There have been a couple of situations recently that revolve around subdivision lot sizes, a key element of the subdivision potential of a parcel of land—a dwelling cannot be constructed on just any parcel of land. In some cases, however, size is not all that counts.<\/p>\n
Lot size issues generally come into play when a property owner:<\/p>\n
The bottom line is that, in each of these situations, if approval for a dwelling is being sought, the size of the lot(s) involved must generally be greater than the minimum specified on the Lot Size Map<\/a> in the relevant Local Environmental Plan<\/a> (LEP). Within our rural and rural residential areas, the situation becomes a little more complicated if the option of lot size averaging<\/a> is or has been exercised in creating a lot.<\/p>\n In our western rural areas (the former Yarrowlumla Shire<\/a>), the minimum lot size for a dwelling is 80ha (200 acres), in the east (the former Tallaganda Shire<\/a>) it is 40ha (100 acres), while in our rural residential areas it is generally 6ha (15 acres). In the rural areas, the lot size is set largely to help preserve agricultural land. In our rural residential areas the lot size is set to help create and preserve the amenity of the areas in question.<\/p>\n In the present context, the subdivision of a dual occupancy development is subject to two conditions. The first is the prevailing minimum lot size, and the second is whether or not the lot in question was created under lot size averaging provisions. If the latter, no matter how large the lot is, under the current LEP it cannot be further subdivided. This condition notwithstanding, for subdivision of a dual occupancy development to be considered, the existing lot must generally be at least twice the applicable minimum lot size, so that subdivision could create two lots of at least the minimum permissible size.<\/p>\n In relation to more general subdivision, similar conditions apply. If the lot in question was created under lot size averaging provisions, it cannot be further subdivided, whatever its size. If the lot is an original crown portion, or has not been subject to lot size averaging provisions, subdivision may be possible if the resulting lots satisfy minimum lot size requirements.<\/p>\n Lot size averaging provisions were designed to provide a degree of flexibility in the style of permitted development. The basic principle is that lots smaller than the minimum lot size would be permitted provided that the average size of all lots created through a subdivision is no less than the applicable minimum. This will necessarily also then require the creation of at least one lot that is larger than the minimum and, to preserve the intent of lot size averaging, a subsequent condition applies that such lots cannot be further subdivided, no matter how large they are.<\/p>\n In our western rural areas, a subdivision may include up to five lots that are as small as 8ha (20 acres), provided the average of all lots in the subdivision is not less than 80ha. In our rural residential areas, lots (the number is not limited) can be as small as 2ha (5 acres), provided the average of all lots in the subdivision is not less than 6ha.<\/p>\n The result of the various lot size conditions is that the average density within our rural residential areas should not exceed one dwelling per 6ha, dual occupancy and secondary dwelling developments notwithstanding. This is fundamentally why further subdivision of a lot that has been created under the lot size averaging provisions is not permitted—smaller lots will have been created on the proviso that the larger lots that were created to offset these smaller lots remain as such.<\/p>\n In the rural areas, the intent is more the preservation of larger agricultural and environmental areas, while providing rural landholders some flexibility in how they finance their agricultural operations.<\/p>\n Whatever the situation, it is important to appreciate that the fact that subdivision of, or development within a lot might be permitted within a particular land use zone does not mean it automatically will be. Conditions invariably apply and the only way to be certain of what conditions might apply in a given situation is to talk to council\u2019s planning staff. It doesn\u2019t cost anything to ask.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There have been a couple of situations recently that revolve around subdivision lot sizes, a key element of the subdivision potential of a parcel of land—a dwelling cannot be constructed on just any parcel of land. In some cases, however, size is not all that counts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2402"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2413,"href":"http:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions\/2413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}