under 15m frontage duplex Bankstown?

I am exploring the option to build a duplex on existing PPOR in Revesby (Bankstown council). Our frontage is 14.63m while council LEP requirement is 15m (god damn 37cm, I know). The exact wording was "is at least 15 metres wide at the front building line".

Apparently, there is clause 4.6 of the LEP that allows for exception if there is a written request from the applicant showing "there are sufficient environmental planning grounds to justify contravening the development standard". My interpretation of it is we have a slight chance of getting over the line

So question is:
- Has anyone ever done this successfully (at any council)?

- Any idea how best to go about this? I am thinking to employ a town planner expert at dealing with Bankstown council but yet to find one

- What is the appropriate return you'd expect from this if you were doing it? From my calculation with current market sales data, we'll get 15% before agent fees. The project wont be complete for another 18 months so it really depends on how duplex performs then and if any construction blow out

 

Yup done it on Holroyd Council (prior to merger)
Lot was 14.67m wide
Council planners were pretty supportive and hinted to make sure all other controls were met.
other than a storm water issue council made no comment to the fact it was below minimum requirements.

In terms of returns see what your house is worth compared to others that have duplex potential. When purchasing my lot i found that duplex potential had around 20% premium at the time.

I did use a town planner HOME though not sure what her experience with bankstown council is

 

Dealt with Bankstown before.

They will ask for you to draw a 1:100 or 1:200 scaled drawing of your planned proposal before allowing you to speak to their town planners.

They can be lenient, but you got to know your stuff. And it depends who you speak to. The older town planners there have more experience and can be lenient. The young ones stick by the book.

 

Is the front of the block square to the street?

 

Im feeling hopeful after all ya replies Thank you! I pretty sure am employing a town planner to coordinate the DA part to set confidence for the next phases - will check out HOME

Since you ve done it @gach2 , what was the total cost until DA obtained? great if you can break it down. How was the project overall? And hard lessons?

580sqm blocks non dual occupancy are going for 900-950k while blocks with are north 1.02m so not that much of a premium % wise though 70-100k is still awesome). Im setting a budget of around 850k from inception to subdv and end date around mid late 2018 - targeted selling price around 1m to 1.1m each (currently going for 950-1m) though we ll keep 1. Keen to hear your thoughts

Scott, yes it does, clear rectangular block too

 

It's a pity that it's square, no extra street frontage from a splay. I have seen 15.24 m wide sites accepted as over 17m frontage due to the angle of the front of the block.

 

@stevenn
Mine was in 2014 with people i would and would not recomend
Survey 1k -
Architect $6,600 who project managed everything - did a good job on that project and stuffed me on the next so would not reccomend now
Town Planner=$770 - she did not provide any preliminary advise as she was engaged during the design process. What she did was provide criticism feedback (which came back in 24 hours v 4-8 weeks from council) and prepared the SEPP.)
Landscaping plans were 880 (may not be required depending council)
Stormwater concept engineering 990
DA application was 2700ish

TBH your numbers arent that great really
850k spend to gain around 900k? Things can go wrong too
but if its for personal reasons go for it

 

Thanks @gach2 for being so open about it. Number truly is not so great but you might have misread it.

If we sold the land as is now, we might get 940k and make 100k net over what we paid last year but that means we need to look to buy elsewhere. Not that money cant be made elsewhere but I haven't really get my head around it yet

If we do go down the development path, we might end up with 2.0-2.2m (depends on 2018 market) worth of duplex having spent around 1.7m (840k original cost + 850k development cost). Sure there'll be holding cost, REA, etc but in best weather we might make some 350k all up

Please do criticise my thinking - in desperate need of it

 

ill just round up your figures to make it simpler

Current value 950k
With DA - 1 - 1.05 mil
spend 850k and you will get between 1.9 - 2 mil (based on current numbers from your previous post). You could be right about predicted increase but value could also drop.
As it is you could make 100-200k which is only 5-12% return with a bit of risk.
Also has holding costs been included?

