Wei v Parramatta City Council

Land and Environment Court

of New South Wales

CITATION:

Wei v Parramatta City Council [2008] NSWLEC 1157
This decision has been amended. Please see the end of the judgment for a list of the amendments.

PARTIES:

APPLICANT
Xing Xing Wei

RESPONDENT
Parramatta City Council

FILE NUMBER(S):

11309 of 2007

CORAM:

Hoffman C

KEY ISSUES:

Development Application :- Commercial Brothel, parking, noise, privacy, inappropriate development, property values, red light district crime and undersirable elements.

LEGISLATION CITED:

Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979
Parramatta Local Environmental Plan 1997
Sydney Regional Environmental Plan 28
Parramatta Development Control Plan

DATES OF HEARING:

26/05/2008

EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE:

26 May 2008

LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES:

APPLICANT
Mr M. Baird, barrister
instructed by Mr B Barrack
of Barrack Lawyers

RESPONDENT
Mr C. Drury, solicitor
of DLA Phillips Fox Lawyers

JUDGMENT:

THE LAND AND

ENVIRONMENT COURT
OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Hoffman C

26 May 2008

This decision was given extemporaneously.
It has been revised and edited prior to publication.

1 This is a Class 1 Appeal 11309 of 2007 between Xing Xing Wei v Parramatta City Council in regard to Development Application DA/54/2007 with a change of use of an existing first floor massage clinic to a commercial brothel.

2 No structural works are proposed to the premises but there would be refitting out of existing rooms. The plans accompanying the development application show the premises to contain two bedrooms, one bathroom, three waiting rooms and one make-up room and change room.

3 When we were on-site, two of the waiting rooms were shown to be an existing kitchenette and what had been a staff room in the massage clinic. One had to walk through the staffroom to get to the kitchenette. The applicant advised that those rooms would remain for those uses, leaving only a single waiting room.

4 The proposal is that only the two customer service rooms would be provided, and there would be a maximum of two sex workers on-site at any time plus a receptionist.The proposed hours of operation are 24 hours, 7 days a week.

5 The address of the property is 19 Brodie Street Rydalmere, which is nearly opposite the Rydalmere Railway Station. Along the same side of Brodie Street as the subject premises is a row of shops and commercial premises. There is a fast food outlet on the ground floor of the subject site and adjoining and there are other shops and commercial premises in the strip.

6 About 100 metres north of the subject site Brodie Street goes underneath Victoria Road where there is a major embankment and overpass of the railway and there are residential uses on the northern side of Victoria Road.

7 Just before the viaduct there is a service road at the foot of the embankment which is also part of Victoria Road and several commercial premises also front that service road. Along it is the St Johns Ambulance Training Centre and a number of other commercial premises, one of which is an adult bookstore…