What are the amendments?

The amendment facilitates additional parking (more than Council’s minimum requirements) for residential development in the E3, E4, R2, and R3 zones, where that parking is in a basement.

Basements are defined as: basement means the space of a building where the floor level of that space is predominantly below ground level (existing) and where the floor level of the storey immediately above is less than 1 metre above ground level (existing).

The amendment is to provide more flexibility to applicants who wish to provide additional residential parking. Additional parking provided in a basement will not count as gross floor area.

The amendment adds additional objectives and controls for basements to ensure acceptable design outcomes. Basements must be wholly contained within the footprint of the building above. Basements must not compromise safety of pedestrians and road users.

Within the 8.5m height limit, it may be possible for four storey (basement, plus 3 storeys) development in the low density suburban areas of the Shire.

The amendment provides more flexibility to owners seeking to develop secondary dwellings in zones E3 and E4 on long waterfront lots, where space is available at the street frontage. A secondary dwelling facing the street may be acceptable when it can be set back a minimum of 7.5 metres, is designed to preserve the amenity of neighbours and complements the existing streetscape.

Two storey Dwellings, dual occupancies, and secondary dwellings are currently limited to the front 60% of the site (the 60% depth rule) in the R3 Medium Density and R4 High Density Residential zones.

The amendment removes this limitation, so that two storey development may occur in the rear 40% of the site.

Street tree planting for dwelling houses, dual occupancies, multi dwelling developments and residential flat building developments will be required, even where those properties have overhead power lines in the street.

Council has worked closely with Western Sydney University on the ‘Which Plant Where’ program, and with Ausgrid, to establish a suitable list of smaller growing species that can be planted under wires that won’t grow to compromise power lines and public safety

The proposed amendment is to correct Australian Height Datum (AHD) references in controls for the W1 and W2 zones. The intention of the controls is unchanged.

The proposed amendment aims to manage the cumulative impact of ancillary structures by including detached garages and carports in the existing 10% site coverage limit.  This is consistent with the approach taken by the Housing Code.

This amendment is intended encourage residents of new medium and high density residential developments to use bicycles.

At present, tree replacement is only required when removing trees for residential development. The amendment requires a tree replacement ratio of 8:1 for commercial and industrial development.

Replacement ratios may be varied where a proponent enters in to an agreement under the Biodiversity Offset Scheme in accordance with the Biodiversity Conservation Act.

The amendment does not change the mapped late night trading areas, or areas of high activity (which have longer opening hours). The presentation of the controls has been simplified, combining the information in three tables on pages 4-6 into one table.