PlanningAlerts

1 Comment

Create an account or sign in to have your say by adding your own comment.

1. There’s only about 40 other ‘auxiliary units’ within less than 500m of 98 Johnston St. Why not add another one?

   The Ipswich Planning Scheme states houses with auxiliary unit are to be used for intergenerational housing - one household with a subservient area (the auxiliary unit) that allows privacy for older people living in the same house as their children and grandchildren. Yet every single auxiliary unit in Harris St, Western Court and Mark Winter Court (the three closest roads to 98 Johnston St) is rented out to people with no family connection to the people living in the attached house (also renters). Need proof? Just look at realestate.com. So is this really one household? Of course not!

   Come Census, the family living in the auxiliary unit will complete the census form independently to the family living in the attached principal dwelling. They will only report information pertinent to their family and the family living in the principal dwelling will do the same. Therefore two households will be reported and the auxiliary unit and principal dwelling will be counted as 2 separate dwellings. How is it that the ICC can’t see or understand this? By allowing all these auxiliary units to be built by developers who are essentially building dual occupancies disguised as ‘auxiliary units’ (because they don’t know whether the future buyer will require intergenerational housing), the ICC are allowing the dwelling density to far exceed that permitted in Bellbird Park’s low density residential zone.

   ICC - Stop ignoring the abuse of auxiliary units and start seeing them for what they really are - dual occupancies. Stop counting the number of houses per hectare and using the total to calculate dwelling density and start recognising that one house is not the same as one dwelling. Start asking questions about who will be living in the house and why it needs an auxiliary unit. If the applicant of the superseded planning request can’t provide evidence the auxiliary unit will be used for intergenerational housing as per the intended use described in the 2016 version of the Ipswich Planning Scheme (Implementation Guide No. 1), the version prior to the introduction of the auxiliary unit lot and therefore relevant to this application, then the request needs to be rejected.

   Keep the dwelling density in Bellbird Park low. After all, it is meant to be a low density residential zone.

Have your say on this application

Your comment and details will be sent to Ipswich City Council. They may consider your submission when they decide whether to approve this application. Your name and comment will be posted publicly above.

Create an account or sign in to make a comment