Council refuses three-unit townhouse development
Central Coast Council has refused a three-unit "gunbarrel" townhouse development at 7 Winifred Ave, Umina.
Concluding that "the application does not provide a suitable design for the site", the council's assessment lists 16 "unsupported variations".
Three of the unsupported variations related to car parking provisions.
These were the inability of vehicles to exit in a forward direction using a shared driveway, the lack of a car wash bay and a lack of suitable screening of car parking.
Commenting on the 281 square metres of concrete driveway, the assessment stated: "The proposal does incorporate excessive amounts of hard stand and insufficient landscaping on the site".
Seven submissions were received from the public, most complaining about the proposed removal of "significant mature trees" especially a large blackbutt at the rear of the property.
The council planner also commented: "It is considered that the design has not suitably addressed the possibility of retaining trees on the site or the possibility of providing suitable landscape areas to allow future substantial landscaping."
There were several instances of insufficient or missing information with every council officer to whom the application was referred (Water and Sewer, senior development engineer and tree officer) declining to support the proposal for this reason.
Other non-compliance issues were site coverage, setbacks, privacy, inadequate private open space areas, solar access, landscaping, storm water management and garbage and waste services.
The application was lodged on November 19 and put on public exhibition over December and January.
The official date of refusal was June 6.
SOURCE:
DA Tracker, 13 Jul 2025
DA/1743/2024, Central Coast Council