hi guys,
I shall start by saying that I’m in a rather unique and tricky situation. I own a corner block of land of about 500 square meters which contains a 3m wide easement for a stormwater drain 2m underneath the ground that cuts across the middle of the property at a 45 degree angle. According to the current dcp for my council ( nsw), the only structures you can build on this land are pretty much two sheds on opposing corners.
Now, I have a house (build circa 1970s) that I assume is council approved built right on top of the easement. The house also has a second storey extension (added circa 1990) which consists of two rooms that is on top the the garage at the rear of the house.
Due to a growing family, i have recently begun inquiries into further extending the house to the maximum allowable FSR.
I began proceedings by consulting one of the planning control guys from the council who advised that because of the easement, I should further consult somebody from the public works department as they have the final say in the DA. This is what I did and the person pretty much responded by saying that “no DA will be permissible for any kind of extension as this contravenes the DCP. The council has previously made mistakes by allowing previous developments and that they will not repeat this.” I then asked what will happen if my house burns down to which he replied “too bad”. Note also that my proposed extension plans was to increase the current second storey to the confines of the current ground level footprint and therefore not affecting the easement in any way.
I hung up and a few hours later, the same officer calls back saying that they can offer an alternative of allowing the stormwater drain to be rediverted around the property instead.
I quickly jumped on the phone and called around to contacts who did this sort of work. The common message I was gettting back was to budget 250k for such works. Should I wish to proceed with this option I would need to engage a stormwater engineer to help prepare diagrams of the proposed redirection, submit to council who then replies with cost estimates and ultimately carry out the works.
So here I am now weighing up my options.
As a reasonable person (albeit with coloured glasses on) it just seems to be not very fair for the council to make such a “no DA no matter what” determination considering that the current house is already there and the proposed works should not affect the easement.
Do I have any grounds to argue my case in court? I do appreciate that the council has offered an “alternative” but it’s one that’s hardly reasonable . Thoughts?
Regards,
Kev
I shall start by saying that I’m in a rather unique and tricky situation. I own a corner block of land of about 500 square meters which contains a 3m wide easement for a stormwater drain 2m underneath the ground that cuts across the middle of the property at a 45 degree angle. According to the current dcp for my council ( nsw), the only structures you can build on this land are pretty much two sheds on opposing corners.
Now, I have a house (build circa 1970s) that I assume is council approved built right on top of the easement. The house also has a second storey extension (added circa 1990) which consists of two rooms that is on top the the garage at the rear of the house.
Due to a growing family, i have recently begun inquiries into further extending the house to the maximum allowable FSR.
I began proceedings by consulting one of the planning control guys from the council who advised that because of the easement, I should further consult somebody from the public works department as they have the final say in the DA. This is what I did and the person pretty much responded by saying that “no DA will be permissible for any kind of extension as this contravenes the DCP. The council has previously made mistakes by allowing previous developments and that they will not repeat this.” I then asked what will happen if my house burns down to which he replied “too bad”. Note also that my proposed extension plans was to increase the current second storey to the confines of the current ground level footprint and therefore not affecting the easement in any way.
I hung up and a few hours later, the same officer calls back saying that they can offer an alternative of allowing the stormwater drain to be rediverted around the property instead.
I quickly jumped on the phone and called around to contacts who did this sort of work. The common message I was gettting back was to budget 250k for such works. Should I wish to proceed with this option I would need to engage a stormwater engineer to help prepare diagrams of the proposed redirection, submit to council who then replies with cost estimates and ultimately carry out the works.
So here I am now weighing up my options.
As a reasonable person (albeit with coloured glasses on) it just seems to be not very fair for the council to make such a “no DA no matter what” determination considering that the current house is already there and the proposed works should not affect the easement.
Do I have any grounds to argue my case in court? I do appreciate that the council has offered an “alternative” but it’s one that’s hardly reasonable . Thoughts?
Regards,
Kev
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