Stewart & Honan v. Moyne Shire Council

Summary:

Local residents challenged the shire council’s approval of an application to develop a 32-lot subdivision on property 230 meters from the coast and in an area encompassing several ephemeral wetlands. In reviewing the issues of habitat protection and vulnerability to coastal flooding, the Tribunal noted that the shire council had commissioned a coastal vulnerability study, was undertaking various adaptive measures based on that study, and would require the developers to take further measures as a condition of development. The Tribunal ultimately upheld the council’s grant of permission to develop, but required the addition of further conditions relating to the wetlands and protections against the effects of sea level rise in the near-term.

At Issue: Permission to develop near an area subject to coastal flooding