Description of the development's surrounding amenity
And soil requirements and issues for townhouses is vastly different for a 6 story building.
We recently did a 4 storey + basement car park on the Gold Coast - much different to townhouses.
You will probably also need consultants for noise and landscaping.
And the soil test is pretty pricey compared to a basic one required for townhouses.
You would most likely need a traffic consultant and acoustic engineer too.
Oscar
You need to engage the following experts:
1. Architect
2. Town Planner
3. Other experts (soil tester, traffic engineer etc)
Thanks for the input and advice, guys.
Yup, familiar with traffic consultants and acoustic engineer - sat through 3 days of VCAT panel hearings, had the 4 storey developer's expensive silk/barrister call upon expert testimony from traffic consultant, acoustic engineer (Frank Butera from ARUP), waste management consultant, planning consultant (Ken Twite).
The VCAT panel member who presided over the hearings was on the panel that approved the Tecoma MacDonalds. Extremely pro-development.
I have ploughed through all the consultants reports about the 4 storey development, addressing Council and residents objections.
Council could only oppose it on 2 planning points - the tall visually, blocky presentation and interface with the main street/neighbours and the reduction in the standard rate of carparking. This is happening with all proposed developments I hear, the reduction in carparking requirements as the Liberal State Government has lowered the Victoria State Statutory requirements even further which will work in favour of our 6-storey development.
But I never heard a presentation from a soil tester which would have been particularly crucial for the 4 storey development as they are building 38 dwellings on a ex-petrol station on land 1400m+. The land is contaminated which is why I presume the developer has to dig down to excavate the soil to build a deeper than normal basement carpark. The Council has placed very strict permit conditions prior to the construction or carrying out works pursuant to the permit, requiring
1. a Certificate of Environmental Audit for the land must be issued in accordance with Section 53Y of the Environment Protection Act 1970 and provided to the Responsible Authority
2. An Environmental Auditor appointed under section 53S of the Environmental Protection Act 1970 must make a Statement in accordance with Section 53Z of that Act that the environmental conditions of the land are suitable for the use and development that are the subject of this permit and that statement must be provided to the Responsible Authority.
Our land site of 1925m will not be subject to these strict environmental audits by Council as firstly, it is not contaminated land, it is a purely residential north-facing block and secondly, I do not believe we have to dig down to build a basement carpark as starting from the left boundary of my site are 70-100 public angle carpark spaces that face a huge reserve the size of 2.5 football fields. The reserve had a $500,000 facelift recently with native trees planted, bbq facilities, exercise and fitness equipment, a basket ball court an benches and tables for picnics. People jog around the reserve, do brisk walking, walk their dogs and play cricket in the summer.
At the back of the property site is another 120-150 public carpark spaces for the tennis club courts, the lawn bowls club, the reserve and function room.
All the public carparks are heavily under-utilised. They are often empty except maybe on certain Saturdays in summer and spring when there is a lawn bowl competition.
On the right boundary of my site is the Business Zone 1 shopping strip which has a milkbar, fish and chips shop, hairdresser, clothing shop.
The 4 storey development, because it is being built on a Business Zone 1 land, has to have a IGA-type supermarket and other commercial shops on the ground floor in addition to the residential units above. That IGA supermarket will be very handy for my residents and Council should be glad that the area will be revitalised as the developer of the 4 storey also plans to open up indoor and outdoor cafes on the shopping strip.
My site is currently zoned Residential Zone 1 so no requirement to have commercial shops on ground floor. I would like ground floor units to be designed catering to the disabled and/or elderly pensioners who have to get around on a scooter.
Given that my site is 700m walking distance to the patrolled train station straight down the street, I would expect most residents who work to walk to the train station or a quick bike ride down the very wide quiet residential street, place their bikes in the bike cage and take a 25 minute train ride to the city, rather than take the car.
If they want to take a bus to another train station within the same suburb because they don't like to walk or bike, they just take a 3 minute brisk walk to the bus stop down my street.
I might even suggest to Council to have 2-3 hire electric Prius type of cars to be made available to the development which can be hired on an hourly basis if residents want to run errands in a big shopping complex 10 minutes drive away. That reduces the need for residents to own cars.
I would love for the development to have balconies in front, and at the sides, particularly on the west side where they can overlook the expansive greenery of the reserve.
My preference would be for the development to be mainly 2 bedroom and penthouse type apartments but if I have to have 1 bedroom apartments for a mixture of affordable accommodation and to maximize yield, they have to be fairly large and comfortable, like perhaps 70-80sqm. I don't know if I'm being realistic or not in all these idea, I guess I have to nut it out with a townplanner/architect. But these are my broad goals for the development.
Any comments or suggestions would be welcome.
