion on hardship. As Mr Maundrell said, the land will not be placed on a program until the development application (or possibly consent) stage is reached. This could mean that a buyer has to hold the open space for many years. Mr Barlow's approach (to equate the value of the land to the s 94 contributions payable and no more) is too extreme; but I am satisfied that the allowance for delay and risk should be in the order of about 50% to take into account the very large area of open space and the terms of the acquisition clause in the LEP. This gives a value for the open space land of $2,639,880.
80The unused Residential land is not zoned Open Space. Therefore cl 44 does not apply to it and no application can be made to the Council to acquire it under cl 44.
81Therefore, the applicant submits, either the unusable Residential land is worthless or, if 50 per cent is the discount in the case of Open Space land which has the benefit of cl 44, then there must be a significantly higher discount where no application can be made under cl 44.
82The Valuer-General points out that the Council's contributions plan records that Cattai Creek is the major creek line in the area, runs to the Hawkesbury River and bears on the water quality in that river. The plan states that in this respect the future management of Cattai Creek requires special consideration. Mr Maundrell commented that this in effect gives the Open Space land priority. The Valuer-General submits that the Council is evidently gathering Open Space land for conservation and water catchment purposes. The Valuer-General submits that the Council would not allow the unusable land to lie as an idle, un-maintained parcel, which could become eroded and pollute Cattai Creek when topographically and physically it is connected to and forms part of steep Open Space land. Rather, the Council would treat the unusable Residential zoned land and the adjoining Open Space land as one.
83Both parties' submissions carry weight. The conclusion I have reached is that value should be attributed to the unusable Residential land but that the degree of risk is higher than for Open Space land because cl 44 does not apply to it. Therefore, in my opinion, the rate of $30/m 2 should be discounted by 50 per cent to $15/m 2 .