Slowly progressing
I chased up the electricity company contact as he was going to get back to me about whether the pad mount transformer could be located over a drainage easement. That was no go, but he also said they were having internal disagreements about what they had proposed to do, because they would need budget approval to do the extra bits they want to do while they are reticulating our blocks. Anyway, the contact and a local planner came out to the site this afternoon. Previous planning was done from Maryborough using their plans and Google Street view.
The power infrastructure isn't all where it is marked on the company's plans. So we agreed on a site for the transformer and they will now see if they are able to do it. The local planner added a couple of extra changes to the network, but it won't affect our cost. We will only be charged for the cost of a smaller 63 kVa transformer, even though they will install a larger 315 kVa unit to help service surrounding properties (I was confused on this point in my previous post). They quoted just over $24k for the transformer. They had said previous $30k, but that might include the extra for poles and one pillar for a block that will be serviced underground. If it is all approved by the electricity company and we accept their offer, we would be able to proceed straight away, even though the new transformer and poles won't be in place until at least November. They figure that not all lots would be built on by then so the current capacity could handle it for now. There would be just two blocks that couldn't be serviced straight away, although we could get around it temporarily by installing property poles.
There is also one power pole that is right in the middle of the footpath, which we need to concrete. This may hold things up if we want to move it across to the side, as this wouldn't be done immediately, and the footpath is a condition of subdivision.
They also said we had the option of either granting an easement for the transformer, or dedicating it as part of the road reserve. I was already thinking that having it as road reserve, rather than a piece of useless private property, would be a better option long term. I checked with our town planner, who said there shouldn't be a problem with varying the approved plans to chop a corner off one of the blocks to dedicate as road reserve for the transformer. It will all be done when the final survey is completed.
Engineering plans are complete and are being checked by the supervisor. The engineer just has to finish doing the bill of works. The council engineer has given the okay to use tensar film under the road to reduce the thickness of pavement we need and so avoid needing to replace the water main. That's good news, depending on how much the film costs. In any case, it should be cheaper than a water main.
The banks says our loan is just about ready to be signed off on by their mortgage insurer and has been complicated by the guarantees required. So hopefully it all comes together soon.
Mum has been busy renovating her IP and has new tenants lined up to move in in a couple of weeks time. I filled in and printed the IDAS forms for her for the next stage of renovations here (new deck and en suite etc.), so she will drop them into the certifier tomorrow.
