I think the cleared area parallel to Lyppards road is for the Crib Point - Dandenong Gas Line. I'm guessing they have recently done some works to it. We had our site cut last Friday. Very excited.

I spoke to the Frankston City Council last week regarding the reserve around the estate. The reserve is still owned by the developer. In the future it is to be protected as a Conservation Reserve and either handed to Council for management or to the Crown (Department of Sustainability and Environmen...

Hi Everyone, The reserve to the north east will be managed by Frankston City Council and will be the second biggest reserve they manage, behind the Seaford Foreshore. I assume that it will have some kinds of walking tracks throughout. I’m interested to understand what the council’s plans are for the...

I don't remember anything in our contract regarding penalty interest, but these penalty clauses are pretty common. Is it 15.5%p.a. (per annum), per day or just 15.5% per day? If it's the latter, it seems very high to me.

The feedback we received from the CFA is that blocks under 500 sqm need a 2,500lt tank and blocks over 500 sqm need a 5,000lt tank. We are going to submit the planning application with plans to build a 5,000lt tank.

Finally got confirmation on settlement for the second stage – two weeks yesterday! We can’t wait to get started, although it is unlikely to be any time soon due to the planning process.

Our builder (Rawdon Hill) has arranged for a planning consultant to undertake an assessment and draft the Bushfire Management Statement for us. It’s still unclear as to whether we need a 10,000L tank. The regulations and CFA guidance is pretty clear on the subject: everyone needs a minimum 10,000L t...

Hi Tamara, We have spoken to the council about the water tank requirement and are planning to put forward a case of a 5000L tank considering the size of the block. Hopefully the CFA are pragmatic. A 10000L seems overkill for a residential block our size, if you ask me. Has anyone in the first stage ...

I thought the same, Hjam. I understand that the BMO requirements are applicable to all applications submitted to town planning after 18 November 2011. Before that, you would have had to apply for a permit under the WMO. It shouldn’t matter when you signed a contract to build, only the date you apply...

Hi Everyone, The compliance certificates and sign-off, including that from the CFA, are in relation to the sub-division. We need to apply to the Frankston City Council for a planning permit for each of our separate blocks. If you are in the first section (which I understand titled today), I suggest ...

Hi Everyone, Today we met with the Frankston City Council to go through the BMO requirements for the Heath. All lots in the Heath are subject to the BMO and, as a result, require a planning permit before building commences. The process of obtaining a planning permit is quite detailed and it’s probab...

Hi Tamara, The BMO information is available on the Department of Planning and Community Development website: http://www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/planning/plansandpolicies/bushfire-planning-and-building-resource/planning-for-bushfire-protection According to the relevant planning maps, the whole of 160 Potts R...

Hi Everyone, I’m not sure if you all know, but a Bushfire Management Overlay (BMO) is applicable to the Heath. We have been speaking to the Frankston City Council about the permit requirements associated with the BMO. From what we understand, we all need to apply to the council for a planning permit...

We have roads! We went past on the weekend and bitumen is down in half of the estate. Unfortunately, it’s not the half in which our block is located, but I’m hopeful it won’t be too far away. Has anyone got an estimate on site costs from their builder yet? Cheers Luke

Hi Tamara, The developer contacted me regarding our crossover at the request of Harcourts. I didn’t get his contact details, unfortunately. I do know that his name is Kevin Logue (as detailed in the Contract). Hopefully the roads go down soon and we can get access to the sites for soil tests – it ca...

Hi All, I spoke to the developer on Friday, who advised that the blocks will be released in two waves; approx 50 at a time. The blocks in first release are almost close to complete and it is expected that an application will be with the Titles Office in the coming weeks. Best case scenario, the titl...

Thanks for the update, Tamara. The sooner the better, but as long as we start building before the end of June we’re not too concerned. We really like the Montague façade (there’s one at the end of the street we are currently living on). I’m not an expert and maybe it’s the optimist in me, but I’m ho...

Hi Tamara, We drove past the estate on Friday and noticed the street lights too – very exciting! It’s great to see that some real progress is being made. We might get titles by March after all... We’re still working on plans for the house – lost of decisions to be made. Have you spoken to Rawdon abo...

Hi Tamara, We don’t know anyone else in the estate yet, but looking forward to getting to know some of our neighbors. I did see the story on the Woods in the Paper. Hopefully they will have a lot of that soughted out for us by the time our land settles. They’ve had enough time... I’m keep you update...