Sutherland Shire Council may reintroduce minimum lot sizes for dual occupancy and multi dwelling housing

A report by council staff has recommended the preparation of amendments to the 2015 local environmental plan (LEP), for public exhibition with Planning NSW approval.

The matter is due to be discussed at the council meeting on Monday night.

The report said, in the two years since the LEP was gazetted, the council had approved, or had pending, more than 600 DAs for dual occupancy (duplexes) and over 575 for multi dwelling (townhouses and villas) units.

This had resulted in growing community dissatisfaction, with complaints of overdevelopment, loss of privacy, overshadowing, tree loss, traffic generation and the out-of character nature of development.

The report said the majority of the development was clustered in Sylvania, Miranda and Caringbah.

Caringbah South was most impacted and, in one street alone, 38 multi dwelling housing units had been approved, with approval for four more dwellings pending.

The report recommended a minimum lot size of 600 square metres for dual occupancy in R2 low density zones, and 700 square metres in E4 environmental living zones.

A minimum lot size of 1200 square metres was recommended for multi dwelling housing in R2 zones.

The report said development of dual occupancy and multi dwelling housing on small lots could result in poor planning outcomes.

“Larger lots have greater scope for improved design that can mitigate adverse impacts on neighbours,” it said.

The report said having minimum lot sizes was also “prudent” in view of a draft state government policy to make these forms of housing – called “The Missing Middle” – complying development, not subject to assessment.

The report said of 12 Sydney councils reviewed, nine required a minimum lot size for dual occupancy developments.

“Pittwater Council, which has a similar landscaped suburban context to Sutherland, has a minimum lot size of 800 square metres for dual occupancy development,” it said.

The report said the previous LEP permitted dual occupancies in the equivalent of the R2 zone with minimum lot size of 600 square metres.

Torrens title subdivision under the previous LEP had required a minimum site area of 800 square metres, and other conditions also applied.

The report said the removal of minimum lot sizes and the easing of floorspace and landscaping ratios coincided with a dramatic increase in property values in Sydney.

“The outcome has been widespread development of dual occupancies on sites ranging up in size from around 500 square metres,” the report said. 

“In the year preceding the gazettal of LEP2015 (June 2015), 117 dual occupancies were approved compared to 238 in the year following gazettal, with the rate of development continuing to increase.”

The report said, under the previous LEP, villa and townhouse developments required a minimum lot size of 1200 square metres.

This requirement, plus floor space and landscaping ratios, had proved unattractive to developers and, in the year before the 2015 LEP, only 39 villas and townhouses were approved throughout the shire.

The new LEP had removed the minimum lot size and provided more generous development controls.

Response to these changes has been “robust,” with 575 units approved in the last two years, half of which were on sites between 650 and 1200 square metres.

The majority of the approvals involved the demolition of a single dwelling house and the construction of an average of 3.6 dwellings.

“The rate of change and resulting impacts has led to increasing community dissatisfaction,” the report said.

“Core complaints from the community include visual impacts of the bulk and scale on neighbours (expressed as ‘over development’), loss of privacy, overshadowing, tree loss, traffic generation and the out-of character nature of the development in the R2 zone.”

The report said there had been a “cumulative impact” on neighbourhoods.

”The magnitude of this change is most evident in Caringbah South, where 172 multi dwelling units (or 30 per cent of all multi dwelling houses approved in the R2 zone) have been approved or are pending approval.

“On one street alone, 38 multi dwelling housing units are approved, with approval for four more dwellings pending.

“Here, all but one development is on a single un-amalgamated lot less than 1200 square metres in area, with an average number of new dwellings per site of 4.6.

“Caringbah South is the most impacted location to date.

“However, over time, a similar up take rate can be expected elsewhere under current controls.”