The glacial speed of Council
Like everything else in a global pandemic planning and building became infinitely more difficult. For us we were blessed with the ability to continue working under Stage 3 and 4 restrictions which mean our projects, the homes we are building for our clients, could continue moving forward. Our reality TV dreams however were crushed as we received notification from the producers the show could no longer go on. Sigh....
Our Registered Builder Surveyor called for two additional 'Report and Consents' from council which threw a spanner in works and were completely unexpected. Whilst the cost to apply for these was relatively small (about $450 each) they required a traffic management consultant (circa $550) and detailed explanation on how our building designed adequately addressed the principles outlined in Moreland's Planning Strategy . Urgghhhhhh....
Add to that that the council staff had been deployed to work from home and their already glacial speed became even slower. We wouldn't have though that was possible however it took over two months for our files to even be opened. Such is the joy of dealing with local government. We found ourselves in the same predicament as many of our clients during the planning stage. Belting our way through outdated planning requirements and restrictions, many of which were no longer either relevant or logical for our block and design. One example was pertaining to the position of the side fence which Council require a set-back of 9m from the front boundary. Curious that the house which had been there for 120+ years starts at about 4.5m from the front boundary, as did the existing fence. It was exceptionally difficult to find anyone at Council who could see this rule just couldn't apply to our house (and most other residents in any other inner city address). Mind blowing when in our minds having a little front garden was a beautiful asset and we were simply replacing a fence that was already there, albeit pretty much falling down.
All we wanted for Christmas was a Building Permit.