The competency of the application
14 Mr Tobias QC, who appears on behalf of the respondent, does not agree that there are only two ways open to the respondent whereby it can achieve the change from the club use to the residential use at the lower levels of the building. His contention is that Redwood, as the present owner, is also entitled to make a development application to change the use at the lower levels of the proposed building, together with the appropriate structural changes. In that case, if the consent authority was so minded, a condition could be imposed pursuant to s 80A(1)(b) of the EP&A Act which provides, inter alia and relevantly to the present case, that a condition of development consent may be imposed if it requires the modification of a consent granted under the Act. According to Mr Tobias, the use of s 96 is a matter of choice. A developer seeking to change an existing consent can pursue an approval either through s 76A or s 96 provided that the limitation imposed by s 96 can be met.
15 Redwood acknowledges that the development, for which consent is sought pursuant to DA 138/02, will not be substantially the same development. Accordingly, no question of choice between s 76A and s 96 arises in the present case. However, it is said, on behalf of the respondent, that any inconsistency between the first and second consent can be resolved by an appropriate condition or conditions pursuant to s 80A(1)(b) of the EP & A Act.
16 Mr Ayling SC, who appears for the applicant, contends that the relief sought by the council relates to the procedure for obtaining consent not the consent itself. He seeks to make the point that the conditioning power contained in s 80A flows out of the granting of consent. It does not flow out of the making of an application.
17 Furthermore, the present application is neither an application for approval to alter an existing building nor a development application for a change of use. In effect, Mr Ayling contends that the application seeks to alter an existing right. It is not an application to carry out development at all. It does not relate to a building because the building does not exist. Accordingly, it is the council's case that the applicant should apply for consent to erect the total building thereby acquiring a new right when and if consent is granted rather than seeking to alter the rights that emanate from DA 133/98. In other words, Redwood is merely seeking to alter the right to erect the building approved by the development consent rather than making an application to carry out development. As Mr Ayling states in his written submissions in reply, the imposition of a condition contemplated by s 80A is not intended by the EP&A Act to interfere with the basic scheme of the Act as it relates to applications for consents, or for modification of consents. He submits that the EP&A Act assumes that the applicant has applied properly for what it seeks long before s 80A can be invoked by the consent authority.
18 It was only during his submissions in reply that Mr Ayling raised the question of whether the application was in respect of development at all. Mr Tobias was given leave to deal with the proposition. In doing so he submitted that the application is clearly one to erect part of a building, namely the ground floor and the first floor as specified in the submitted plans. "Development" is defined in s 4 of the EP&A Act as meaning, inter alia, the erection of a building and a "building" by definition includes "part of a building or any structure or part of a structure". Mr Tobias asserts that the council's submission, to the effect that the development application is to alter or modify an existing consent, is misconceived. Furthermore, he denies the proposition that it is merely an application to alter rights. In the respondent's view, the development application is an application to carry out a work, namely to erect part of a building and to change an approved use of land.
19 On the one hand, the council contends that s 96(2)(a) of the EP&A Act is intended to narrow the permissible scope of amendments to development consents, whereas the respondent regards s 96 as providing a concession where, after alterations are made, the proposed development remains substantially the same development as that to which the original development consent relates. Prior to the introduction of s 102, with the EP&A Act in 1980, it was necessary to make further and successive development applications in order to vary the terms of a development consent. As Bignold J observes in Progress and Securities Pty Ltd v North Sydney Municipal Council (1988) 66 LGRA 236 at 242, although the remedy provided by s 102 (now 96) "avoids the necessity for the obtaining of a further development consent to secure a modification of an existing development consent it does not abrogate the right to seek to obtain successive development consents in respect of the same land".
20 DA 138/02, the plans lodged in support of the development application and the statement of environmental effects variously refer to the proposal as an amending development application to the approved DA 133/98. It appears to be common ground that DA 138/02 does not seek to replace or supplement development consent DA 133/98 nor does it seek a confirmation of the approval to any component part of the original development approved by DA 133/98.
21 In Starray Pty Limited v Sydney City Council [2001] NSWLEC 129, unreported, the applicant seeking development consent had made a development application to incorporate an existing use of public car parking in the basement of a development already the subject of a consent granted by the council. On appeal, the Senior Commissioner made an order that the development application previously approved by the council was confirmed subject to further conditions. The orders made by the Senior Commissioner were the subject of a further appeal pursuant to s 56A of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979. After accepting the applicant's submission that an application under s 96 of the EP&A Act would not have been appropriate since the development would not be capable of characterisation as "substantially the same development" as that which was the subject of the first consent, Cowdroy J found that it would be necessary for the appeal to be re-heard as the Senior Commissioner had no jurisdiction to make orders confirming the first consent but that "an application pursuant to s 96 of the EP&A Act to amend the first consent would be required to conclusively determine whether the existing use should be incorporated into the first consent". The appeal in respect of the development application was re-heard by the Chief Judge (Starray Pty Ltd v Sydney City Council [2002] NSWLEC 48, unreported). Her Honour noted the suggestion by Cowdroy J that a modification application under s 96 would be required and that such an application had been lodged with the council but had not then been determined. Cowdroy J's observation that it would be appropriate for any such application for modification to be filed and listed for hearing with the then current appeal appears, on its face, to be inconsistent with his acceptance of the applicant's submission that an application under s 96 of the EP&A Act would not have been appropriate since it would not pass the threshold test. On the one hand, his Honour seems to accept that an application for modification cannot be made whereas he ultimately concludes that such an application was essential.
22 Pearlman J observed that development proposed in the second development application was "inconsistent in part with the development the subject of the first consent, and hence consequential modification of the first consent will be necessary". It would appear thereafter that her Honour proceeded on the basis that any application pursuant to s 96 could have been dealt with favourably to the applicant, that is, it would be able to pass the threshold test that the development as modified would be substantially the same development. The distinction in the present case is that there is an express acknowledgment that the existing consent cannot be modified in a way that satisfies the test in s 96. The Chief Judge expressed the opinion that in the particular circumstances as she found them, if consent was to be granted to the second development application, a condition could be imposed under s80A(1)(b) requiring the first consent to be modified in stipulated ways. However, she says at par 16 that the consent would not itself modify the first consent "but would require a s 96 application to be lodged and approved". On that basis she held the second development application was neither misconceived nor incompetent.
23 Relying on the conclusion reached by the Chief Judge in Starray, Mr Ayling submits that, as a development consent for a residential flat building comprising 17 units is self evidently not substantially the same development as a development consent for a building comprising club premises on lower levels and 13 residential units on the upper levels, the only available statutory avenue for the respondent to obtain a development consent for a residential flat building on the subject land is to lodge a development application for such a building. Accordingly, if the respondent cannot successfully apply to have the first consent modified to make it consistent with the second development consent, then the second development consent must be incompetent.
24 The applicant's conclusion depends upon the Court agreeing that s 96(2)(a) is intended by the legislature to narrow the permissible scope of amendments to development consents and that, accordingly, the EP&A Act must be construed so as to ensure that the task and function of that provision is not circumvented. If the applicant is correct then applicants have a choice of statutory mechanisms for the modification of an existing development consent by either making an application under s 96 or a subsequent amending development application for the total proposal. Mr Ayling says that the decisions by Cowdroy J and the Chief Judge in the Starray litigation support the proposition that a person entitled to act upon a development consent is free to lodge and have determined a further development application which purports to modify or amend that development consent. However, any consent granted to such a subsequent development application is not, so the applicant submits, capable of being implemented, acted upon or carried out unless and until a s 96 application authorising the modification of the earlier consent is also made and approved.