Dual Occupancy (Duplex) Town Planner Approval Projects

 TRANPLAN Town Planner Sydney – Our town planning consultant prepared the Planning Report to successfully obtained the Complying Development Certificate (CDC) approval from the Principal Certifying Authority (PCA) for a dual occupancy (duplex) under Part 3B (Low Rise Housing Diversity Code).

Our expert planning consultant worked closely with the Private Certifier and Project Architect to address all the relevant Town Planning, CDC, Design, and National Construction Code (NCC) / Building Code of Australia (BCA) issues.

Town planning advice was provided on a large range of issues such as front setbacks, ground floor and first floor side setbacks, rear setbacks, privacy, minimum landscaped area, maximum floor space, height, building envelope requirements. 

Challenges of successfully managing the project include the thorough research of relevant Planning legislation – e.g. State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, City of Ryde Council's Ryde Local Environmental Plan 2014 – to ensure compliance with permissibility of dual occupancy (attached or detached), minimum lot size & lot width for dual occupancy, minimum subdivision lot size, stormwater drainage OSD system.

Our Town Planner also reviewed the Section 10.7 Planning Certificate to address planning issues which would have ruled-out the CDC duplex development such as:

• ecologically / environmentally sensitive area
• airport / aircraft noise (ANEF contour)
• heritage listing / heritage conservation
• land acquisition / reservation
• river front / foreshore area
• bushfire
• flooding
• biobanking
• contamination
• critical habitat
• wilderness area
• acid sulfate soils
• biodiversity value
• landslip / landslide 
• buffer / protected area
• private land conservation
• coastal / coastal erosion / coastline hazard land   

TRANPLAN Sydney Town Planner – Our expert town planning consultant provided project management service and the town planning (Statement of Environmental Effects) report to support a development application (DA) for Council approval to demolish an existing legacy industrial building, tree removal and construction of two duplex dwellings (attached dual occupancy development).

Challenges include reviewing the now-repealed State Environmental Planning Policy No. 55 – Remediation of Land, former Bankstown Council's Bankstown Local Environmental Plan 2015 (repealed by Canterbury-Bankstown Local Environmental Plan 2023) & Bankstown Development Control Plan 2015 (succeeded  by Canterbury-Bankstown Development Control Plan 2023), and liaising closely with Council to address all the relevant town planning, architectural design, contamination (given the historic industrial use, an Environmental Site Assessment  (ESA)  / Preliminary Site Investigation (PSI) and Remedial Action Plan (RAP) to determine the remediation of the hydrocarbon contamination), traffic & parking (new shared double driveway and vehicle crossover), stormwater drainage, NCC / BCA, and residential amenity (privacy, solar access) issues.

Council refused the DA primarily on the contention that the proposed dual occupancy (attached) does not comply with the minimum required frontage for duplexes of 15m (the 14.63m frontage represent frontage non-compliance of 37cm or 2.46%), despite our Town Planner’s comprehensive Clause 4.6 Report requesting variation exemption. Council also incorrectly contended that the party wall should count as Gross Floor Area (GFA), which is inconsistent with the Standard Instrument’s definition for GFA which is:

gross floor area means the sum of the floor area of each floor of a building measured from the internal face of external walls, or from the internal face of walls separating the building from any other building, measured at a height of 1.4 metres above the floor, and includes:

(a)  the area of a mezzanine, and

(b)  habitable rooms in a basement or an attic, and

(c)  any shop, auditorium, cinema, and the like, in a basement or attic,

but excludes:

(d)  any area for common vertical circulation, such as lifts and stairs, and

(e)  any basement:

(i)  storage, and

(ii)  vehicular access, loading areas, garbage and services, and

(f)  plant rooms, lift towers and other areas used exclusively for mechanical services or ducting, and

(g)  car parking to meet any requirements of the consent authority (including access to that car parking), and

(h)  any space used for the loading or unloading of goods (including access to it), and

(i)  terraces and balconies with outer walls less than 1.4 metres high, and

(j)  voids above a floor at the level of a storey or storey above.

