- How the shire’s neighbourhood rules might affect you
IF YOU can believe it, there are nine different Neighbourhood Character Areas to get your head around in the shire’s long-awaited review of neighbourhood character in residential zones across Bass Coast’s towns and smaller settlements.
It’s a level of complexity that many are going to have trouble comparing when attempting to understand the 178-page draft Bass Coast Shire Neighbourhood Character Study.
The neighbourhood character areas are Bush Coastal 1, Bush Coastal 2, Bush Residential 1, Bush Residential 2, Coastal Contemporary, Coastal Residential, Garden Court, Garden Residential and Rural Residential; each of them with an explanation of what that means if it applies to your part of the town.
Also applying to each of these character types is the very important development designation: ‘Minimal’, ‘Incremental’ and ‘Substantial’.
But don’t press the panic button, not yet anyway!
The familiar statewide zones including Residential Growth Zone (RGZ), General Residential Zone (GRZ), Low Density Residential Zone (LDRZ), Township Zone (TZ) and Mixed Use Zone (MUZ) still apply.
So, what do the various neighbourhood character descriptions mean?
Take ‘Bush Coastal 2’, which in Inverloch, applies to the area along the western side of Sandymount Avenue, between Dixon Street and Kathryn Close.
“The Bush Coastal 2 precinct is characterised by detached dwellings sited on generous sized lots with medium levels of vegetation in front garden spaces, which blends into the coastal shrubs and mature native canopy trees within the public realm and surrounding hinterland.”
Here you will find that all three development options ‘Minimal’, ‘Incremental’ and ‘Substantial’ apply to redevelopment in this area but can extend to dwellings of three storeys.
And you’ll find that properties next door to each other, in the same street may have different rules about potential development.
But perhaps the best way to see how the draft neighbourhood character rules apply to your street, your home and your block is to search the ‘Find out what is proposed for your property’ on the Engage Bass Coast website at Click here to check out your property
You can also attend one of the remaining public information sessions, see dates and times below.
The following themes have been identified as the key issues and threats for the draft Neighbourhood Character Study:
- Interrupted coastal views
- Subdivision
- Contemporary infill development
- Dominant fencing styles
- Large scale development - Retirement villages and Aged care
- Inconsistent infrastructure upgrades
- Loss of vegetation and landscaping
- Inconsistent siting and scale
- Dominant car access and storage
- Inconsistent colours and materials.
Character to complement housing strategy
The Neighbourhood Character Study will only be implemented in conjunction with the Bass Coast Housing Strategy 2024.
What is a Housing Strategy?
Bass Coast’s Housing Strategy outlines a framework for managing housing growth over the next 15 years, ensuring sufficient land and diversity for future community needs. The strategy is consistent with local and state policies, addresses community feedback, and clarifies Council’s role in housing. Specifically, it will guide the level of housing change that can be expected across each settlement and inform the appropriate location and application of residential zones.
The Bass Coast Housing Strategy applies to all residentially zoned land and land within identified settlement boundaries. That is, land currently in or proposed to be in the following planning scheme zones: the General Residential Zone, the Residential Growth Zone, the Township Zone, the Mixed Use Zone and the Low Density Residential Zone as well as non-residentially zoned land within settlement boundaries such as the Cowes Activity Centre and farming zoned land.
The strategy has adopted the settlement hierarchy from the Bass Coast Statement of Planning policy which groups the 26 settlements of Bass Coast as follows over the page:
- Wonthaggi (Regional centre): A settlement of 10,000 or more people with a large, diverse population, employment, and housing base. In a regional centre, there is provision of all essential services and higher-order goods, and education at all levels and access to large hospital and diverse medical facilities is available. A regional centre has strong relationships with surrounding settlements of all types.
- Cowes & Silverleaves, Inverloch, San Remo & Newhaven (District Towns): Settlements with a substantial and diverse population of 2000–10,000.
- Grantville (Town): A settlement with population levels of 1000–2000.
- Cape Paterson, Cape Woolamai, Corinella, Coronet Bay, Dalyston, Kilcunda & Rhyll (Villages): Settlements with population levels of 500–1000, the number fluctuating seasonally.
- Bass, Harmers Haven Jam Jerrup Pioneer Bay and The Gurdies Smiths Beach Sunderland Bay Sunset Strip Surf Beach Tenby Point Ventnor Wimbledon Heights (Hamlets). Settlements with low and seasonal population levels of 200–500.
Information sessions
More information sessions coming up as follows:
- Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at Berninneit, Cowes from 2pm to 4pm
- Thursday, March 21, 2024 Inverloch Hub 10am to 12 noon.
- Thursday, March 21, 2024 Bass Highway, Kilcunda (near Kilcunda General Store).
