Mayor of The Hills Shire, Dr Peter Gangemi, has received advice that The Land and Environment Court has not yet released a final determination regarding an appeal by the applicant for a proposed place of worship at 1 Larapinta Place, Glenhaven.
The Commissioner is seeking additional information requiring the applicant to lodge an updated Plan of Management and an updated Traffic Management Plan with Council by 10 March 2022. Following this, Council is required to file updated Conditions of Consent by 24 March 2022.
The development application had previously been refused by the Sydney Central Planning Panel on 28 August 2019 following a public meeting attended by approximately 500 people. The matter was then heard at The Land and Environment Court before Commissioner Gray in September 2021, with the decision of the Court reserved at that time.
Mayor Gangemi said that throughout the process, the engagement of the community has been outstanding and remained focused on the merit issues of the proposal.
"The outcome at this time is still unclear for our community, and the process is ongoing before the courts," Mayor Gangemi said.
"Council staff and other professionals, including our legal team, have worked hard to assess this application and have professionally identified real impacts. I'm hopeful that these will be addressed as part of the process," he said.
Council and the Sydney Central Planning Panel considered the proposal was incompatible with the rural nature of the surrounding area and of an intensity to cause unacceptable impacts.
Councillor Mitchell Blue, as former Chairperson of the Friends of Glenhaven, was at the forefront of engaging residents on this proposal.
"Residents told us loud and clear that they do not support this proposal within their rural setting - the scale and use is vastly different from the surrounding homes where families live a quiet rural lifestyle," he said.
Mayor Gangemi said Council engaged town planning, traffic and acoustic experts in the appeal and five members of the community presented their concerns to the Court.
"Bearing in mind Council has moved to prohibit Places of Worship from the RU6 zones in our Local Environment Plan, it would be disappointing if this development application was approved. We now await the final determination from The Land and Environment Court, and thank residents for their engagement on this important local matter," he said.
