Has anyone succesfully removed a house on a Low Medium Density Residental that also has a TCO

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen,

Has anyone on the forum or heard of anyone been able to have a house removed from a Low Medium Density Residential Zone that also has a Character Overlay?. The property in question is situated in the Brisbane City Council and the house is approximately 40 square meters. Updated in the 1950's with the mandatory "lean to" and aluminum windows installed to replace the wooden windows. The porch has been boxed in. All internal historic features have been removed. The usual 1950's renovation. The area is undergoing high rise and low rise unit development. The two properties that are behind this property do not have the Traditional Character Overlay but are Low Medium Density Residential.

After searching around on the internet I have found a few court judgements where the developer has taken Brisbane City Council to court. The courts upheld the decisions of the council which refused to allow a house to be removed from with a Traditional Character Overlay and Low Medium Residential Zoning.

In the latest Brisbane City Plan there are notes to the effect stating that the Traditional character overly may be reviewed on properties with zoning of Low Medium Density Residential.

The Town Planners of the Brisbane City Council were not able to give a timeline when this review would take place.

The next port of call was the Strategic Department of the Brisbane City Council. A polite email was sent, requesting the possible timeline for the review. I received a letter from the council not giving any indication when this may happen.

In summary :-

Q1. Anyone had a crack and obtained permission to remove a house from a Traditional Character Overlay with a Low Medium Residential Zoning.
Q2. Had the Traditional Character Overlay removed from their property that has a Low Medium Residential Zoning.
Q3. Am I just wasting my time waiting for the council to remove the Traditional Character Overlay.

Regards,
Tonibell

 

Hi Wylie,
Thanks for the information. I had a look on the internet. It looks like in some areas in Coorparoo the council has removed the Traditional Character Overly of some properties with Low Medium Density Residential Zoning.

Regards,
Tonibell

 

Hi Tonibell

Yes, I have obtained approval for many demolition applications involving pre-1946 houses in the Traditional Building Character Overlay. Often Council will refuse the DA so you need to be willing to appeal Council's decision to get the demolition approved. If you have adequate grounds for demolition, more often than not, Council will roll over during mediation, in which case the DA doesn't make it to court. As a general rule, they can only be demolished under the following 3 grounds:

1) The house doesn't have sufficient character;
2) The street doesn't have sufficient character;
3) The house is structurally undsound and not reasonably capable of being made structurally sound;

In your case, assuming the house is structurally sound, your chances of getting the house demolished would depend on how modified the existing house is, and how intact the pre-1946 streetscape is. If you PM me the address, I can have a look on google streetview and let you know what your chances are.

Cheers
Liam

Edit: Also, the review process you mentioned is basically done when new neighbourhood plans are prepared. Council will review the existing LMR zones. Where there is a lot of character in these LMR areas, Council will rezone them to Character Residential. Where there is minimal character in these LMR areas, they will remain LMR but the character protection will be removed.

 

Hi Tonibell, I have obtained approvals for the removal of TBC houses and it is an extremely difficult thing to achieve. As LJW mentioned, you pretty much have to be up for a fight and more than likely appeal the Council refusal in court. The courts will also not support the demolition unless there is enough justification against the Assessment Benchmarks (i.e. the codes). If there isn't any actual grounds for the removal other than that you'll make more money if they weren't there, it is unlikely you'll win at any stage.

Removing the TBC overlay all together will also be a very hard thing to do.

My advice would be to talk to a specialist heritage consultant and see if they think you have any chances of removing the houses and/or the overlay. You should be able to find someone on google.

I hope this helps. Alex.

 

If you PM me the address then I can give you an opinion as to whether I think we could get it off in P&E Court, either in mediation or full hearing.