I was chairing the Planning Committee meeting as the chairperson was absent and I am the Deputy Chair.
There were 12 councillors present at the meeting but two had declared conflicts of interest in this DA and had left the chamber.
My memory is that four councillors were against the recommendation and some voiced their concerns. I did not like it either because I am against gambling as a matter of principle. I don't even buy lotto tickets.
But while they indicated that they were against the recommendation none of them actually voiced a formal "reason for refusal" that could be officially attached to a resolution to refuse.
This was necessary because the staff report had already recommended approval.
A valid reason for refusal would have had to have been one recognised as legitimate under section 79C of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act (EPA Act) and should ideally have referred to one or more clauses in a Council Development Control Plan and/or our main Local Environment Plan.
None of the Councillors put forward such a reference, which meant that they were voting from their hearts rather than from the EPA Act.
If we had voted to refuse it and it had gone to the Land & Environment Court with out an official reason attached our lawyers would have been unable to defend it and the refusal would have been swiftly overturned.
I thus had a responsibility to explain to the meeting that I could not support the refusal vote as no formal reason for refusal had been put forward. In the end the staff recommendation was passed 6 votes to 4 with 2 Councillors out of the meeting."
East Ward Greens Councillor Murray Matson