Randwick panel refuses Maroubra and Coogee development plans

Randwick Local Planning Panel has refused two development applications in Maroubra and Coogee, including a three-storey shop-top housing proposal at 17-21 Lexington Place that would have delivered 10 apartments and a basement with 15 car spaces.

At its public meeting on 11 June 2026, the panel refused DA/1416/2025 for the Maroubra site under section 4.16 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. The proposal sought demolition of the existing building and construction of a three-storey mixed-use building with one retail or commercial unit, 10 apartments and associated landscaping works.

The panel said the application did not comply with the Randwick Local Environmental Plan 2012, the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 and the Apartment Design Guide. Its reasons included breaches of floor space ratio and building height controls, as well as concerns about amenity, solar access, communal open space and site isolation.

The resolution said the proposal was inconsistent with the objectives of the E1 Local Centre zone and would amount to overdevelopment of the site. It also said the development would adversely affect the desired future character of the local centre and would isolate adjoining E1 Local Centre land at 13-15 Lexington Place.

On apartment design, the panel said the proposal failed to provide communal open space in accordance with Part 3D of the Apartment Design Guide. It noted that while the scheme met the numerical solar access test, the design did not adequately optimise solar access for the southern upper-level apartments, where sunlight to living areas would rely on small high-level windows.

The panel also said the primary balconies did not comply with Part 4E of the guide because parts of the balconies did not meet minimum depth requirements and could not be counted towards the required area. It said that left the private open space undersized and non-compliant.

The site was also identified as potentially affected by acid sulfate soils. The panel said no investigation or management measures had been submitted and that Council could not be satisfied excavation and earthworks could be undertaken without environmental harm.

In its revised reason on height, the panel said the Clause 4.6 request had not shown that compliance with the development standard was unreasonable or unnecessary and that sufficient environmental planning grounds had not been provided. It also said the proposal was not in the public interest.

The panel acknowledged the redevelopment could have significant positive benefits for the local commercial centre. It encouraged the applicant to speak further with the owner of 13 to 15 Lexington Place, who had expressed a willingness to discuss a joint development, and said any future scheme would be expected to show public benefits such as affordable housing if significant additional floor space was sought.

The panel also refused DA/194/2026 for 1A Waltham Street, Coogee. That proposal covered removal and redevelopment of the non-heritage fabric of Maidstone House, conversion to a single dwelling house, two residential flat buildings, a basement level, a swimming pool, tree removal, subdivision and associated works.