Opposing CDC Granny flat

Hi, I have a neighbor who is opposed to my CDC granny flat, they have solicitors seeing council, they are giving the certifier a hard time, they want to stop the project, we had to comply with revised setbacks, maximum deck size etc, as well as revised geotech specs, the certifier is seeking legal advise on the latest which is claims of environmental sensitivity, Whats going on here, any advise please

 

If it's a CDC there are very limited grounds for objection.

Is the house in an enviromentally sensitive area eg: bushfire prone land, located in wetlands, protected bluegum forest, cumberland woodland?

Who raised the geotech issues?

Boundary setbacks are noted in the application for complying development, there may be design issues with the plans giving rise to the objections being raised.

 

"Is the house in an enviromentally sensitive area eg: bushfire prone land, located in wetlands, protected bluegum forest, cumberland woodland?"

No not any of these things, its a sloping block, rocky outcrops, classed land slip.

Geotech was council, but came from the neighbors complaint.
Thanks

 

If it's CDC under SEPP I'm not sure there is much they can object to some Town planner on here might give some more insight though.

 

They are permitted to object to any or all grounds they wish. A CDC is not an automated approval and you should understand that a CDC application does not mean approval will be granted. The CDC application must satisfy all requirements. It will come down to how good or bad your certifier etc are. If they miss something it can be fatal to approval. Or require modification. It is a faster track process to seek approval. That is the legal-council process for developments. Whether it gets far is another matter.

The catch to a CDC is you must satisfy EVERY requirement unlike a DA where you may have some requirements flexibly bent by council approval. ie a CDC with a non-compliant balcony would be refused approval where council may approve it under a DA after consideration of the neigbours objection on those grounds.

 

Further to my point above and agreeing with Paul, if you meet all the guidelines under the SEPP then there shouldn't be any way to object, the NSW AHSEPP is in place to overrule councils and unruly neighbours to get housing density into urban centers and create more supply to help alleviate the upward pressure on rents.
The guidelines are set out for this reason, you can do more in some councils with a DA, or not at all in other councils, that's why the SEPP was created.

 

Of course there should be grounds to object. Whether it is sufficient to lead to refusal is another matter. The neighbour may be aware of a issue that makes the site non-compliant for example.

eg The existing dwelling is a used by two groups for illegal housing and the GF will exacerbate the issue. Or the property contains illegal improvements not shown on plans etc

 

Make sure you have a thorough and experienced certifier who can confirm that ALL guidelines are met. They are giving you the CDC approval so they are ultimately dealing with the repercussions. I've dealt with a CDC new dwelling where the neighbour was threatening legal action etc but at the end of the day there was nothing they could do.

 

Thanks, their intention to stop it is purely spite and jealousy, he works for a neighboring council, so they are picking apart any of the legislation, I caught them trying to ID a flowering plant (hoping it was rare or endangered) fortunatly its a weed, but they may have filmed wildlife or released or planted something to film, he has 2 opposite neighbors on side to spy for him, this is major developer opposition.

 

In general neighbours hate granny flats - so your situation is not unique.

we have built a few and had issues of objection every time.

As already mentioned you just need to meet all of the conditions and the neighbours objections won’t be an issue.