Problem with Brisbane Council -- New Driveway and Tree

Hi All,

I demolished the house and start to build 1 house on each of the lots.

Now I have a problem for one of the houses.

There is a Jacaranda (street tree) in front of the block. I lodged a driveway application to council and was told I need to get approval from council tree section.

The tree section staff seems not willing to remove the tree.

If I move the driveway to the left side of the block, the plan is compromised due to setback.

I am building the right hand side lot at the same time so no setback for the garage if it is on right hand side. If moving garage to left hand side, it needs 1 meter setback.

My question is: does the owner have legal rights to have the tree removed or the council need to take consideration while making the decision that street tree should not compromise the building design?

I attached the plan.


Thanks in advance

Cheers

William
 

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As jacarandas are a declared environmental weed, I'd be surprised if you couldn't get permission to have it removed. Did you jump through their hoops and include a report from an arborist?
 
Arborist report

Yep, get an arborist report and have the arborist include/suggest replacement with another tree at your expense planted in a different area if council will allow.
 
I will meet with the council guy and see what he thinks. I will suggest to him that I can get an arborist to do a report and I will let you updated. Thanks for your reply.

Cheers

William
 
I will meet with the council guy and see what he thinks. I will suggest to him that I can get an arborist to do a report and I will let you updated.
Hang on, so if you haven't done an arborist report, what have you done? An arborist's report is a standard inclusion with an application to remove a protected tree. Have you applied? If not, in what sense is it true that "The tree section staff seems not willing to remove the tree"?
 
I rang the council as I was told by the staff at Driveway team. And a few days later, the tree team sent someone on site and had a look.
 
when I asked about removing a street tree for a driveway the response was a laugh and "good luck with that one". I ended up having a curved driveway around the tree.
 
I rang the council as I was told by the staff at Driveway team. And a few days later, the tree team sent someone on site and had a look.
I'd say they've just determined that it's a protected tree, and that you therefore have to apply to have it removed, rather than having a right to remove it without an application.

So now you apply: http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/laws-permits/laws-permits-residents/protected-vegetation/apply-permit-work-protected-vegetation
 
Sorry, I misunderstood - I thought the jacaranda was on the front of your block, but are you saying it's "out the front of your block", i.e. on Council property?
 
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Depending on the location in the BCC control area,we have Jacarandas in the front all on BCC property,the only time anyone touches them is when Energex trims the over hang going into the power grid,someone up the road cut one back and I don't think that ended too well..
 
Couldn't you just make the driveway narrower on the nature strip to get the 1m clearance from the tree, then just widen it on your lot.
 
Even if you get approval to remove it it is going to cost you big time. We luckily enough got approval to remove a tree a while back but only because it was quite unhealthy and deemed to not be able to survive if we put a driveway in anywhere near it.

11.5k later.

To confirm it was on council land.

Also the council would not allow my private full qualified arborist to do it. Ching Ching for them. Would have cost me 2-3k if he did it but they measure it on volume or O2 or shade or something from memory. I can dig up the receipt of you want. It was BCC
 
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Even if you get approval to remove it it is going to cost you big time. We luckily enough got approval to remove a tree a while back but only because it was quite unhealthy and deemed to not be able to survive if we put a driveway in anywhere near it.

11.5k later.

To confirm it was on council land.

Also the council would not allow my private full qualified arborist to do it. Ching Ching for them. Would have cost me 2-3k if he did it but they measure it on volume or O2 or shade or something from memory. I can dig up the receipt of you want. It was BCC

Thanks WilliamB,

Hopefully won't cost me that much as the tree is not big. 2-3 meters in length. But they said it is a significant tree. I am using the pool guy you recommended CL Pools. You are always very helpful. I owe you a coffee or lunch. I will be in Brisbane next week. Happy to meet if you have time.
Thanks a lot.
Cheers

William
 
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