gordon lee architects

"What your piece of land can do?" is determined by the town planning of the city the land is located.  Each city has its own town planning scheme.  You may consider each city is a unique "country" in the town planning term with its own town planning law.

 

Side image shows a part of the example city map with different colours which indicate the different zonings of the city.  Some of common zonings in a typical town planning scheme:

 

• Low Density Residential Zone

• Low Medium Density Residential Zone

• Medium Density Residential Zone

• High Density Residential Zone

• Centre Zone

• Character Housing Zone

• Light Industry Zone

• General Industry Zone

• Heavy Industry Zone    etc etc

 

Each zoning and the relevant use codes and development codes have specific town planning requirement such as what type of development is considered appropriate, setback, site cover, plot ratio,  maximum building height etc.  To cater for the localised nature of different local areas in the city, neighbourhood plans and overlays also have specific requirements to be addressed as well.

 

Each zone has a specific table of assessment to indicate what type of assessment is required by the type of development proposed.  There are 3 types of assessment for Development Approval (DA):

 

1. Self Assessment - No Council Submission is required as long as development must be assessed against and comply with all the identified self-assessable acceptable outcomes of the applicable code(s). For example - to build a 2 storeys dwelling house in Low Density Residential Zone is self assessable.

2. Code Assessment - Council Submission is required.  The development must be assessed against all the applicable codes identified and complies with the purpose and overall outcomes of the code as well as the performance or acceptable outcomes where prescribed complies with the purpose and overall outcomes of the code. (Applies to appropriate uses)

3. Impact Assessment - Council Submission and Public Notification are required.  The development must be assessed against all identified code(s) in the assessment criteria column (where relevant) and must be assessed against the planning scheme, to the extent relevant.  In this scenario, the members of the Public can submit objections to Council that may influence the outcome of the approval. (Applies to inappropriate uses)