Hi
I live in the Hunter Valley about an hour from Newcastle, all the blocks in the area used to have 100 year old houses on 1/4 acre blocks, it seems that the latest development trend in the area is to buy an old house and either rip it down and build 4 units or 2 sets of duplexes or divide the block leaving the old house at the front and building a duplex at the back.
The area is starting to look quite ridiculous. We used to have trees, gardens, sheds and kids playing in the large backyards, now we have 3 – 4 families living in each yard instead of one, looking over the fences with kids roaming the streets everywhere, it is now like living in a fishbowl.
As an electrical contractor I have been able to talk to quite a few of the developers, they do not want the neighbours to immediately know of their intentions and have little consideration for what they are doing to the community. I jokingly said to one developer that lived in another state "wouldn't it be cheaper to build in your own town or next to your place", he replied " I don't want this kind of thing around my place I like it how it is". Well so do I and many others in our area. The poorly run Local Council need all the money they can get and are approving just about everything.
I now have a 6 unit development on 2 blocks directly behind my house, a duplex being built next to both my neighbours behind the original houses on the blocks and now my neighbours are going to be moving due to their unhappiness with the developments and it looks as though their properties have been purchased by the same developer.
It looks as though I will have 15 immediate neighbours instead of 5. With a large workshop, kids, motorbikes, garden, dogs and chooks I hope that the new neighbours don't mind a lot of smell and noise as we are used to making.
From talking to people in the area that have new units built beside them the main objections now coming from the people living in the new units next to neighbours with large back yards is barking dogs, screeching and squarking pet birds, noise from mowing 1 – 2 times per week and kids too loud. We have never had a complaint in over 40 years and neither had the many people that I have spoken to.
My children are the fifth generation of our family to live in the area and we were quite used to the lifestyle that we have enjoyed for so long. Quite a few of the local families and a lot of our friends have already sold up as a result of the over development and change in the quality of life in the area.
With the increase in development and the large amount of people leaving as a result it seems as though the developers will soon have no objections to new developments as they will eventually dominate the area.
We have investment rental properties and are looking at building duplexes in the new local sub-divisions, so we are not entirely anti-development.
I sent a rather long letter of objection to the local council that seemed to fall on deaf ears.
My question is what objections to a new developments can successfully prevent a development being approved or what can be done legally to stop developers from developing the land each side of your house?
Thank You
J.D
Hi JD,
Let me start by saying that I don’t have the answers to your questions and while I do have a degree of empathy for your situation, I believe that it is poor form to blame the Developers for the problem.
The beginning of the problem arose when our forefathers and Town planners began to plan our Cities with next to no foresight for the future growth and development of our fine Country. This was followed by a continuous population explosion year after year. Industries set up in all major cities and centres which required a work force which in return required housing and set in motion the great Australian dream to own our own home. In these early years it was not uncommon for a family to have 6 to 8 children and thus have a demand for larger properties (room to move). Ironically if we were to look back at the norm, many of these Australian families were content to live in houses that were not much bigger than 12 squares. Today our family figures are down to 2..3 children and we couldn’t possibly live in a house any less than 24 squares. Go figure.
With our population around the 20 million mark, the real question is what will it be like when it reaches 40 million? Another factor that must be taken into consideration is the growing number of single person households which is set to exceeded families in the foreseeable future. This trend is what creates the demand and thus come in the Developers to satisfy this demand. Perhaps if enough people do not wish this change they should get married younger have larger families and create the demand for larger blocks with smaller houses and get the developers to produce them???
The way I see it, progress is inevitable and we have the choice to accept it or pack up and move on. By far the bigger problem as I see it is Councils absolute stupidity as to their guidelines as to what can be done in the form of development. Believe me, from my experience Developers would like to produce a far better product than they are forced to by Council ineptness.
In Queensland in the late 90’s there was a huge push from our City Council to reduce density in the inner Suburbs and in a very short time I witnessed DA’s (development approvals) go from 3 months to 2 years. Guess what this did? Increased costs and reduced the value of development land.
As I said in the beginning, I probably wouldn’t answer your questions to your satisfaction or have the right answer for you. I will however advise that you do not become a NIMBY. These are people who understand that we have to do something in the way of affordable housing for our children just as long as it is Not In My Back Yard.
Jon
Jon,
I hope to God that our population never reaches 40 million.
Come over here for a while and see what a pain in the ar$e it is to be among lots of people everywhere you go, evey day, all day long.
And unfortunately, the majority of people are boguns; brainless morons, reproducing like rabbits, perpetuating the species with broke, apathetic burdens on society, while the wealthier, more educated folk retract further into their more wealthy enclaves, reproduce less, and acquire more and more wealth. The ever-widening gap between the have's and the have nots is also the gap in the number of people in that scenario. Less educated, employable, wealthy people; more and more "dumbed down" types who become a burden.
