Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 14, 2021 10:27 pm Hi everyone! Long time browser and first time poster. I am researching doing a knock down rebuild on my block in the Ku-ring-gai council area in NSW. My block is a corner block and I plan on getting approval via complying development (CDC) instead of going through council and lodging a DA. I was wondering if anyone here knows whether I am allowed to change which street the front door of my house faces? I would like to make the primary frontage and entrance to my home face towards the current side street, and therefore once the new build is completed, my current primary street frontage will become my secondary street frontage. I hope that made some sense. Would anyone have any guidance in this area? Many thanks! Re: Changing primary street frontage on a corner block CDC 2Mar 15, 2021 6:45 am The_K_Man Hi everyone! Long time browser and first time poster. I am researching doing a knock down rebuild on my block in the Ku-ring-gai council area in NSW. My block is a corner block and I plan on getting approval via complying development (CDC) instead of going through council and lodging a DA. I was wondering if anyone here knows whether I am allowed to change which street the front door of my house faces? I would like to make the primary frontage and entrance to my home face towards the current side street, and therefore once the new build is completed, my current primary street frontage will become my secondary street frontage. I hope that made some sense. Would anyone have any guidance in this area? Many thanks! Hi The K man ( cool name) We do 80% of our custom builds in Ku-ring-gai, not that it matters as CDC applies statewide as I am sure you know. I have been through this 3 times recently, in St Ives, Turramurra and Wahroonga, and the great news is, it is totally up to you which street you choose as your primary frontage. I am sure you are across this which is why you are asking, but for those on here who don't already know, you just need to take into account your neighbours frontages within 40m on each corner ( and take the average), the depth and width of the lot ( as these will affect rear setbacks) and choose which one suits your design best. If you like I can pass on the details of a consultant who is an expert in this and he can quickly mark up the setbacks for both options. Just let me know. Cheers Simeon Simeon McGovern Affordable Custom Homes, We design and build to your budget Ashington Homes www.ashingtonhomes.com.au Re: Changing primary street frontage on a corner block CDC 3Mar 15, 2021 7:48 pm Thank you very much for your guidance Simeon, I very much appreciate it and I trust that others with a similar query will be grateful for the advice also! I am happy to read that I am permitted to use the complying development route to construct the new house in the Ku-ring-gai area; I was not sure if the council could in any way restrict this. It is also a relief that I am allowed to "rotate" the house so that I can change my primary frontage to face my current secondary frontage. This works much better with the gradient of the land, and also the frontages of the properties withing 40m of my current primary street are much, much larger than those of the secondary street frontage, so I can utilise the land better. The 8m setback for the second storey from the rear boundary is a little tricky to accomodate for however, so I value your comment regarding the setbacks. I have some further questions if you dont mind: 1) How are trees on the block handled? Must I be compliant to the ku-ring-gai council tree protection zone radius? Or is that not necessary with a CDC development? I have a big Eucalyptus tree on the block (thankfully in the back corner), and following council guidelines its tree protection zone might eat into the building footprint. 2) How are driveways handled? I would be needing to get the kerb cut a few meters down from where the current driveway is. I am wondering if this will require council approval, or if it can also be part of the CDC approval. 3) I read that one garage space is not included in GFA calculations. What are dimensions/area in m2 for this exempt car parking space. I read through the housing code SEPP and couldn't seem to find it. 4) What other parts of the home are not included into GFA calculations? Are balconies/terraces/alfresco areas also excluded from GFA calculations? Many thanks! Re: Changing primary street frontage on a corner block CDC 4Mar 16, 2021 5:01 am The_K_Man Thank you very much for your guidance Simeon, I very much appreciate it and I trust that others with a similar query will be grateful for the advice also! I am happy to read that I am permitted to use the complying development route to construct the new house in the Ku-ring-gai area; I was not sure if the council could in any way restrict this. It is also a relief that I am allowed to "rotate" the house so that I can change my primary frontage to face my current secondary frontage. This works much better with the gradient of the land, and also the frontages of the properties withing 40m of my current primary street are much, much larger than those of the secondary street frontage, so I can utilise the land better. The 8m setback for the second storey from the rear boundary is a little tricky to accomodate for however, so I value your comment regarding the setbacks. I have some further questions if you dont mind: 1) How are trees on the block handled? Must I be compliant to the ku-ring-gai council tree protection zone radius? Or is that not necessary with a CDC development? I have a big Eucalyptus tree on the block (thankfully in the back corner), and following council guidelines its tree protection zone might eat into the building footprint. 