Apologies for the long post...
I've been at council today and wading through pages and pages of R codes trying to get my head around the rules. I'm hoping that those WA investors who have had experience in sub-dividing and or developing can help.
Background is that our PPOR in central Mandurah is 400-500m from the new train station and virtually in the middle of a 1km radius to beach, foreshore, cafe precinct, shopping centre, school etc. A popular kids park and bike track about 500m away is undergoing a $1M+ upgrade, to be staged over 3 years. I've been at council today to get the latest info on the development of the railway precinct and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the latest concept plan includes not only R25/R40 residential, but also group housing and development of a new commercial zone precinct and home based business zoning. We're sitting vitually halfway along this proposed development only one block back. Effectively all will be within 450m of us. All this will take a number of years to develop but it all bodes very well for our property value in the long term.
Now the reason I was actually at council in the first place was to investigate the very persistent and loud rumour about town that our suburb is going to be rezoned R25 & R40 imminently now that the sewage has finally been put passed. Council wouldn't say one way or the other only that a plan would be released for public comment before the end of the year.
Why am I interested...well our place sits on an 850sqm block so I'm wondering if it is rezoned R25 does it have develpment potential??? The existing house is a 15yr old 4x2 brick and iron construction. It is lovely and definitely not a knock-downer. But by removing the side carport to enable access driveway I think there is some potential to create a battleaxe block at the rear. The detached home office/shed would also have to be removed but potentially we could reconstruct this on one of our other Mandurah IP's which would be a value add.
The details are that by my calculations the battleaxe block would be a total of 473sqm consisting of house site 362sqm + 111 sqm access driveway being 77% and 23% respectively. Problem here is that as I understand the codes, the driveway cannot be more that 20% of the total battleaxe block size. The existing house would be left with 377sqm. Question 1 - is it possible to make the first 6-7m of driveway common title and shared access for both residences? This would bring the battleaxe driveway back within 20% requirement.
Next problem...Our block is set on the top of a small rise so we have a short but steep driveway. Most of the slope is actually on nature stip with only about the last 2m of rise within our boundary. The block is otherwise flat. I think it will be almost impossible to build a new detached carport for the existing house. Even a detached carport would have to infringe on the 6m setback requirement. IF we could get special leave from the council to do this, we then have an issue of having to place the carport in front of an existing window - also a no no? Another alternative is to turn the formal lounge into a double garage as it seems to be about the right size. Then turn one of the front bedrooms into a small lounge/home office type thing. The home would then be a 3x2 but still with plenty of living space as the large open plan family/dining/kitchen area would be unaffected.
Lastly, if we could overcome all the development hurdles is it worthwhile? Obviously the amenity of the current 4x2 would be drastically changed - no more home office, shed, big yard etc. Secondly with probable release of around 100 new lots for townhouses in the immediate area would such a subdivision ultimately have much value? Thirdly considering landscaping issues (significantly retaining wall at front of block) and modifications relocation of carport on existing house, would it not really be considered a viable project? All comments welcome.
Flatout
I've been at council today and wading through pages and pages of R codes trying to get my head around the rules. I'm hoping that those WA investors who have had experience in sub-dividing and or developing can help.
Background is that our PPOR in central Mandurah is 400-500m from the new train station and virtually in the middle of a 1km radius to beach, foreshore, cafe precinct, shopping centre, school etc. A popular kids park and bike track about 500m away is undergoing a $1M+ upgrade, to be staged over 3 years. I've been at council today to get the latest info on the development of the railway precinct and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the latest concept plan includes not only R25/R40 residential, but also group housing and development of a new commercial zone precinct and home based business zoning. We're sitting vitually halfway along this proposed development only one block back. Effectively all will be within 450m of us. All this will take a number of years to develop but it all bodes very well for our property value in the long term.
Now the reason I was actually at council in the first place was to investigate the very persistent and loud rumour about town that our suburb is going to be rezoned R25 & R40 imminently now that the sewage has finally been put passed. Council wouldn't say one way or the other only that a plan would be released for public comment before the end of the year.
Why am I interested...well our place sits on an 850sqm block so I'm wondering if it is rezoned R25 does it have develpment potential??? The existing house is a 15yr old 4x2 brick and iron construction. It is lovely and definitely not a knock-downer. But by removing the side carport to enable access driveway I think there is some potential to create a battleaxe block at the rear. The detached home office/shed would also have to be removed but potentially we could reconstruct this on one of our other Mandurah IP's which would be a value add.
The details are that by my calculations the battleaxe block would be a total of 473sqm consisting of house site 362sqm + 111 sqm access driveway being 77% and 23% respectively. Problem here is that as I understand the codes, the driveway cannot be more that 20% of the total battleaxe block size. The existing house would be left with 377sqm. Question 1 - is it possible to make the first 6-7m of driveway common title and shared access for both residences? This would bring the battleaxe driveway back within 20% requirement.
Next problem...Our block is set on the top of a small rise so we have a short but steep driveway. Most of the slope is actually on nature stip with only about the last 2m of rise within our boundary. The block is otherwise flat. I think it will be almost impossible to build a new detached carport for the existing house. Even a detached carport would have to infringe on the 6m setback requirement. IF we could get special leave from the council to do this, we then have an issue of having to place the carport in front of an existing window - also a no no? Another alternative is to turn the formal lounge into a double garage as it seems to be about the right size. Then turn one of the front bedrooms into a small lounge/home office type thing. The home would then be a 3x2 but still with plenty of living space as the large open plan family/dining/kitchen area would be unaffected.
Lastly, if we could overcome all the development hurdles is it worthwhile? Obviously the amenity of the current 4x2 would be drastically changed - no more home office, shed, big yard etc. Secondly with probable release of around 100 new lots for townhouses in the immediate area would such a subdivision ultimately have much value? Thirdly considering landscaping issues (significantly retaining wall at front of block) and modifications relocation of carport on existing house, would it not really be considered a viable project? All comments welcome.
Flatout