It looks as though Aus will follow the USA tend; the wealthy will pay for or have built a single, more unique type of house, in a nice area. They are also the ones who will be in a position to invest in property, and the overwhelming trend here is to buy up vast tracts of cheap land on the outskirts of growth areas, and slap up a huge estate of "Edward Scissorhands" type dwellings for the masses; all the same style, similar colours and very big houses on tiny blocks. They are disgusting, and makes me think of thousands of pigeons in thousands of holes. of course, for the developers who do them, there is enormous money in it,.
And I, as an investor looking to make money, will follow the same path, as many other investors are, but on a smaller scale; the 3 or 4 unit development on the existing family sized block etc.
Why? because there's more money in it than the single family IP with all it's associated headaches.
The ironic (and moronic) thing is, people queue up to buy them and pay top dollar, and don't think twice about the existence they are putting up their hands for.
So, while we can blame the developers for building these ugly estates and subdivisions, we should really blame the consumers (and investors) for being willing to buy them, and blame the Councils for allowing the developers to build them in the first place.
Jamo.d your only available option is to object to any DA which is lodged within the 10 day period assigned. Raise as many valid objections as is possible (it might be worth engaging a town planner of your own to frame your objections), get as many of your neighbours, friends, relatives, long lost >>*&#>> etc to submit the same letter (changed name & addresses of course).
Have council address the issues of noise including restrictions to air conditioning plant noise, sound attenuation, landscaping/water retention & runoff, amenity, over shadowing, transmission of nighttime light from the premises, loss of privacy, siting of garbage facilities (request refrigerated garbage rooms to prevent smells & restrict vermin), conditions for the reuse of grey water/water tanks & environmentally sustainable designs/construction (5 star rating), ensure that the plans meet with existing planning requirements – floor space ratios/site coverage, set backs, minimum alotment sizes, private open space requirements etc.
Thank you for the replies so far.
Thank you Jon for the history lesson, although it does sound a little generic and self justifying. I have travelled extensively overseas and if you were talking about a town or city with a population in excess of 20 million I might agree.
Do we have any towns or cities with a population of over 10 Million yet?
Our town has a population of just over 20,000, currently there is a plan for several new sub-divisions/towns in the area. One is for 7500 – 10000 new homes, another for 3000 + homes and 3 smaller ones that I know of that will provide around 1000 + new homes each, so I think the area might be doing its bit for the proposed 20 million increase in Australia's population. That is OK in my backyard as the people who will be moving into these areas will have an expectation of what they are in for before they move in. Fill the new areas full of units and duplexes if people want to live in sardine cans that is their choice.
I am only interested in what is over my back and side fence and the rest of our small suburb.
It is interesting that in one of the new existing subdivisions that duplexes and units have now been banned as the locals believe that they do not fit into the area. How did they achieve this?
With the amount of for sale signs in the surrounding areas there is no shortage of homes available and add the new homes to the equation there is more than enough to go around.
The problem in our area is that there were only about 800 homes in our suburb all on 1/4 acre blocks. There was a sea of green for as far as the eye could see with Black Cockatoo's, Rosella's, Rainbow Lorikeet's and all kinds of wildlife to see and appreciate. Now there are patches missing all over the place replaced with concrete and cheap poorly built units. It seems that there is a new set of units every other day with another set of families next door moving out as a result with then another unit to take their place.
Someone with no backyard has a different expectation to someone with a backyard and from the many people I have spoken to that have a new development beside them it doesn't take long for the complaints to start flowing and it gets even worse when there is one either side. No complaints ever then suddenly the big three, dogs barking, kids playing, turn the music down.
We recently had one company come around door-knocking, they were looking for the elderly residents, particularly widows. The offer was that we will build 4 units on your block and give you the front unit (my immediate neighbour was approached but luckily declined the offer). They would arrive at the victims house with flowers and chocolates and explain how good the offer was and snap up a $250,000 bargain in return for a $100,000+ shoe box. They did a little damage before they were exposed for what they were. The three people I have spoken to so far that this has happened to are not at all happy with the decision that they had made and the subsequent loss of privacy that living butted up against your neighbour provides.
The latest trend is to buy the old house and subdivide the block, rent out the front house and put the rear block up for sale. It is taking 1 – 2 years to sell the rear blocks so where is the money to be made anyway.
Many of the new developments are being vandalised with graffiti sprayed all over them. I hope that no one ends up getting hurt or in legal trouble over their actions.
Thank you for the comments Marc I agree totally, I too will be building 3 and 4 unit developments in the NEW subdivisions to cater for the wants and needs of the masses. Leave the beauty of the well thought out and planned existing communities intact.