2) How are driveways handled? I would be needing to get the kerb cut a few meters down from where the current driveway is. I am wondering if this will require council approval, or if it can also be part of the CDC approval. 3) I read that one garage space is not included in GFA calculations. What are dimensions/area in m2 for this exempt car parking space. I read through the housing code SEPP and couldn't seem to find it. 4) What other parts of the home are not included into GFA calculations? Are balconies/terraces/alfresco areas also excluded from GFA calculations? Many thanks! Hi The K Man If you haven't already done so, immediately order a 10.7 certificate from council. I think they are circa $53 and it gets emailed within a few hours. This will tell you a number of things such as zoning, are you in a bushfire zone, a biodiversity zone, are there any tree protection orders on your land, and can CDC be used on your land. Its common to have biodiversity zones and bushfire zones in ku-ring-gai and in some cases even if they say CDC is applicable, you may not be able to use it ( such as if you're in a flame zone). This is where you need specialist advice ( of which I am not a specialist - again I can refer you to someone when you are ready). Your 2nd step is to get a survey, this will include taking your neighbour's setbacks, trees, contours, easements etc. Okay to your questions : 1. Trees - basically you are still governed by Ku-ring-gai's code with trees. Unless you get lucky with being in a 10/50 bushfire clearing zone, but it sounds like your tree is down the back of the block, so you if you really want to get rid of it you will need an arborist's advice. Edit I just re-read you post and realise that i hadnt answered your actual question. You were actually asking about the tree protection zone and I thought you were asking about removing the tree. For this we may need some professional advice. In my non professional opinion, subject to what viewing the 10.7 certificate, I have never had to. So whilst I don't think you do, I could be completely wrong on this. I will do some research. 2. Driveways - you can pretty much do anything you want inside your boundary. Once your driveway exits your boundary it is councils responsibility ( although you have to pay for it and get it built). For this you need to apply for a "Driveway Crossover permit" Council's engineer will design it and then you have to build it. They are nice people but can be a little difficult in terms of their demands, especially if your site falls towards the street. Your driveway will be designed to ensure that a Ferrari with 20mm clearance can enter and exit without scraping ( that's a joke but not too far from the truth). So leave some money in your budget for new guttering and cutting into the road. Say $5-7k just for the cross over if your site isn't flat. 3. GFA exclusions - A car space is a generally defined area, from memory it's 2.5m x 5.5m but I could be wrong and someone else will correct me I am sure. You can exclude voids, walls, alfrescos, porches and a storage area. Oh and if you want a 3rd garage you can have one. I hope that helps Cheers Simeon Simeon McGovern Affordable Custom Homes, We design and build to your budget Ashington Homes www.ashingtonhomes.com.au Re: Changing primary street frontage on a corner block CDC 5Mar 16, 2021 4:22 pm Thank you so much for all of your advice and guidance here Simeon! This has been extremely helpful to us, and I hope that it has been too for others that may have had similar queries. Re: Changing primary street frontage on a corner block CDC 6Mar 16, 2021 4:37 pm The_K_Man Thank you so much for all of your advice and guidance here Simeon! This has been extremely helpful to us, and I hope that it has been too for others that may have had similar queries. You are absolutely welcome. There are a bunch of nice people on here with different expertise in various areas, and its nice when we can help people out good luck with your build Simeon McGovern Affordable Custom Homes, We design and build to your budget Ashington Homes www.ashingtonhomes.com.au Re: Changing primary street frontage on a corner block CDC 7Feb 25, 2024 1:45 pm Would anyone also happen to know if council would automatically reject a proposed new