Dalby’s DOM Distribution takes Western Downs council to court over rejected industrial subdivision
A southwest Queensland council has ended up in court after it rejected a major company’s application for a 10-lot industrial subdivision on its own land.
Council
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A major Darling Downs company has taken a southwest Queensland council to court after it rejected a proposal for the business to subdivide its own land.
Dalby enterprise DOM Distribution lodged an appeal in April with the planning and environment court against the Western Downs Regional Council’s decision the previous month.
The matter relates to a rejected application on two lots totalling nearly 70,000 sqm at 37 Winton Street West at Dalby, which is also the company’s headquarters.
The land is zoned as low-impact industrial, not in a precinct and not within a priority infrastructure area.
DOM Distribution had lodged plans in 2021 to subdivide the lots into 10 lots over three stages, with sizes ranging from 2899 sqm to 23,800 sqm.
While council officers recommended the subdivision be approved, the WDRC rejected it on March 23, arguing the proposal did not comply with the planning scheme’s “accepted outcomes” and would result “in the creation of allotments that do not comply with the minimum lot size and frontage requirements … for the low impact industry zone”.
In the appeal lodged by planning lawyer Andrew Davis, DOM Distribution argued the proposal met the “performance outcomes” outlined in the council’s planning scheme for the reconfiguration of a lot code.
The code contains both accepted outcomes and performance outcomes for any development application, the first of which relates to a more rigid compliance with the planning scheme.
Instead, a performance outcome focuses on the intent of the code, which in this case aims to create lots that enable “density of land uses to be consistent with the intended character and amenity of the neighbourhood, as expressed through the relevant zone”.
The company has sought for the subdivision to be approved.
According to its website, DOM Distribution manufactures and sells equipment and machinery for the agricultural, earthmoving, construction and forestry sectors.
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