A DECISION on how to deal with illegal works has been deferred after councillors asked for legal advice and information on penalties.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Councillors considered a report on illegal works, including 62 Byng Street, where a boutique hotel was approved in a heritage home after court action, yet legal advice had ruled against fines for illegal work due to the statute of limitations.
Hill Street resident Dr Des Mulcahy said he had obtained correspondence between the developer and Orange City Council planning staff via freedom of information, which revealed the issues of illegal work was “raised on a number of occasions”, as early as 2015.
“The illegal works continued until after the DA was lodged in September 2015, ie a period of some nine months,” he said.
Dr Mulcahy supported the principal of keeping action on illegal works and the assessment of development applications (DAs) separate, but argued it had not happened in the hotel proposal’s case because council staff did not deal with the works until the DA was dealt with.
“Yet at the onsite meeting of the Land and Environment Court earlier this year, the commissioner made a point of saying dealing with illegal works was not the concern of the court, but was entirely the concern of the council,” he said.
“If the issue of illegal works was kept separate from other matters, it could have been dealt with at any time, yet here we are, nearly three years later, and no action has been taken.”
Despite a staff recommendation to educate lower-level offenders and penalise the more serious offenders within six months of a breach, councillor Kevin Duffy moved to defer the item for legal advice, supported by mayor Reg Kidd, who said there were significant fines available across a three-tiered system.
Maximum fines in tier one are $5 million for corporations and $1 million for individuals, with further fines for each day an offence continues, while fines in tier two are $2 million for corporations and $500,000 for individuals.
“Now tier two when I looked at it fits a number of the developments that were mentioned here tonight where in fact there was development without a DA,” he said.
Deputy mayor Joanne McRae said it was not up to councillors to get involved in setting penalties.
“I think it’s time to set this as the standard of behaviour for the council and council staff,” she said.
She instead moved for urgent action on heritage items where illegal works were carried out, as soon as the council became aware of it.
However, her amendment was defeated six councillors to five and the matter was deferred.