In response to Council’s refusal, a Class 1 Appeal was lodged with the NSW Land and Environment Court with TRANPLAN Town Planners Sydney preparing the Applicant’s Response to Council’s Statement of Facts and Contentions (SOFAC), acting as the Town Planning Expert Witness, and successfully demonstrating that the non-compliant duplex DA should be supported on the following town planning grounds:

• Our specialist expert Town Planner researched several precedents in which Council approved dual occupancies and allowed variations (non-compliances) to both the minimum frontage and lot size (as much as 17.2% variation to the lot size). In comparison this duplex DA only propose a minor variation of 2.46%.
• Most importantly in this particular circumstance, the site contains an existing legacy Factory Unit which operates under historical existing use rights on the site. Redevelopment of this land for residential purposes will remove the historic (now illegal) industrial use from the residential neighbour (and therefore remove industrial activities and impacts from industrial use such as noise/air/water pollution, truck deliveries, and traffic/parking conflicts etc.) which will certainly increase the residential amenity for residents in this R2 Low Density Residential.
• The attached dual occupancy is also compatible with the current and future character of the locality (as opposed to the highly-incompatible existing industrial factory building on the site)
• The dual occupancy will provide additional housing and contribute to overcoming the shortfall of housing in Sydney and improving housing affordability.
• The duplex development will result in public benefit through development contributions in accordance with Council’s S94 Contributions Plan, which will provide Council with additional funds and the opportunity to deliver upgraded public infrastructure / services for the locality and the LGA.

Our specialist planning consultant also closely liaise with the case Solicitors and Barristers, and throughout the duration of the proceedings. The Court Appeal was positive and the Dual Occupancy DA was overwhelmingly supported and approved by NSW L&E Court. 

TRANPLAN Town Planners Sydney – Our expert planning consultant prepared the Planning Report to successfully obtained the CDC approval from the PCA for a dual occupancy (duplex) under Low Rise Housing Code.

Our Town Planner worked closely with our Private Certifier and our Project Architect to address all the relevant Town Planning, CDC, Design, and NCC / BCA issues.

Planning advice was provided on a large range of issues such as front setbacks, ground floor and first floor side setbacks, rear setbacks, privacy, minimum landscaped area, maximum floor space, height, building envelope requirements. 

Challenges of successfully managing the project include the thorough research of relevant Planning legislation – e.g. SEPP (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, Ryde Council's RLEP 2014 – to ensure compliance with permissibility of dual occupancy (attached or detached), minimum lot size & lot width for dual occupancy, minimum subdivision lot size, stormwater drainage OSD system.

Our Town Planner also reviewed the Section 10.7 Planning Certificate to address planning issues which would have ruled-out the CDC duplex development such as:

• ecological / environmental area
• aircraft noise (ANEF contour)
• Heritage Item
• land acquisition / reservation
• river front / foreshore area
• bushfire
• flooding
• biobanking
• contamination
• critical habitat
• wilderness area
• acid sulfate soils
• biodiversity value
• landslip / landslide 
• buffer / protected area
• private land conservation
• coastal / coastal erosion / coastline hazard land   

TRANPLAN Sydney Town Planners – Our experienced planning consultant prepared the Planning Report to successfully obtained the CDC approval from the PCA for a dual occupancy (duplex) under Low Rise Code.

This property was within the   

Flood Planning Area (FPA), and also located between the FPA and the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) extent. Specifically, the site was rated as medium flood risk, and subject to the 100-year ARI flood extent. Our Flood Engineer prepared a Flood Risk Assessment Report in accordance with Ryde Development Control Plan 2014 (RDCP) – Part 8.2 ‘Stormwater Management Technical Manual’, and NSW Government’s Flood Risk Management Manual (June 2023) – replacing the Floodplain Development Manual (2005) - so that the dual occupancy (attached) can be CDC approved and satisfy Clause 3B.5 Flood control lots.

The alfresco also was built over/adjacent to the rear drainage easement, and required our project manager to obtain Sydney Water's “Tap-in approval”. 

Our expert planning consultant worked closely with our Private Certifier and our Project Architect to address all other the relevant Town Planning, CDC, Design, and NCC / BCA issues.

Planning advice was provided on a large range of issues such as front setbacks, ground floor and first floor side setbacks, rear setbacks, privacy, minimum landscaped area, maximum floor space, height, building envelope requirements. 

Challenges of successfully managing the project include the thorough research of relevant Planning legislation – e.g. Codes SEPP 2008, Ryde Council's RLEP 2014 – to ensure compliance with permissibility of dual occupancy (attached or detached), minimum lot size & lot width for dual occupancy, minimum subdivision lot size, stormwater drainage OSD system. 

Our Town Planner also reviewed the Section 10.7 Planning Certificate to address planning issues which would have ruled-out the CDC duplex development such as:

• ecological / environmental area
• aircraft noise (ANEF contour)
• Heritage Item
• land acquisition / reservation
• river front / foreshore area
• bushfire
• biobanking
• contamination
• critical habitat
• wilderness area
• acid sulfate soils
• biodiversity value
• landslip / landslide 
• buffer / protected area
• private land conservation
• coastal / coastal erosion / coastline hazard land