Karl Stefanovic and his wife Jasmine are currently awaiting a ruling from the Land and Environment Court over their $4.5 million Castlecrag home plans.
The Today show presenter, 49, and his wife, 40, recently engaged in a two-day battle with Willoughby Council, during which neighbors spoke out about “overdevelopment”.
Neighbors expressed their concerns about the redevelopment to Acting Commissioner Louise Byrne at an on-site hearing, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The court advised that it “now reserves judgment in this matter.”
Stefanovics’ current home is described in Stefanovics’ Development Application (DA) as an “old-fashioned single-storey” dwelling, while his new home will feature a “modern design”.
Karl Stefanovic and his wife Jasmine are currently awaiting a ruling from the Land and Environment Court over their $4.5 million Castlecrag home plans.
The application revealed the couple’s plans to build a four-storey house on the site, including 102 square meters of below-grade living space.
The five-bedroom, five-bathroom structure has been designed by Melbourne-based Kennon Architects.
The DA says “the quality of life” for occupants will “improve” under the plans, while the proposal aims to “improve the streetscape and contribute positively to the town”.
The celebrity couple’s legal team stated that the renovation was “generally compliant” with planning laws set out by Willoughby Council.
The Today show host, 49, and his wife, 40, recently had a two-day battle with Willoughby Council, where neighbors spoke out about “overdevelopment”.
However, it did not comply with floor plan space ratio controls consistent with local planning regulations. This is where the relationship between the constructed area of a site and the size of the land on which the building sits is measured.
The Stefanovics stated in their proposal that the violation of the floor space ratio was due to the “sloping topography of the site.”
They argued that because of this their redeveloped property would have “no adverse impact on the adjoining houses or the locality or streetscape”.
In August, neighbor Winny Lee expressed concern that the development would “affect the view” of her family’s backyard.
Neighbors expressed their concerns about the redevelopment to Acting Commissioner Louise Byrne at a recent hearing at the site.
“It looks like the top floor of the proposed building will face our patio and our living room,” he said. She explained that she was also not comfortable with the impacts this could have on privacy.
The Today show host and his wife submitted plans for the mansion last March, and the plans went to court last August.
The couple bought the house, a three-bedroom extension from the 1960s, for $3.2 million in 2021.
The celebrity couple’s legal team stated that the renovation was “generally compliant” with planning laws set out by Willoughby Council.
