Not your average building block

In response to your article on page 5 of Peninsula News (April 23), entitled "Non-complying house allowed to be completed", we as the owners of 36 The Citadel would like to inform the community of a few other facts:

The block of land at 36 The Citadel, Umina, is not your average flat building block.

At least 50per cent of the block consists of large rock formations exceeding one metre in height.

We paid professional people - surveyors, engineers and architects - to provide us with as much information as possible to enable a home to be designed that would complement the type of block and ambience of the area.

As a condition of our original approved plans, we were not able to apply Development Control Plan (DCP) 122 to our block.

DCP 122 allows for "cut and fill" on blocks to one metre.

If we had been able to do so, our home currently under construction would have been well within the building envelope.

DCPs are a set of guidelines for the council assessment teams and not a set of rules.

If they were rules, we would have been able to fill.

Another condition of our original approved plans was to supply council with "written levels".

This was provided to council and we have verification that the excavation undertaken at 36 The Citadel conforms with these "written levels".

Finally, whilst Cr Bell felt that our home will have a "severe impact" on our neighbours, the Planning and Development Team, a team of professionals employed by council, recommended that our amended plans be approved.

We are lucky that at least four councillors voted to support council's own recommendation.

Kyle Barnes, Ettalong