Oasis and the duty-free store in the Citygold building

After years of representation, our local community became a winner last Friday, 22 December with the duty free store in the “Citygold” building finally closed down.

In addition on the same day, the L & E Court upheld Council’s previous refusal for a DA for the brothel at 134 Abercrombie (on Cleveland).

The close down of the duty free store followed Council’s refusal earlier this year for the operator to “legitimise” their illegal operations.  Unfortunately the operators continued to operate illegally, even after the DA was refused. 

Catching the operators in the act, so that legal action could be taken was then a  long and drawn out process, dependent on the community having to let Council know when the store was operating illegally.   The store has now finally ceased its operations, with Council Officers verifying the fixtures and fittings have now been removed.  

The building is now being renovated for lease and any new business is likely to need a DA.  If you see the premises operating in the interim, please contact Council – suggested contact point at Council is Giovanni Cirrillo who is aware of the history of these premises.

In the case of Oasis, the Judgement from the L & E Court was issued also last Friday. 

This follows Councils refusal earlier this year for another DA, which followed last years Appeal in the L & E Court.  Last years Judgement upholding Council’s refusal, unfortunately was based on issues relating to design rather than impact on the local community which allowed a new DA to be lodged this year.  In the interim however Council had put through tighter controls for anti-clustering provisions, which effectively allowed Council to refuse the new DA this year. The applicant however again chose to take the DA back to the L & E Court allowing it to continue to operate.

Whilst we were have been particularly concerned about the management of  this particular file at Councils end over the last few years, action taken by Council’s Senior Solicitor recently gave us hope that something would be done.  Fridays Judgement now means that Council can now take action in Court to close down Oasis and we are assured this will follow in January.  We note the application through the Court may allow the operators a little time to close down its operations.

Importantly, the anti-clustering provisions in Council planning controls demonstrate that they do they are designed to prevent the establishment of another brothel within 75 metres of another approved brothel.

In the case of Oasis, there is another smaller operation, called the Kastle which is located directly opposite, and historically operated more discretely.  However the operator had allowed its consent approval to lapse.  A key to the outcome for Oasis was consent approval for the Kastle.  This occurred only days before the Hearing.  Another factor was that a Council Planner in “internal correspondence” did not see both premises being so closely located together as issue.  The Commissioner did not understand this position and fortunately considered the anti-clustering provisions which lead to the Judgement. 

Its worth noting that sadly the long standing community complaints whilst located on Council’s files and submitted to the Court (it appeared they had not previously been presented) were not enough to convince the Commissioner that the DA should be rejected on other grounds.    

In terms of the Judgement’s impact on the proposed brothel for the former Blackmarket site - we see the Judgment as having a positive implication, because another brothel is operating close by on Regent Street; its main entrance is off Chippen Lane. 

We are looking at the Oasis Judgment and also another recent Judgment for MIstys in Potts Point, so we can see what can be done about this proposed brothel.   We note anti-clustering provisions apply when a proposed site is within 75 metres of another premises – the calculation is assessed from the centre of the proposed premises to the immediate entrance of the other premises.