In 2023, Campbelltown Council took out a “stop use’’ order against the Australian Muslim Welfare Centre in Eagleview Road, Minto, pictured above.
This was in response to complaints from local residents that the centre was illegally being used as a place of worship, creating traffic problems.
The issue ended up in the Land and Environment Court, which is yet to hand down its judgment.
In the meantime, the Australian Muslim Welfare Centre has lodged a planning proposal to rezone the land to allow the Eagleview Road centre to be used as a place of public worship.
During debate of the proposal at last night’s council meeting, veteran councillor Meg Oates said the proposed zoning change could put at risk “planning and amenity’’.
“We have to be very careful that if we do these kind of rezonings the amenity of the area is not adversely affected,’’ Cr Oates said.
Cr Adam Zahra, who in the end was the only one to vote against the rezoning, backed up Cr Oates and her comments.
“Thank you for that, Cr Oates,’’ he said.
“This doesn’t sit well with me either,’’ Cr Zahra said.
A number of councillors spoke in favour of the rezoning request, including Ash Rahman, Khaled Halabi and Masood Chowdhury.
Mayor Darcy Lound said that Campbelltown had changed over the past few years, and this change was something that could be supported now.
A report to council said the Local Planning Panel had given conditional support for the rezoning proposal for 13-17 Eagleview Road, Minto.
However, the panel sought more information from the applicants on the intensity and frequency of use as a place of public worship.
Also, the panel asked for a limit on the scale and capacity at prayer events and more information regarding traffic impact on the locality.
It also asked that the applicant “demonstrate the suitability of the C4 zone for the proposed use, with consideration given to the preservation of environmental amenity.’’
The report said that the applicant revised their proposal in response to the planning panel.
According to the report, in 2012 council granted development consent for the construction of an outbuilding on the Eagleview Road site, for use as a craft studio.
The development consent included the following conditions:
• The use of the craft studio was limited to a maximum of 5 people.
• The hours of operation were restricted to between 9 am and 5 pm Monday to Friday, and 9 am to 1 pm on Saturdays.
• The use of the site for any purpose other than a craft studio, including a religious establishment, was confirmed as not permissible.
In 2018, council granted a new consent for alterations and additions to the existing outbuilding for use as a community facility.
Under this new consent, the following conditions were imposed:
• occupancy at the site for events and gatherings was capped at 50 people for regular weekly activities.
• a maximum of 150 people was permitted 12 times a year for infrequent events such as birthday parties.
• the use of the site as a place of public worship, educational establishment, or any other land use not specified by that development consent is not permissible on the site.
In October last year, a modification application was submitted to council seeking to:
• increase the maximum attendance at the site for regular weekly activities from 50 to 100 people.
• increase the maximum attendance for larger events at the premises on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 100 to 220 people (maximum of 2 gatherings a day with a minimum 1- hour gap between each event).
• construction of an awning at the rear of the community facility.
• alter and upgrade the car park to increase the amount of parking available on site.
• construct a 1.8 m fence along the northern, eastern and southern boundaries for noise attenuation.
The application was approved on July 11 this year.
As for last night’s approval of the planning proposal, it will now be sent to the NSW department of planning, housing and infrastructure for determination.
If a green light is given by the state government, the proposal will be put on public exhibition by Campbeltown Council and local residents will have the opportunity to make submissions – one way or the other.
If the proposal goes through all these hoops, the applicant will still need to lodge a Development Application to allow the site to be used as a place of public worship.
