Town Planning Query

[Hound Dog]

Hi All,
Have finally registered with the forum after lurking in the background for the past 18 months.My interest in Real Estate has intensified over this period and have been inspired by some of the posts and stories (Brenda in particular) .
I have been motivated enough to research and buy our first IP. It is however our PPOR that for the moment is causing the most concern. It is an original workers cottage in relatively good shape after 80 odd years, bearing the scars of a few white ant attacks.It is habitable but after this summer we would like something that can be insect screened and airconditioned. It sits on a double block (780 sqm) of LMD (old RB3) land. Rather than renovate and stay we think we could achieve the highest price by selling as is with permit to remove/demolish. One of the problems we face is our lack of knowledge of DA's and dealing with the Brisbane City Council. We are also in a demolition control zone. My questions to the forum are.
Has anyone demolished/removed a post 1946 Dwelling in a demolition control zone going through the normal legal channels?
Do we need the services of a Town planner or is it possible to do this ourselves bearing in mind our lack of expertise ?
Does anyone know of a town planner who has a succesful track record with these types of application ?
Thanks in advance for your replies
Hound Dog

 

[Brenda Irwin]

Hiya Hound Dog and welcome to the forum.

The cheapest thing you could do is contact your council and simply ask them how possible/impossible the plan could be. You may have to snuffle around a bit to get the right person to answer your questions, but hey, it's free.

 

[RPI]

Hi I can definetely help you out.
There are heaps of things I would need to know first:

-dimensions of block
-dimensions of house
-are there any post 1946 additions (less obvious ones can be found from aerial photographs)
-what kind of buildings are on your boundaries
-what kind of buildings are in you're street
If you private message me the address I'll have a look at cityplan and pull up all the details
This will give me an idea as to how hard it would be.

You tend to make more money by doing a DA to shift and extensively renovate the exisiting house and build a replica (or bring in a removal) next door. This would depend on some of the information I requested above also.

I recently completed a DA and BA for someone in Norman Park. It was a run down Hip roof Queenslander with a post 1946 flat on the side. We got the Da & BA to:
-demolish the flat
-realign the central boundary to accomodate exisitng house, give a decent width new house and meet minimum lot standards
-slide the house onto one of the lots and raise it to 8.5m, almost triple the lenght and build a full level underneath
-Build a new house on the block next door
-both dwellings are over 300sqm- 4 bedroom 3 bathroom, media room, two living areas, 4 decks
It took us 7 resubmissions and 6 months to finally get it through, though this was extra difficult due to a steeply sloping block. Also this was submitted about when the new small lot rules were going to be strictly enforced and the owner wanted to try and get it through on the old rules, also the council was backed up with lots of other people trying to get DA's through on the old rules.

Existing house was very run down and covered in fibro and will be stripped back to basically a frame. This has some major advantages:
-easier to get through council (i.e save client fees)
-for $14000 the house is slide and stumped high so you have 1/3 of your top story frame and all your stell work done. Much cheaper than building a new frame
-retain some of the cities heritage
-there are no grounds for objections from the public, if you were to demolish you normally get complaints

With the info I need I'll tell you how hard it is and how long it should take. Without that info It's hard to tell whether you could do it yourself. I have all the info that the council does and know assesors I can ring at the council to find out grey areas.

Look forward to recieving the info

Darryl

 

[Matt Mc]

Darryl,

Where were you when I just finished going through alot of the town planning requirements and dramas to lift my house in a DCP.

If you could, Id appreciate your email address for future reference, I can be contacted at [email protected]

Thanks

 

[Hound Dog]

Hi all,
Thanks for the responses. Brenda I had just returned from the council when I decided to seek guidance from the forum.I came back armed with various sections of the Brisbane City Plan 2000 and a little wiser.One thing I have learned in life is that if you break things down into small components almost anyone can acheive highly complex endevours.I would also like to mention that I have spoken briefly to Brenda at an evening put on by Kevin Hockey First National Real Estate.The thing that stuck me about Brenda and Les is that they are a couple of very ordainary people that have an extraordainary
amount of commonsense and have acheived by sticking with their game plan.
I also admire them for sharing knowledge with anyone who is interested be it via this forum,The Reno Kings or API magazine.
Darryl I will be away for a week but will get in touch when I return.
There are two blocks one is 16and7/10's Perch the other 18 Perch. Both blocks are close to 10m wide the exact length I am not sure of .The exact erea is 878 sqm.
The house roughly is 12.9m x 8.6m with a 2.2m x 4.27 post 1946 extension that was added as a toilet/bathroom when sewerage became available. The back end is like an undereaves extension that runs with the old stove alcove to the bathroom.The house is quite big for a workers cottage and even with the post 1946 extension removed would be too big for a single block (I think under a small lot developement).
At this end of the street there are only two houses of the type (timber and tin)that warrant protection under the DCP ours and the one on the lefthand side.On the other side of us there are three post 1946 houses before encountering "character" houses again.Of the 7 houses at our end of the street only two would be "character" type houses.
Will catch up with you all in a week.
Hound Dog

 

[RPI]

Hi Hounddog

It may still be possible to do a splitter by using a jagged common boundary and ofsetting the houses. What are the setbacks (distance from front boundary) of the other properties in the street.

Are there any other units or townhouses in your street and if so how old are they? Are you within 200m of a pedestrian entry of a railway station or does the site front an arterial road, or do you not have a house on either side of you?

You could also look at a DA on common titles (like a town house develpment) which would retain the current house and build several townhouses in a similiar style to the workers cottage. You could build a gross floor area of between .5 and .6 of the site area depending on location.

enjoy you're week

Darryl