Sawtell Rd developer, Regional Architects, ordered to pay security

A controversial land dispute has taken another turn after a judge ordered a developer to pay the council’s potential court costs upfront. But the developer isn’t giving up.

The developer of a controversial subdivision in Sawtell is determined fight on after a judge ordered a being ordered to provide $240,000 as security for costs if it wants to have its appeal heard in court.

Regional Architects Pty Ltd has been in a long-running dispute with Coffs Harbour City Council over a 57-lot subdivision on Sawtell Rd.

Company director Dan Stevens is determined to see the project through.

His company first lodged a development application in 2018 which was met with a wave of public opposition, particularly because the site contained 6ha of primary koala habitat.

The council refused the application before Regional Architects lodged an appeal in the Land and Environment Court, triggering a lengthy and complex legal battle.

While the proceedings were discontinued abruptly in 2020, the company was ordered to pay three-quarters of the council’s legal costs earlier this year.

Regional Architects director Dan Stevens at an on-site Land and Environment Court visit in Sawtell in 2019.

In July, Regional Architects lodged a second appeal and now must pay a $240,000 deposit or bank guarantee to continue with the case after the council successfully argued the company could be unable to pay the council’s costs order if it were to lose the the appeal.

Mr Stevens said the decision was an anticipated result that “suitably delayed” proceedings until after the local government elections in December, when he hoped councillors would take a more favourable approach to the application.

Mr Stevens said not only did the company plan to offset six times the amount of habitat which would be removed for the project, it proposed to build a $4.5 million wildlife hospital nearby.

“We are hoping that the new council will be more interested in affordable housing, creating more jobs and interested in the massive environmental offsets that we have proposed,” he said.

Dave Wood has campaigned in opposition to the project since it was first unveiled and said the land contained critical koala habitat and should never be developed.

He said it also contained endangered swamp sclerophyll forest – an endangered ecological community.

Dave Wood speaks at an on-site Land and Environment Court visit in Sawtell in 2019.

“It is a critical part of the wildlife corridor, particularly for koalas,” he said.

“Koalas are allowed to move throughout the landscape and they have that connectivity between the different patches and refuges we have left.”

During the hearing on September 23, council’s lawyers said the company did not have any real estate assets and relied on sworn statements made by Mr Stevens in which he said his three businesses had been “severely” impacted by Covid-19.

They also referred to sworn statements from the company's previous legal adviser which said Mr Stevens was unable to raise enough money to have both a solicitor and counsel act on his behalf.

Regional Architects submitted the evidence presented by the council provided an undetailed assessment of its financial position, however, did not present any evidence of its own.

Taking into account its existing debt to council of $180,606, Justice Sandra Duggan said she was satisfied that “on the balance of probabilities” there was reason to believe Regional Architects would be unable to pay any future costs order.

The company has 21 days from the filing of the order on September 30 to pay the security.