On the edge of our seats
Oh bother. Just when you think you're doing all the right things, along come a load of problems... and in this case, the problems are with planning issues on Lot 31 North Boambee Road. Aaargh!
We had a preliminary meeting with our conveyancing solicitor on Monday to examine issues of 'Right of Carriageway' on the property, and in the process the solicitor said we should visit the Council offices to establish whether the property appears on the banana map. So off I trotted to the Council chambers and saw the Duty Planning Officer who showed me the banana map and sure enough, the lower two-thirds of the property were once under bananas. The banana map is an accumulation of lots of documentary sources about banana plantations in the area, and it may not be accurate. The issue with bananas is that 'in the old days' nasty chemicals such as arsenic were used to control weeds and pests, and they stay in the soil for decades. In itself, being located on the banana map isn't a problem. It means we have to do soil tests to establish what, if any contamination exists. Low levels of contamination can be dealt with by vertical mixing. Don't misunderstand me: I am concerned about this! I have no wish to live with my family, or to grow fruit and vegetables, on chemically contaminated soil... but there are apparently ways of dealing with the problem.
A bigger problem - potentially MUCH bigger - is that it seems the upper two thirds of the property is zoned 7A, which indicates environmental protection. We knew that the ridge running along the back of the property is koala habitat; we didn't know that a block in the middle of the property running up to the eucalypts on the ridge is zoned 7A too... The zones are established from aerial photographs and it may well be, as the Council Planning Office suggested, that overgrown camphor laurels and lantana (both of which are considered to be noxious weeds) showed up in the photos as being of the same density as the eucalypt forest at the back and so it was all lumped together in a protected zone. Clearly we would like the zone boundary to change: those of you familiar with Venn diagrams will realise that at some point the banana plantation intersected with the 7A zone, which rather negates the idea that the central block is really koala habitat... But having spoken again to Council and to an independent environmental consultant it seems to be very difficult and expensive and long-winded to get a zone boundary moved as it has to be done by the State government, not local council. Again, aaargh!
Oh, and did I mention that in addition to the 7A zone running right across all three potential house sites, there is adjacent to the 7A zone an additional 100m bushfire buffer zone...? The Council Planning Officer I spoke to this morning suggested that Council would be highly unlikely to grant building consent to any property within these zones (unsurprisingly), leaving the only available building site at the bottom of the property - minus the lovely ocean views and sea breezes... Not what we want at all.
Michael and I don't like doom and gloom, although it all sounds very negative. I've spoken to our solicitor and put the sale 'on hold' for the moment, and I'm waiting to hear back from the real estate agent when he comes back this afternoon. The independent consultant I spoke to did make a helpful suggestion: apparently Council will hold a pre-Building Approval meeting in their offices and if I arranged one with planning officers, an environmental officer, the vendors and us, we could thrash out some of the issues and establish whether there would be any support from Council to get the zone boundaries changed. It would also be an opportunity for us to meet the vendors and establish that we are (potentially! if we can resolve some big issues) serious purchasers - so that when we ask for a reduced price they understand why. That's not to say we're going to be able to buy it, but I still think that the meeting would be a good idea.
I always used to say that my motto was nil desperandum! So I won't despair - yet.
We had a preliminary meeting with our conveyancing solicitor on Monday to examine issues of 'Right of Carriageway' on the property, and in the process the solicitor said we should visit the Council offices to establish whether the property appears on the banana map. So off I trotted to the Council chambers and saw the Duty Planning Officer who showed me the banana map and sure enough, the lower two-thirds of the property were once under bananas. The banana map is an accumulation of lots of documentary sources about banana plantations in the area, and it may not be accurate. The issue with bananas is that 'in the old days' nasty chemicals such as arsenic were used to control weeds and pests, and they stay in the soil for decades. In itself, being located on the banana map isn't a problem. It means we have to do soil tests to establish what, if any contamination exists. Low levels of contamination can be dealt with by vertical mixing. Don't misunderstand me: I am concerned about this! I have no wish to live with my family, or to grow fruit and vegetables, on chemically contaminated soil... but there are apparently ways of dealing with the problem.
A bigger problem - potentially MUCH bigger - is that it seems the upper two thirds of the property is zoned 7A, which indicates environmental protection. We knew that the ridge running along the back of the property is koala habitat; we didn't know that a block in the middle of the property running up to the eucalypts on the ridge is zoned 7A too... The zones are established from aerial photographs and it may well be, as the Council Planning Office suggested, that overgrown camphor laurels and lantana (both of which are considered to be noxious weeds) showed up in the photos as being of the same density as the eucalypt forest at the back and so it was all lumped together in a protected zone. Clearly we would like the zone boundary to change: those of you familiar with Venn diagrams will realise that at some point the banana plantation intersected with the 7A zone, which rather negates the idea that the central block is really koala habitat... But having spoken again to Council and to an independent environmental consultant it seems to be very difficult and expensive and long-winded to get a zone boundary moved as it has to be done by the State government, not local council. Again, aaargh!
Oh, and did I mention that in addition to the 7A zone running right across all three potential house sites, there is adjacent to the 7A zone an additional 100m bushfire buffer zone...? The Council Planning Officer I spoke to this morning suggested that Council would be highly unlikely to grant building consent to any property within these zones (unsurprisingly), leaving the only available building site at the bottom of the property - minus the lovely ocean views and sea breezes... Not what we want at all.
Michael and I don't like doom and gloom, although it all sounds very negative. I've spoken to our solicitor and put the sale 'on hold' for the moment, and I'm waiting to hear back from the real estate agent when he comes back this afternoon. The independent consultant I spoke to did make a helpful suggestion: apparently Council will hold a pre-Building Approval meeting in their offices and if I arranged one with planning officers, an environmental officer, the vendors and us, we could thrash out some of the issues and establish whether there would be any support from Council to get the zone boundaries changed. It would also be an opportunity for us to meet the vendors and establish that we are (potentially! if we can resolve some big issues) serious purchasers - so that when we ask for a reduced price they understand why. That's not to say we're going to be able to buy it, but I still think that the meeting would be a good idea.
I always used to say that my motto was nil desperandum! So I won't despair - yet.
posted by Sara Bowen at 12:40 am
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