Noble Park - 2 Developments

Good win @Redwood its always a relief when permits are issued these days.

Bayside council is taking much the same approach at the moment, pretty much rejecting everything and pushing it all to VCAT.
I've had my plans in since March '16, been looked at by 2 different town planners (both resigning), both giving different advice but indicating they'll pass it.

But now the latest whiz is indicating a flat out rejection.

So soon it'll be off to VCAT for the first time ever. See how we go.

 

Hi Connor, Sorry to hear that. Thats why plans and permits are a premium these days. Hope it goes well and it depends on the chair at the hearing - at mine - we had a positive chair. I redesigned my plans and the council were useless, they would not meet, we engaged a legal firm - they were useless and then used a few connections to finally get a meeting. We wanted 6 they said flat out 4 - no chance. I didn't want to take a chance so we redesigned again for 5 and it got through. One point of note was that the chair visited the site a week before the hearing....that was great for us.

Do you have a good town planner for VCAT? You will see how much the council prepares for these matters.

For the record - this is my second VCAT and second win.

Re your VCAT hearing do everything you can to avoid a rejection, if you get a rejection your land can be doomed. The positive is that you have most likely made money on the land in the meantime if you were to sell.

I'll get some pics of the 3 sites and post them. As you know we build ourselves, so no builders margin, and even better one site is built all within an SMSF - happy to share how thats done too.

@MTR - I believe its 18 months since we bought the one that went to VCAT, and the other one we avoided VCAT and that was 24 months (but had to deal with annoying neighbours). The 3rd one was born with plans and permits (with a $100k premium)

Cheers Ivan

 

Hi Ivan,

Thank you for the detailed reply.

The architect has recommended a Town Plannwr whom she uses but I havent had any discussions with him yet to see how he intends to approach this.

Similar situation, council does not want a meeting or discuss, they just want to flat out refuse and send it to VCAT.

The current plan is a retain and build project. If I can't get this through I've got a back up to knockdown and build 2 or worst case I'll build a larger high spec home. Figures work on both scenarios, but hopefully it won't come to this as it is a much larger cash outlay.

Appreciate your tips, I might send you a PM if you'd like to share your Town Planner. I'll know more about the official council position next week

Cheers
Connor

 

Pm me

 

The town planner for VCAT is key. Be very careful to vet your town planner and their experience in VCAT hearings, and be prepared to spend....for instance i paid $3k for a car park demand assessment that was not required. If the council does not want to meet - then call them yourself - I used my influencing skills in this regard as the TP and lawyers could not get a meeting - play the "im just a bloke who wants to build a house on a piece of land that I paid a ******** of money for...." if I was your family, how would you feel etc? no bikies involved just some ol'fashioned communication. You need the meeting to feel out their fall back position - you TP must be at the meeting and you may decide to revise plans and circulate them to the notification list before the hearing - I done that.

I am so happy mine is over - I hope you can shake the council idiots hands after the hearing as a WINNER - as they are such sore losers.

Happy to share the bloke I used

Cheers Ivan

 

You're stubborn - why not just PM him!

Cheers Ivan

 

How about using lawyers who are also town planners like "best hooper"

they can win vcat cases putting 4 townhouses on 416sqm which is only general residential

 

Gee that's a great result for GRZ. I'm only asking for a second dwelling on a 769sq block.

I'll look them up also

cheers

 

they can win vcat cases putting 4 townhouses on 416sqm which is only general residential[/QUOTE]

Which suburb was this?
I am trying to get 4 on a 539 block with 2 st frontages. My planner said i could only get 3 on it!!!!. Suburb is Sunhine Central, near Matthews Hill.

 

Also how much they charge

 

Cubby houses....

 

Any plans available for us to look at? Great yield with 5.

What was the initial margin on your feasibility? And after any inflation what is it at now?

 

Which suburb was this?
I am trying to get 4 on a 539 block with 2 st frontages. My planner said i could only get 3 on it!!!!. Suburb is Sunhine Central, near Matthews Hill.[/QUOTE]

well was wrong it was not 416sqm was only 406sqm - the address is 11 Clarendon Street, Thornbury - pretty expensive as sell selling 800-850 for townhouses.

 

Expensive to go underground for Carparking!!!!

 

May be expensive but probably worth it

300k for underground basement of 300~sqm
+ another lets say 140 GFA for each house @ $1700/sqm

=$238k per house + Basement of 75k = Around 300k per TH selling for $825k...

Seems like a good deal to me

 

Alright guys - we now have 4 developments on the go. One of them - the VCAT one still has issues and now two others on the go....call it concentration or pure smarts....its a winner.

 

I am a fan of Noble Park too ,bought a property there in 1991 for $95K and still have it . I am looking at doing a dual occ ,can you recommend a good builder,town planner ,designer please

 

Good luck mate, the City of Dandenong is a nightmare to deal with. You are looking at 2 years to have a permit approved, in my case we had a VCAT hearing and we won. Noble park market has went down over the last 4-5 months probably 10-15%. IT was so hot for so long but really has cooled.

For a builder you can PM me, I build my own.

Cheers Ivan

 

Hi Ivan,

Good to hear your news.

Do you reckon now is a good time to buy land?

Do you only go after growth zone?