Having had experience with this company, I feel your pain! I also live in Inner West Council area. There's another mountain of pain there too!

Do you have an actual DA rejection yet?

If you are still in 'Assessment' stage- they will give you 1 chance to amend your plans and address the 13 issues. You will probably only be given 2wk of STC to do this, and this time of year.....hmmm, not good. Don't bother trying to negotiate/argue with them- it's not a matter of 'we will address 10 of the 13 issues'. This council are uncompromising.

If they have advised you to Withdraw the Application, given the little mess you are in - I would. Then ask for a refund of your application fee. This will mean you can still re-use parts of the Application -plan, survey, heritage report, etc. Once you get an outright rejection- they stamp everything as rejected and you need to start again.

If you have a full Rejection already. I'm sorry, but you are back to the drawing board. Try and get some $$ back from Superdraft- who I know do promise an approval. Then find yourself a local town planner and architect. The town planner can look at what is permissible and guide the architect.

From- someone who spent 3.5yr trying to get a DA approval in Balmain. We ended up in Land and Environment Court for what is a rather humble addition.

Hi Mel thanks for your input , refusal of the application has been recommended by inner west council, although we do have some six months to hopefully redraw and salvage something , kind regards David

If they haven't already refused it, you can ask to withdraw it and get some of your money back. Good luck!

Hi

Not sure which area you are in but here in WA the methods we work within (you will have similar versions) require;

1. Check the zoning - We have R codes (residential design codes) that tell you immediately what the zoning is eg R12, R 40 etc. This also tells us the plot ratio (ie how many m2 of building can be placed on a given M2 size block), the open space percentage (we are required to maintain a percentage of the block as open space eg a carport and the house itself must not exceed a certain percentage of the block size depending on the zoning)

1. Check the local Council - the local Council always has a local planning scheme or policy which is read in addition to the state based (eg R codes) rules. It will often be in older suburbs and is quite detailed. It includes for example Character Retention Guidelines including restrictions on setbacks, height, scale and bulk of the building, rules around visual permeability of eg fences/gates/structures within the setback, style of additions (some want the additions to match the existing character style whilst others want it to be different so as to see the original and new intersection)

From there you have the ability to calculate the building envelope size and know what restrictions you need to work within.

The above is basic stuff.

Alternatively, some designers just design what you want and disregard the applicable overlays as the owners want the most they can get and are prepared to obtain dispensations by either fighting or negotiating with Councils.

We avoid this by engaging with the Council early on to see what is flexible and what is set in stone before the application is submitted. It means that if you are compliant and play within the guidelines you can have a smooth ride through what we call delegated authority over here (Council staff can sign approval and it doesn't go to a full Council meeting).

I would be talking to your designer about why they haven't engaged with the Council early and ignored the applicable overlays.

Cheers

we were assured that "Super Draft' and there designated building designers were fully conversant with all the local ie especial Inner West council requirements , super draft were given all the zoning , survey , plot ratio etc information , we now find they either did not understand the information given , ignored all relevant information or there interpretation was grossly wrong , and it now seems that Super Draft and or there building designers conduct we believe to be misleading , Deceptive and totally unprofessional

thanks , hopefully we can save something from this unacceptable fiasco

Get some good local people on your side. Superdraft couldn't even manage to do a simple Construction Certificate plan, when we provided the DA and the DWG/CAD files. All they had to do was incorporate the Conditions of the DA approval. I can not imagine how they would go with a council like Inner West!

I know the 13 issues sounds a lot. It's standard for this council, so when they throw the next 13 grenades at you- have your people ready! The reality is in these old inner city areas it is virtually impossible to build something fully compliant.

Hi Mel ,thanks for the advice , i wonder if we can start some type of action to protect others ?

Hi Antonia, we will digest and take appropriate action thanks,

David

we have still to hear back from the building designer /draftsman, looks like he may have buried his head in the sand , the property is not heritage listed but comes under the heading of period dwelling controls and council objection number 10 of 13 informs us the plans do not comply , what makes it a bit more tricky as i live in Adelaide and my daughter lives and works full time in Sydney, but we will see what we can salvage thanks.