3 REASONS YOU NEED A TOWN PLANNER FOR YOUR PLANNING PERMIT

Yes you do…here’s 3 reasons why

Using a qualified and experienced Town  Planner can help speed up the design to build process by securing your permits smoother and quicker for you and your clients.

The Surf Coast in Victoria is one of the most naturally beautiful landscapes in the world, the stunning coastline, world class surf and iconic Great Ocean Road drive make it an area worth protecting. For those lucky enough to own land in this beautiful location, the planning approval process can be speckled with challenges. There are many urban legends about securing a Planning Permit in this special area, featuring frustration, overwhelm and lengthy delays but it doesn’t have to be that hard for everyone.

Often sites are affected by a complex set of planning controls that require expert interpretation and considered judgements to be made about the preferred development on land, design and process for approval. When you have the skills and expertise to interpret these requirements and experience dealing with Council to resolve key planning issues, permits are issued sooner rather than later.

What do Anglesea, Aireys Inlet, Fairhaven and Lorne have in common?

EVERY single new home (and many extensions) in these 4 neighbourhoods require a Planning Permit. Crazy isn’t it!

We often hear the emotional stories of a messy journey through Council and wish we’d been able to help them through the journey as we know we’d could have avoided some of the delays experienced along the way. Some builders even avoid these areas as they don’t want to deal with Council - please don’t do this, we can help.

There are many reasons why an experienced Town Planner can help make this process smoother and quicker for you, but these are our Top 3.

1.     Planning Permits on the Surf Coast can be tricky to navigate

It’s no secret that Planning Permits on the Surf Coast can be notoriously challenging to navigate with several Planning Overlays influencing the design and development options. It’s no wonder it can feel overwhelming – especially when there are conflicting requirements. That is if you know how to find the requirements that apply in the first place. A planner can help with that too.

In these sensitive coastal neighbourhoods, it feels like Council have applied every Planning Overlay possible in the Planning Scheme. There’s Neighbourhood Character Overlays, Design and Development Overlays, Environmental Significance Overlays, Significant Landscape Overlays and Bushfire Management Overlays. We can help you understand what they mean for your clients development options and provide clear advice on the key requirements that will influence the design of their dream home and identify any common issues that arise to consider.

Providing clarity on Council’s expectations from the outset helps manage client expectations around what they can and can’t do and avoid disappointment with a design that’s unlikely to be approved once it gets to Council.

We help speed up the design to build process - saving you time, money and emotional energy!

You can focus on the important design decisions, and we do what we do best - deal with Council so you don’t have to.

2. We can help your team identify as early as possible if a Planning Permit is required

We can help your team learn the typical triggers for permits so you can identify as early as possible if a Planning Permit is required for your clients.

Our personalised approach means we love to share our knowledge and expertise with you and your team to help you learn the typical scenarios when clients will need a Planning Permit approval on the Surf Coast.

We teach your admin, sales and design team how to check the zoning and overlays and basic interpretation of the permit triggers so they can let clients know as soon as possible if a Planning Permit is required and get site specific advice to guide the design and development from the outset.

Giving your team a competitive edge and the ability to speak confidently with clients about the process and typical expectations from Surf Coast Shire Council.

Including Town Planning in your initial process ensures there’s no surprises down the track when seeking a Building Permit only to find out you need a Planning Permit first.

 3.     We help your team design with confidence

We help provide clear site-specific advice for your client’s land enabling your team to design with confidence having clarity on the key requirements from Council that will influence the design to ensure maximum compliance.

We love to help your sales and design team understand key requirements like site cover, plot ratio, neighbourhood character, coastal contemporary architecture, colours and materials that are encouraged so they can advise your clients sooner rather than later what Council expect in these sensitive communities.

Ultimately we help interpret what the Council’s expectations are for the site, the broader neighbourhood character and landscape considerations and take the guesswork out of it for you.

Using an experienced Town Planner is proven to speed up the process, we help navigate the approval process and advocate for your clients interests every step of the way.

So you can focus on what you do best helping clients design their dream homes!

Let us help get your clients in their new homes sooner - effortlessly.

We’d love to help you

We work with home owners, builders, architects and developers to help navigate the Town Planning Permit process managing the process from concept design development, through to approval.

 We love helping clients understand what they can and can’t do with their land and navigating the approval process as smoothly and quickly as possible. We deal with Council so you don’t have to.

We’d love to help you, so please get in touch to see how we can help you get closer to your development dreams.

We tailor our approach to suit your work flow with your clients and your team and offer access to real time tracking for all your client projects through the planning permit stage.

Curious to try a new approach? We’d love to chat to you.

Get in touch, email us at hello@urbankind.studio or Book a call with a planner to see how we can help take the stress out of the Planning Permit process for you.