‘Student accommodation can’t just be a block of cheap flats’: Justice slams developer for over-the-top plans

A DEVELOPER’S plan to build eight units targeting students where this suburban Adelaide house now stands has been slammed in the Supreme Court as a “gross departure” from the area’s zoning laws.

The development was planned for Sturt Rd near Westfield Marion.

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THE Supreme Court has knocked back student accommodation planned for opposite Westfield Marion because it included twice as many units as allowed on the block.

The project, on Sturt Rd, Seacombe Gardens, included eight units on an 841sq m suburban property that now houses a typical home.

Handing down his judgement last Wednesday, Justice Malcolm Blue said the plan was a “gross departure” from the area’s zoning.

“It’s too far beyond the pale,” Justice Blue said.

He was handing down his ruling into an appeal by Marion Council against a decision by the Environment, Resources and Development Court to approve the project last October.

Marion Council’s development assessment panel initially rejected the proposal in January last year, as well as a compromise version of it in April.

A developer wants to build eight units for student accomodation on this Seacombe Gardens site.

The developer, WC Projects Pty Ltd, then appealed to the Environment, Resources and Development Court, where it was approved in October.

The ERD Court had found the development should be allowed because it was student accommodation rather than flats, which could be denser and required fewer car spaces.

It imposed conditions requiring that all the residents be students, that no more than 16 people live in the complex and that they have no more than eight cars in total.

Concerns about the planned student accommodation’s lack of basic features such a common room and study areas were raised.

The council appealed the ERD decision to the Supreme Court, which last week ruled in Marion’s favour.

Justice Blue said there could be some leeway in allowing denser development than envisioned in the development plan but double the number of units normally allowed was too much.

WC Projects Pty Ltd will have to pay the council’s costs for the Supreme Court appeal.

Marion Mayor Kris Hanna said the judgment showed developers could not get special treatment for flats just because they were designed for students.

“You can stretch the council’s plan but not completely depart from it and try to fix the breaches with conditions,” Mr Hanna said.

“If a developer wants to build student accommodation, it can’t just be a block of cheap flats, it would need suitable features such as a common room and study facilities.”

Justice Blue was expected to next hear arguments on whether the approval should be quashed altogether or whether the case should return to the ERD Court.