Court approves Dover Heights dual occupancy after Waverley refusal

A conciliation conference was convened under sections 34 and 34AA of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 and held on 21 and 22 October 2026. According to the judgment, the parties settled their remaining disputes there. Amended plans lodged with the Court dealt with the council’s objections on bulk, floor space ratio and setbacks.

Once the parties signed a section 34 agreement, the Acting Commissioner had to decide the case consistently with it, as long as the Court could lawfully have made that decision. The Acting Commissioner found that it could, and approved the amended application on the Annexure A conditions.

The numbers

The site is Lot B in Deposited Plan 342984 and is zoned R2 Low Density Residential, where the judgment records that dual occupancies are permitted with consent. The judgment records that the amended plans comply with the floor space ratio controls in clauses 4.4 and 4.4A of the Waverley Local Environmental Plan 2012, and the building height complies with clause 4.3(2).

The application was first lodged on 25 November 2025 by an agent of Ms Lazarus, the registered proprietor, and amended on 23 April 2026 to make her the primary applicant. The council notified it for 14 days, from 2 to 18 February 2026, and received 19 submissions. The judgment says submissions from the neighbours on either side of the site were also heard at the conciliation conference.

The judgment notes the site is not in a heritage conservation area but fronts a Land Conservation Area on Oceanview Avenue, east of Military Road. The parties advised, and the Acting Commissioner accepted, that the impact on it is acceptable. An updated BASIX certificate dated 23 October 2026 was provided, and the stormwater matters were assessed against a plan by Stellan Consulting dated 28 October 2026.

What’s next

The judgment does not state a construction cost, dwelling sizes, a builder or a start date, so none is reported here. The consent now stands subject to the Annexure A conditions, which the judgment says the council sought and the applicant agreed to.

The parties agreed, and the Acting Commissioner accepted, that the conditions are lawful under sections 4.16 and 4.17 of the Act and that approval breaches neither the Act, any environmental planning instrument nor the Regulation. The judgment lists D Robertson as counsel for the applicant, instructed by Lazarus Legal, and Finn Roache Lawyers as solicitors for the council. It records that the Court made no assessment of the merits of the application.

The Court also granted consent in a Randwick case two days earlier, covered in our Maroubra apartment report.