_NEW DWELLING IN A BUSHFIRE MANAGEMENT OVERLAY

Collie recently assisted the client in obtaining a town planning permit for the construction of a new dwelling on the Mornington Peninsula that is affected by a Bushfire Management Overlay.

As part of the site is covered extensively by native vegetation the project had some implications from a bushfire risk perspective, which involved applying for the removal of areas of native vegetation to create an area of ‘defendable space’ around the footprint for the proposed dwelling.

An added complexity with the application was that an existing building envelope, enforced on title via a Section 173 Agreement, applied to the site, which limited the construction of the dwelling to a conventional rectangular footprint (see image on the left).

In order to enable the construction of an architecturally designed dwelling with a more interesting built form and one that was more responsive to the landscape, Collie sought to amend the existing Section 173 Agreement and the building envelope plan.  A key selling point to Mornington Peninsula Shire Council was that the new design (see image on the right) would result in the removal of less native vegetation than what was approved previously by Council.       

We are pleased to advise that we were successful in obtaining a town planning permit as well as in amending the Section 173 Agreement.