Marino couple ordered to demolish council-approved dream home after neighbours win court order

AN Adelaide couple have been ordered to demolish their $680,000 dream home after their neighbours won a court order last week.

Chris and Deborah Fleetwood outside their home at Marino. It’s been ordered to be demolished by a court because it’s too big. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

• How this dream home has turned into a nightmare

A MARINO couple have been ordered to demolish their $680,000 dream home after their neighbours won a court order last week.

Environment, Resources and Development Court judge Jack Costello gave Chris and Deborah Fleetwood until March 14 to respond to an order for their house on The Cove Rd to be bulldozed.

It followed his January ruling that Marion Council should never have approved the Fleetwoods’ two-storey house because it was too big for the site.

Neighbours had complained about its size.

The house on The Cove Road, Marino, stands on a rise and overlooks the ocean. Picture: Stephen Laffer

Mr Fleetwood last week told the court the couple had met with an architect and planner to “formulate a way forward”.

Under the order, they can suggest compromise plans to alter the home so it meets development requirements for the area, although these would carry the risk of not being approved.

“There’s an opportunity to modify it pretty drastically so some of it may be having to come down, but not all,” Mr Fleetwood told the CoastCity Weekly Messenger after the hearing.

He would not say what these changes might be.

The view of the house in Marino, as seen from Westcliff Court. Picture: Matt Loxton

The couple are still considering whether to sue Marion Council for compensation.

“That’s probably what we need to do,” he said, but stressed they had not yet decided.

The council approved the two-storey, four-bedroom home in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

Each approval was appealed by the Fleetwoods’ neighbours, Alex and Debra Paior.

The first two approvals were quashed by the court in 2014.

The Paiors last week did not return the CoastCity Weekly’s calls.

In his January judgment, Judge Costello and commissioners Alan Rumsby and Stephen Hamnett found the Fleetwoods’ house was too big for the sloping site, was not set back enough from the rear boundary and created “unreasonable” and “excessive” overlooking.

The Environment Court has ruled Marion Council should never have approved the house. Picture: Stephen Laffer

Neither the council nor the Fleetwoods can appeal the judgment.

The council paid $262,000 in legal fees to defend its position, while the Fleetwoods paid $100,000 in legal costs.

They were unrepresented at last week’s hearing.

Marion Mayor Kris Hanna declined to comment, saying the situation was “delicate”.