Rozelle Village in new stoush with Council

The Tigers development is officially dead – but the legal after-effects rumble on.

When the Joint Regional Planning Panel refused approval for the Tigers development in July, the site’s owner and developer Rozelle Village decided not to appeal the decision to the Land & Environment Court. However, a new stoush has come to the fore between Rozelle Village and Leichhardt Council over the return of $750,000 in bank guarantees submitted as part of the application.

Managing Director of Rozelle Village, Ian Wright, reiterated the company’s case for the return of the guarantees.

“We’ve been requesting the return of these bank guarantees, mainly because we face borrowing costs in relation to the site in excess of $150,000 a month,” he said.

“It’s not as though Council can use this money. They’re bank guarantees – they are essentially ten pieces of paper sitting in a drawer somewhere that cannot be cashed. We just want to get the money to keep our business afloat and also the business of maintaining the site – frankly we’re at the end of our tether on the matter.”

Rozelle Village had submitted a deed poll to Council on the day of its October general meeting, which Mr Wright said effectively waived their right to appeal to the Land & Environment Court.

But with such short notice, Council was reluctant to make a decision on the matter at the meeting, pending further legal advice about the validity of Rozelle Village’s assurances regarding their right to appeal.

Council’s legal officer Margaret Lyons said that, in her opinion, it was “impossible to extinguish” a right of appeal, as in this case the right belonged to the land, rather than the owner.

Deputy Mayor Rochelle Porteous summed up the prevailing view at Council when she observed it would be a “dereliction of duty” for them to vote on such a significant issue in the absence of appropriate legal advice.

The matter will be resolved at the next Building and Development Council Meeting on November 9.

Mr Wright later said the company had taken the decision to review the development, appointing architects Laboratory for Visionary Architecture and town planner Stephen McMahon to develop a new concept for the site.