By Jesse Graham
A $28,000 dispute between a Healesville businessman and council has been shot down by VCAT, with a year-long matter settled for the time being.
In a 6 December order handed down by Senior Member Jeanette Rickards, claims for costs from Fluid Lounge owner Garry Christie and Yarra Ranges Council were both disallowed.
In handing down her decision, Rickards wrote that council representatives had not conducted proceedings in a way to unnecessarily disadvantage Mr Christie.
Answering Mr Christie’s concerns about conditions placed on his planning permit that necessitated the appeal to VCAT, Rickards wrote that council officers appeared to have acknowledged the conditions should never have been imposed.
“Be that as it may this was the first time that the officers could request that the conditions be removed and they promptly did so,” she wrote.
“The condition remaining in contention was finally resolved following a hearing before the Tribunal.”
The claims were in relation to two hearings at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), where Mr Christie and council representatives disputed conditions on a planning permit.
Two of the conditions, which required a $38,000 payment in lieu of parking and the provision of a courtesy bus from Mr Christie, were dropped immediately in the first hearing.
The final hearing in August was to resolve a matter on Mr Christie’s application in regards to opening hours – VCAT ultimately ruled in favour of council on the matter.
Mr Christie lodged a claim for $28,229.51 in November, aiming to recover some of the costs associated with the hearings – he claimed they were unnecessary, as the payment and courtesy bus conditions were not legal under the planning scheme.
Council responded by applying for $3000 in costs against Mr Christie, for having to answer his claim, and warned Mr Christie that his legal claim was “vexatious and unsubstantiated”.
Following the VCAT order on costs, the dispute between the two parties has no further means of appeal, with the exception of the Supreme Court.
Mr Christie is currently working with the Yarra Ranges Council’s planning department on a new application for his business, to be put to council in the near future.