Thanks Scott No Mates, I have tried what you have mentioned with no success so far as it is obvious that our poorly run council needs all the money that it can muster so they are bending over backwards for any development money they can get their hands on.
One of my friends has a beautiful 100 + year old home on a hill with fantastic views and has about 10 gum trees in his back yard. They were the main reason that he purchased the house. The bases of the trees would be around 2 metres in diameter they are spectacular and I can easily see it from my place. Someone purchased the blocks either side and put in a D.A for 4 x 2 story units either side, the development was rejected as it could not meet the Basix requirements due to shading from the trees. My friend has received numerous threats in regards to having the trees removed to make way for progress, it is hard to prove anything when it is only his word against theirs. One tree along the boundary was poisoned and cost a considerable amount of money to have it removed. Due to my recent brain tumour surgery I have not spoken to him recently but I had heard that there is some form of legal challenge he has been lumbered with in regard to the developments.
My friends mother lives in a new local duplex, during a recent heavy downpour the water would not drain away and started flooding, they had to kick in the door of the unoccupied unit next door to let the water flood through and drain away to save her belongings. When they checked the main drain it was capped under the ground and went nowhere. This is not an isolated incident when it comes to putting profits first. Most of the units are finished in a hurry with little attention to quality of finish or fitting into the area, it does make sense to do only the minimum of what is required to maximise profits. If the inexperienced developers knew of this website and the information available they might be able to do their homework and avoid having to take shortcuts as the money runs out and the profit margin starts rapidly shrinking.
As I stated in my first post I have met a quite few of the current local developers, they have mostly not been professional developers that do this for a living to provide affordable housing for our children as Jon mentioned, they had all come from out of town to make a quick dollar with little or no regard for what they leave behind. A quick fix for their financial woes.
The reason that I like this website so much is that there is so much information on how to get it right. I applaud the developers that take and manage the risks and produce a quality affordable product. The current local developments are a little off the mark.
As I asked before if anyone has had a successful objection to a D.A are there any specific objections that have the best chance of halting the progress of the type of developments that I have mentioned or is there anything or anyone that can be contacted in regards to the local councils decision making process???
There have been some developers that are building on corner blocks that have seemed to have got it right with a quality product that has been designed to fit into the area. But the old house in the front yard and duplex in the back yard development look like s**t.
I still feel sorry for the neighbour who has lost their privacy in their new viewing zoo like atmosphere.
Look honey at that family in that big backyard playing together, I can remember when our grand parents had a yard like that.
Cheers
J.Djamo.d wrote:HiI live in the Hunter Valley about an hour from Newcastle, all the blocks in the area used to have 100 year old houses on 1/4 acre blocks, it seems that the latest development trend in the area is to buy an old house and either rip it down and build 4 units or 2 sets of duplexes or divide the block leaving the old house at the front and building a duplex at the back.
Thank You
J.D
I don't really think you have any right to stop this sort of development,….
It's only natural that over time areas that are dominated with 1/4 acre blocks will have higher desity zones encroaching on them,…
forget what jon said about becoming a "nimby" you are a "NIMBY" ( Not In My Back Yard ),… nimby's typically complain about housing affordability in their area but do not want increased development,….. they complain about lack of infrastructure but don't want the infrastructure built near them,… They don't want climate change but they don't want to give up driving their cars,….
I think you are stuck with your situation,…. deal with it,….. you can't stop progress.
I really hope no one here gives you any hints as to what buttons to push to slow this development because it is people like you that cause so many headaches for people that are just trying to get the job done, 1/4 acre blocks are history,
Hi Tysonboss 1
Good to see some emotion.
Are you one of the people we are dealing with?
Sorry but I don't see how I measure up to your NIMBY qualifications.
1) I have owned my house for over 10 years and invest in other things as well as property so I don't really care about housing affordability. If you need more money to buy the house you want earn more or borrow more. All the money we need has already been printed it is up to us to source it. My granddad used to say if you don't have the cash you can't afford it.
How does a duplex in a back yard help housing affordability when you can buy the original house for $200,000, wait 12 months and sell the same house on 1/2 a block for $180,000 and the duplex's for $220,000 – $250,000 per unit with not much more than a slab of concrete to park your car on and three strands of string for a clothes line?.
2) We have ample infrastructure in the area, I don't see a cheap and nasty duplex stuck in the back yard next door as essential infrastructure.
3) There are plenty of people out there looking after climate change, no need for my input on a global basis, we already do what we can at home. We have solar power, 26000 litres of rainwater tanks, a large vegetable garden with compost area and 6 chooks. I have three cars including 2 x V8's and 14 motorbikes, so I love burning the good oil while it lasts.
