Status - approved!

Don't get too excited yet. This is only for demolition. So far we can demolish & build a pool  - maybe we can live on a boat in the pool? The DA that has been in Hornsby Council since the end of August is not yet approved though we are close - tomorrow (depending on whether they all have flexidays!) or Monday. All checks are listed on the web tracking site as been completed. Nothing really can happen until we have this approval. EBH need it for final plans to be drawn up, the bank need it ( I think) for the construction loan...
Hurry up  - only about 6 weeks until DDay on January 7.

My visit to Council

Any of my really observant followers will have noticed the title change of the blog to Our Dream. Brad was a little offended that he wasn't included and wanted it changed ;-) It has never been his dream, is happy where we are currently but more than happy for me to oversee this. A few of my friends will remember trawling through project homes when I was in my early 20's when we had a spare Sunday! We would dream of new houses & interior design LOL. Linda H??!

I armed myself with reams of documents this morning to visit Hornsby Council. The lovely Customer Service member was extremely helpful in going through these documents and working out which ones I needed. The application to DEMOLISH was lodged then & there - DONE.

I then sat down with one of the Heads of Planning & Building to ask him some questions regarding trees.
* Any tree marked for removal can be removed without further consent when the approval comes through.
* We may prune the neighbours trees right to the fence without their permission and we may also leave the trimmings neatly stacked on their property for them to dispose of (we will green waste them ourselves)
* The new vehicular crossing required does not need to be applied for until closer to the date of construction.

All in all, a successful morning at council.

Demolition Derby

Firstly, my helpful council officer called me back this morning after speaking with those in the tree department. All we need for the DA to move ahead is a YES or NO from Eden Brae as to whether they are prepared to build using tree sensitive protection measures. A YES given from EBH and sent to Hornsby Council. Unfortunately EBH are not able to price this up until DA has been approved and the tree conditions placed on the DA consent. Leap of faith here.

Finally, I was able to get in contact with the Operations Manager from our demolition company. She has been off sick for a while with obviously no-one performing her duties for her. She seemed a little shocked that the 'job' had not been progressed, in particular, no application with a certifier or with council. Unfortunately, we cannot use a private certifier now as the procedures have changed recently. Myriads of paperwork were sent to start the process. A few minutes later, I was speaking to Council who questioned why I was doing it that way. She suggested submitting my request to demolish as additional information to my existing application - this requires minimal cost & minimal paperwork. How appealing! Not to be unfortunately. Eden Brae have a policy that demolitions and builds need to be separate as they do not want to be held liable as 'owners' of the development approval. Back to the sea of paperwork though it is a little unclear as to what is actually required. It was suggested to me that a trip to Council's clerical department tomorrow with my documents would be a useful idea. Brilliant way to spend a 'day off' with Brad who has just returned from the UK.

Council DAs

Well DDay is here and of course, no contact from the neighbours. I have spoken to my officers at concil who will get back to me about what the next step is. She did mention that if we did move the house over on the block thereby redoing the plans then we would need to go through the DA process again, including notification. NO WAY!
I talked to Sarah about our pool application that was approved despite some objections from a neighbour (privacy & acoustics) . Sarah said that we do have objections sitting there for the house DA too but seemed to indicate that they were insubstantial.
Geez, I really look forward to moving in one day, surrounded by unhappy neighbours on all sides!

Another tree post

OK, this has been consuming me. I left it in the capable hands of EBH over the weekend. I received a call yesterday from the CS Manager who strongly suggested ;-) that I need to convince the neighbours to reconsider their decision. To build around the roots of the trees will be a very costly & involved process. I was coached in what to say to the neighbours (the trees need to be pruned significantly anyway as overhanging our boundary considerably; we will replace them with mature trees of their choosing to allay their fears of more sun, less birds etc) The neighbours are in consultation with each other (2 properties) until Friday - if I don't hear back from them, their original decision stands.
If this happens we have 2 options.....
1) We may be able to move the house over by 1.2m to avoid these trees but then we lose some of the setback we have on that side and possibly it will uncover more costs.
2) Employ 'tree sensitive protection measures' when building the house.

Stay tuned.....

Request rejected :-(

Unfortunately our request to the neighbours to remove, prune or replace their 2 trees has been declined at the 11th hour. They say that "the trees are well established, aesthetically pleasing and attract native birds. In addition their removal will mean more sun in the rooms at the front of the house. We consider that we will be disadvantaged by their removal"

PLAN B...........

A little brick hiccup!

Upon checking out brick colours on the PGH website (in all my spare time!), I discovered that my chosen brick colour CHOCOLATTO has changed Basix classification from medium to dark. THe documentation that EBH gave me at tender said it was medium; my visit to PGH had it at medium and Home Options Gallery didn't pick this up. Given our Basix certificate has been issued already based on our colour selections etc, I was a little worried to say the least. No other colours in our allocated brick range remotely excited me and I had already spent much time getting the colour scheme how I wanted it.
I had a decision to make....Do I call EBH and discuss with the potential of having to re-do colours and select a brick I don't like? Do I stick my head in the sand and let them discover the change? I then had visions of the BASIX inspector (is there one?) coming at the completion of the house & asking us to demolish as it doesn't comply. I know, a little catastrophising! I decided to ring my upline Manager to have a quiet chat. Bev made my day! She checked the file & discovered that on the Basix certificate the external wall colours have not actually been specified. This basically means we are free to choose whatever colour we wish. Interesting as the Basix documentation we signed stated that our external colours were medium grade.
Phew! I can sleep well tonight & not have nightmares about the house being pulled down at the 11th hour!