Front yard landscape requirements

VJ · Oct 16, 2007 9:57 pm

It's a requirement in our estate that no more than 60% of our front yard should be hard paved.

Pardon me for my ignorance, but when you say front yard, does it include the garage?
:oops:

Thanks!

mattwalker · Oct 16, 2007 10:04 pm

VJ,

I wouldn't think so.

VJ · Oct 16, 2007 10:20 pm

Thanks Matt!

We need to submit the landscape plans and we are trying to interpret the landscape requirements by the estate.

We were hoping to have some hard-paved pathway from garage to front of the house and were worried that the hard-paved area might end up more than 60% of the front yard.

PhoenixStar · Oct 16, 2007 10:21 pm

Once the garage is built, then the front garden incorporates the driveway and any area up to the front of the house/garage- in my opinion anyway.

mattwalker · Oct 16, 2007 10:22 pm

You would think they would only be talking about the area to the front of your house.

Do you need to have you plan approved by the developer?

VJ · Oct 16, 2007 10:35 pm

Yes, we have to submit the landscape plans to our builder, which will then submit all the plans to the land developer.

We have a corner lot and hubby is not fond of mowing (the property that we are currently renting is also a corner house and he mows a huge area every fortnight and hated it

)
Also, with the water restrictions, we'd like, as much as possible, to use other alternatives to grass.

According to the design requirements/guidelines:
"All parts of your lot not built upon or paved must be landscaped with grass, groundcover garden beds, shrubs, and/or trees"
"No more than 60% of the front yard of your home is to be hard paved surfaces (including pebbles, crushed rock or Lilydale toppings)."

We're hoping that the 60% of the front yard doesn't include the driveway

.

VJ · Oct 16, 2007 10:44 pm

Quote:

when you say front yard, does it include the garage?

correction, I meant driveway, not garage.

PhoenixStar · Oct 16, 2007 10:44 pm

VJ, call your developer tomorrow to clarify...

We have had great communication with ours, with questions regarding the house and it's positioning. The fencing, driveway, window placement etc need to be stated as we too are on a corner block, but at the top end of a T shaped court... If we didn't ask, we would have been classed as a std corner block with 2 street frontages as that is what our builder was pushing.

So just ask the questions, you might be pleasantly surprised... If not, then you know exactly where you stand. It can't hurt to ask. Then you can plan accordingly. I would say that the 60% that they are refering to is to stop people concreting their whole front yard. There is also synthetic grass if you are really worried about the mowing.

Also, there is also black bark and other types ground cover that looks pretty architectural these days.

Good Luck.

VJ · Oct 16, 2007 10:59 pm

Thanks for the reply.

We will contact our developer tomorrow.

In our street, there were some houses that did use concrete on the whole front yard. Doesn't look good. Wonder how they got approved? Or probably they sent a different plan and didn't stick to it.

We were thinking of using some pebbles & mulch/bark in some areas, and still use some grass (but in small area only), but pebbles are still considered as hard-paved.

Hubby was suggesting synthetic grass... but I'm not fond of it

.

Again, thanks for the inputs!

TheGardenWhisperer · Oct 16, 2007 11:03 pm

If you do opt for a lawn area could I suggest Empire Zoysia as a better choice than most. Of all the commonly available roll on turfs it would have to involve the least mowing. The growers say about 4 mows over the spring, summer and autumn seasons but even a few more than that is better than 2 times a week in summer for most

It is very water wise as well

arkraider · Oct 17, 2007 11:20 am

Hi VJ, we had to submit our planned layout for the front yard, it also had to have the house situated on the block in 1:200 format. We had to draw just a rough guide as to how our garden beds and driveway would look.
It is only a rough plan they do not expect to be held to it. Primarily they want to see if there will be anything they will object to being done. But they won't hold you if you move a garden edge or different plants.... Hope this helps.

VJ · Oct 17, 2007 1:02 pm

Fu Manchu,

Thanks for that info. I'll check out the Empire Zoysia lawn that you suggested.

Arkraider,

Thanks for the info.
We will have to submit a landscape plan within the week.
I remeber before, we submitted one for a different house and they put comments on it saying that they need commitment from us that no more than 60% of the front yard would be hard-paved.
So we're kinda pressure now to look for stuff we need to use for our front lawn - grass or alternative, garden beds, etc.

davinci · Oct 17, 2007 7:29 pm

technicly pebbles , scoria etc are not 'hard pave' if you wanted to argue the point you would win, you can get the reference guide from master builders etc, the points in there contract that you signed cannot replace government body construction laws or regulations, construction standards etc are gov. level not council level. council's / developers etc try and put there own spin on them but when push comes to shove they have nothing to stand on. and as such if they do go beyond the gov. laws and regs the they have breached the law.
but as a general rule almost all of the landscapes etc and driveways do not cover 60% of the front yard unless you have a really small front yard
if you email me the specs i can convert to english if you want also include your yard dimension with possibly a small sketch

VJ · Oct 17, 2007 10:21 pm

Hi Davinci,

Thanks for that info! Greatly appreciate it!

Here is the plan of our front house so you can see how big it is.
Set back is 5 metres and house width (including garage and pergola) is 16 metres. Pergola width is 1.4 metres.

We're thinking of using concrete aggregate for the driveway for the front yard, use minimal grass much as possible (use alternative such as pebbles, bark, etc).

Thanks,

VJ · Oct 17, 2007 10:54 pm

Forgot to attach the file...
here it is now...
http://www.mediafire.com/?1zycmlbemkt

VJ · Oct 17, 2007 10:56 pm

sorry, i think it's better to use an image instead of a link to a pdf file:

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc22/venielynnr/scan0002.jpg

davinci · Oct 19, 2007 9:50 pm

sorry for late reply been in hospital last few days my wife had a baby boy
the plan you have doesnt realy show me a lot of detail but from what i can see you have about a 50 % conc and 50 % soft landscape without sectional differentiation or a schedule/key i cant realy tell where conc drive ends to the front right of house but anyway i dont think you would have a problem
one thing you could look at is to grow either minature mondo grass or even giant black mondo grass inbetween steppers or even ajunga as a ground cover
working on a plan at moment with laser cut bluestone driveway using 500mm x 500mm format pavers with minature mondi as a 'softener' in grid pattern

mattwalker · Oct 19, 2007 9:54 pm

Congrats Davinci!!!

10 fingers 10 toes 1 pecker...

Lifes good!

davinci · Oct 20, 2007 8:09 am

cheers mate

VJ · Oct 20, 2007 8:11 pm

Hi Davinci!

Thanks for your reply and Congratulations for having a baby boy!
How big is your family now?

I showed my hubby your reply and he understood it more than I do (don't know anything about landscaping).
The plan that we showed you was just very bare... thought that it would be enough to show the front of the house :oops:

.. sorry...

Hubby will finalise the plan and will post it here again for anyone who would like to comment/suggest.

Hubby liked the idea of using the black mondo grass in between steppers.
We'll definitely do that.
Looks like the plan you are working on is a big one... and definitely more expensive than what we can afford :oops:

.

Thanks again for your input.