Apartment numbers in Cronulla beachside development halved

The project at 79-81 Gerrale Street, between the Ballantyne and Watermark blocks, will have 12 apartments, instead of the 26 which were initially proposed.

Agreement was reached in the Land and Environment Court after amendments were made to the development application (DA) during a drawn-out conciliation process with Sutherland Shire Council.

The developer's appeal against deemed refusal was upheld, but the developer was ordered to pay the council's costs of $23,000 in amending the plans.

The court approved a nine-storey building comprising 12 apartments over two levels of basement car parking, subject to a range of conditions.

The original DA, lodged by a previous applicant, was for a nine-storey building with 26 apartments over a four-level car park.

The Land and Environment Court refused this DA in 2020.

In 2023, a new DA was lodged by a different applicant for a nine-storey block with 18 units over a two-level car park.

The applicant appealed to the Land and Environment Court on the basis of deemed refusal by the council.

Acting Commissioner Matthew Pullinger said the amendments agreed to by the developer and council resolved "the contentions initially raised by [the council], which included issues of inadequate building separation, unacceptable building height, built form and design, inadequate internal residential amenity, and inadequate information, amongst other contentions".

"Agreed design amendments have been made to improve the DA's relationship to the two immediately adjacent neighbours, increasing building separation and amending the built form," Mr Pullinger said.

"Changes have been made to improve internal residential amenity and to provide communal open space.

"These agreed amendments also have the effect of reducing the total number of residential apartments from 18 to 12."

Mr Pullinger said 19 submissions were received by the council, raising concerns with the proposed bulk and scale, inadequate building separation, view loss, privacy and cross viewing impacts, overshadowing impacts, inadequate landscaping, inadequate lot size, traffic and parking congestion and concerns for damage to neighbouring properties during construction.

"The parties agree, and I am satisfied, that the amended DA and agreed conditions of consent now satisfactorily address the matters raised in public submissions," he said.