driveway if the act of creating the new kerb cutting would result in the loss of an on street parking space? Re: Changing primary street frontage on a corner block CDC 8Feb 26, 2024 6:54 am The_K_Man Would anyone also happen to know if council would automatically reject a proposed new driveway if the act of creating the new kerb cutting would result in the loss of an on street parking space? No they wont. I know the driveway guy at council and he is pretty chill. There are some driveway guidelines on their website, read those first but you should be fine cheers Simeon Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. Re: Changing primary street frontage on a corner block CDC 9Feb 26, 2024 8:35 am Thank you so much for your reply Simeon, I really appreciate it! We have heard about the changes proposed by the NSW government affecting all R2 zoned houses that will permit the construction of duplexes which are generally not permitted in ku-ring-gai council along with permission to build terraces and manor houses on R2 zoned blocks that are up to an 800m walk to a train station or town centre. We believe our block falls under this definition so we are looking at building 3 townhouses on our block but this would require 2 small trees to be removed from councils nature strip - the trees are small and scraggly as they are constantly cut down to clear the powerlines above it. We were wondering if council could stop us from constructing these terraces because it will require the removal of 2 street trees and it will add another 2 driveways onto the street hence taking away car parking for 1 street car in a zone where many commuters park their car on the street and walk to the station. I assume that council will have a say on this even though I’m applying for a cdc development. But will council have enough power to reject our build as a result of these factors? I have had an arborist look at the trees on the council strip about 10 years ago and he said they were of low value- in your experience has council allowed you to remove trees on the council strip to then replace them with higher quality trees once the development is complete? And do you still feel that the 2 extra curb cuttings for the driveways to the proposed new terraces resulting in the loss of 1 street car parking space will still be a non-issue even though the property is close to the train station and the street is used as commuter car parking? Thank you very much for your help and advice! Re: Changing primary street frontage on a corner block CDC 10Feb 26, 2024 11:19 am The_K_Man Thank you so much for your reply Simeon, I really appreciate it! We have heard about the changes proposed by the NSW government affecting all R2 zoned houses that will permit the construction of duplexes which are generally not permitted in ku-ring-gai council along with permission to build terraces and manor houses on R2 zoned blocks that are up to an 800m walk to a train station or town centre. We believe our block falls under this definition so we are looking at building 3 townhouses on our block but this would require 2 small trees to be removed from councils nature strip - the trees are small and scraggly as they are constantly cut down to clear the powerlines above it. We were wondering if council could stop us from constructing these terraces because it will require the removal of 2 street trees and it will add another 2 driveways onto the street hence taking away car parking for 1 street car in a zone where many commuters park their car on the street and walk to the station. I assume that council will have a say on this even though I’m applying for a cdc development. But will council have enough power to reject our build as a result of these factors? I have had an arborist look at the trees on the council strip about 10 years ago and he said they were of low value- in your experience has council allowed you to remove trees on the council strip to then replace them with higher quality trees once the development is complete? And do you still feel that the 2 extra curb cuttings for the driveways to the proposed new terraces resulting in the loss of 1 street car parking space will still be a non-issue even though the property is close to the train station and the street is used as commuter car parking? Thank you very much for your help and advice! I have some knowledge and experience with exactly this issue, but I don't want to post publicly. Give me a call if you like on 0431 712 792 and I will tell you what I did Architectural Homes & Duplexes - specialising in custom designing homes to your budget Get a Free Onsite Consultation Today or send a PM for information, questions or advice. Dear all, Requesting your help in relation to a CDC code. We are building a new home in NSW on a corner lot (500m2, 15m wide) following Greenfield CDC code. Our design… 0 4742 4 4427 Hi All, see above image. The required setback from the rear boundary in my case is 5m, as you can see the shape of the site and location of the boundary is slightly… 0 8323 |