Maybe look into reducing the 850k build? Or get the DA and then figure out if you want to continue or not based on prices then (dont expect the process to be <6 months or even <12 months). Its around 10-15k and you yourself mentioned theres around 50-70k gain in just that

 

Hi everyone,
I own a place in Lidcombe (corner block, very deep); land size 445m2, which marginally fails the minimum requirement for dual occupancy.
Council suggested conceptual plans and a pre-DA meeting.
Has anyone had to deal with such a project and should I go straight for the DA, to save time and money?
I intend to follow gach2's logic: get the DA and figure out if I want to build or just sell (at this point I'm thinking just sell).
Thank you also for suggesting HOME; I sent an email inquiry. If you have other town planners to recommend in the Lidcombe - Bankstown area, I would much appreciate it.

 

Hey @Daniela, keen to hear hows it been going with your project. Hows your experience with HOME? I am putting a hold to mine for funding hiccups

Drafting services I ve approached said he is not too worried about the shortfall in frontage but it is mainly other planning control that will get it through. Havent yet engaged but is 12k plus gst reasonable? (All should be included until DA approved)

 

Very sorry for the late reply.
Unfortunately I don't have anything exciting to report. HOME seems very knowledgeable but kept promising to get back to me and am still waiting... Has town planners working collaboratively on DA projects, but same story. Much talk but no action. Must be that my project is too tricky to bother with, given that everyone in the construction industry has buckets load of work at present.
Spoke to a local agent though, and she did not recommend I spend money on DA, as would not get back the investment if selling with DA attached. That is because in the area dual occs get built on 650m2 blocks, and are therefore much more spacious. On a slightly less than 450m2 what you would build is too small to be profitable on re-selling, unless you are a builder.
Prices in the suburb have increased significantly since I bought in 2015 though, so am waiting for spring to sell the property as is. Looking to move the money into LICs, haha. Enrolled in Peter Thornhill's course at Syd Uni next month, and have been reading related literature like a mad person. Very grateful for the advice of the very wise and experienced investors in this forum

 

Hi guys,

I live in a cul-de-sac and in Revesby's Ward. I'm in the same situation where my frontage is less than 15m (around 14.2m). I called Bankstown Council and asked about Exceptions, but they cannot say yay or nay and tell me to speak to a town planner.

So i googled one and was told i will need to go to court to get exemption approved which will be costly.

I'm not in a hurry to build, i just want to know and get something in writing to say i can build a duplex on my land, which by the way is 730sqm (irregular shape land).

Can you someone outline what i need to do, or who you recommend to speak to?

Thanks

Justin

 

Not sure if court is the next step here. I did a pre DA meeting with the council out there and they came up with a DCP control that said certain development was prohibited in the "bulb" of the cul-der -sac so look out for that one also.

Basically though pay a planner to do an assessment of the constraints that apply to your land.
Councils vary and even within council it depends on the planner. Terrible system really, no certainty with any of it.

 

Thanks Anthony, where can i check on the DCP?

Getting thing through the cancel can be tough if not impossible but surely for them to give me a meeting session, for me to get formal approval or disapproval on building as duplex should not be this hard.

 

I wont say anything but on 20m frontage makes them small enough.

 

The DCP (Development Control Plan) will be on the council's web site with the LEP (Local Area Plan) which also has lots of rules to be careful of. The LEP controls have more power/weight than the DCP but ideally you try and conform with all.

 

Hi All

I am in a similar situation, Bankstown Council, with a corner block 14m frontage and 40m length. We want to build a duplex and the controls say that on a corner block 1 must face main street and other must face side street, which is good in that it provides each dwelling with ample frontage. But cannot seem to find anything which says whether this negates the need for a 15m frontage.

I imagine the minimum 15m frontage is so that when you build teh duplex, each dwelling has ample (in their case 7.5m) frontage to the street. In our case, although we do not have 15m frontage, facing different directions we actually would achieve well over 7.5 each.

I am going to engage a town planner for initial advice and will share any opinions or information I find.

 

If your main street frontage is 14m how is that well over 7.5m wide each side of duplex?

I have called one of the town planners but unfortunately he isn't interested and failed to return my emails.