Planning-report-12 Figbird Court 1 Dec 2021 Final

4.0 Planning assessment
4.1        Pre-lodgement contact with Council
Pre-lodgement contact with Council to discuss planning requirements and key issues applicable to
this development application.

Table 4: Summary of key issues

The owner made enquiries of Council during the course of 2021 regarding a proposed new house
and the desire to include an existing two-bedroom house as a secondary dwelling (granny flat).
Responses received from Council to the owners’ initial enquiries are reproduced below.

 Date                             Council response
 24 February 2021 general         In general, a secondary dwelling is anticipated in the Low Density Residential Zone, the Rural
 advice received by email         Zone or the Rural Residential Zone, as part of a dwelling house. They can be up to 65 square
                                  metres in floor area and have 2 bedrooms. You will need to have a private building certifier
                                  approve the new house and confirm the existing dwelling will be suitable to comply as a secondary
                                  dwelling. Without knowing the address of your property, I can’t tell what other limitations may
                                  apply to siting or anything. There are infrastructure contributions payable on the building approval.
 25 February 2021 advice more     As discussed, you would be required to lodge an application for a Secondary Dwelling as your
 specific to the enquiry,         existing house is over 65m2. Details on lodging an application can be found on Council’s website

                                  I’ve checked the overlay mapping and the new house will also require you to lodge an application,
                                  due to proximity to mapped Agricultural Land. As such, you would lodge a Material Change of Use
                                  for a Dwelling house and secondary dwelling as a combined application.

                                  The application fee would be $2.242.00

                                  The infrastructure charge for a secondary dwelling at this location is approximately $5,500.
 1 March 2021 advice more         12 Figbird Ct is in the Rural Zone, as such the use of a dwelling house is usually acceptable
 specific to the enquiry,         development which means typically it does not require a planning approval as long it meets all the
                                  nominated acceptable outcomes of the applicable codes. The use of a dwelling house includes
                                  the subordinate use of a secondary dwelling (granny flat), but subject to it complying with the
                                  planning scheme.

                                   In 2016 when you proposed a granny flat, Council staff advised that a second bedroom might be
                                  acceptable but that a maximum floor area of 65 square metres would be necessary, on the basis it
                                  was wheelchair accessible (being an increase from the usual maximum of 45 square metres at the
                                  time). I understand you did not proceed with plans to build the additional dwelling at that stage.

                                  Since that time we have had a change of planning scheme and secondary dwelling provisions
                                  have become a bit more generous, but the acceptable outcomes of the current scheme allow for a
                                  floor area of 65 square metres and 2 bedrooms. As you have suggested that the existing dwelling
                                  is in the order of 76 square metres (give or take), it does not meet acceptable outcomes and would
                                  require planning assessment to determine if it meets the performance outcomes.

                                   Further, the acceptable outcomes say that a new house can’t be built closer than 200 metres from
                                  land on an adjacent property included in the Rural zone and mapped as Agricultural Land
                                  Conservation Area as shown in Agricultural Land Overlap Maps in schedule 2. As the property to
                                  your west is mapped as agricultural land on both the planning scheme and the State’s Planning
                                  Policy integrated mapping system, again planning assessment is needed to confirm development
                                  of the house will not result in the loss or diminished productive capacity of agricultural land.

                                  On face value, the proposal you’ve described to both myself and Tara would seem to be one
                                  Council can support, however a development application for Material Change of Use is still
                                  necessary so that officers can do a full assessment. The application fee of $2,242 has been
                                  quoted to you.

                                   The process for making a development application for material change of use is set out by the
                                  State. These forms are at https://planning.dsdmip.qld.gov.au/planning/better-
                                  development/application-forms-and-templates. The State produce a guide to these forms which I
                                  have attached to this email. They include the forms on their website in a “Word” format which you
                                  can type directly into and either print out or save as a PDF.




DA forms guide: Planning report template | July 2017                                                                    Page 11 of 48