4) I am not trying to stop progress, just trying to maintain the lifestyle that I already have and am entitled to. Progress is something that improves the community.
5) Most of the new sub-divisions in the area are 1/2 to 2 acre blocks. So yes I must agree in this area the 1/4 acre blocks are on hold.
6) What job are you trying to get done?
7) Thank you for the promising tip that there are buttons to push. If anyone knows what buttons to push please let me know.
I have made a little progress as I have contacted one of the local councillors who will be paying me a visit tomorrow. He is of the same opinion in regard to what types of developments are being approved in the area.
We are arranging a letterbox drop of all the homes in our neighbourhood with an information kit and letter of objection with pre-stamped envelope addressed to the Local Council and and have set up an e-mail address for people to voice their opinion.
We have also put a petition on 2 local notice boards so far for people to record their objections.
With our current team of 6 people we are considering door-knocking every house to have a one on one chat with each resident, even the BACKYARDIGANS. I want both sides to voice their opinions.
Any help or info much appreciated.
Thank You
J.Djamo.d wrote:How does a duplex in a back yard help housing affordability when you can buy the original house for $200,000, wait 12 months and sell the same house on 1/2 a block for $180,000 and the duplex's for $220,000 – $250,000 per unit with not much more than a slab of concrete to park your car on and three strands of string for a clothes line?.
J.D
well housing affordabilty is a supply and demand issue,…. so the more dwellings that get built in an area will make that area more affordable than it otherwise would be if the dwelling were not built,….
say if demand was steady and you increased the number of house's the price would decrease,… if you reduced the number of houses then the price would increase.
what you have described is that the housing price in your area has been mainly steady,…. so all these developments is probally what has been maintaining that balance by absorbing the population growth,…. if you maintained the population growth but kept the amount of dwelling the same then you would see affordabilty steadily decrease…
Another atribute of the nimby is denial,….
jamo.d wrote:4) I am not trying to stop progress, just trying to maintain the lifestyle that I already have and am entitled to. Progress is something that improves the community.5) Most of the new sub-divisions in the area are 1/2 to 2 acre blocks. So yes I must agree in this area the 1/4 acre blocks are on hold.
6) What job are you trying to get done?
Trying to maintain the life style you are used to,… you don't have any right to try and control what goes on outside your yard,…. you sound like those people that owned a house 3 blocks back from the beach for 20years that whinged when an apartment building goes up and takes there ocean veiws away,…….. developments do improve the community by increasing the amount of affordable housing,
If the subdivisions are 1/2 to 2 acre blocks then I would suggest that in 20years people there will be having a whinge in the same way you are now,….. why don't you build a duplex in your back yard rent all three dwellings out and move into the new subdivison onto a 2 acre block.
the job I am trying to get done is to continue being an active investor helping keep Australias economy rolling and providing affordable property soloutions.
Thought this link might interest you
Hi Tysonboss 1
Well a NIMBY I must be. Does it really matter. I have obviously struck a nerve.
If I declare myself a NIMBY am I really a NIMBY since I am not in denial???
All that is really important is how you see yourself.
I purchased my home for $50,000 20 years ago and it is now worth over $300,000, my first investment property was purchased for for $65000 in 1995 and sold in 2002 for $160,000 it is now worth $250,000, hooray for affordability and keeping prices down. Please no lecture on why housing prices naturally rise.
We still live in a democracy, so neither of us must have the right to control what goes on outside our own yards.
How does someone get appointed as the grand decider in what can and can't be done.
You are what you think. Whether you think you can or you can't either way You are right.
Thank you for your input.
Any HELPFUL information would be appreciated.
Thank You
J.DJD, JD, Where do I start. I did advise that I didn’t have all of the answers to your questions, in particular the one that you seem determined to find an answer to. How do we stop progress?
The history lesson was my pleasure, here is another one for you but this is on economics. The size of the town has nothing to do with my earlier comments, the problems associated with housing stay the same there just bigger numbers.
You mention that your little town has a population of just over 20,000 and then you go on to advise that your town is doing its bit for Australia’s population growth by providing a further 13,500 new houses. If you multiply 13,500 by the national housing average of 2.3 it means that your little town is going to have a further 31,050 residents in the not to distant future. By my calculations this has just doubled the size of your town – it will never be the same again. As each of these new families have children and grow the whole cycle starts again. More demand equals more supply. Before someone talks about how big our sunburnt country is and asks why don’t we just spread out and all have quarter acre blocks, spare a thought for infrastructure and the cost of maintaining a decentralised community.
JD you are welcome to dream about being a white night and charging down the street in an attempt to hold back development, but I feel that I have you pegged with your statement:-
I am only interested in what is over my back and side fence and the rest of our small suburb.
Good luck with your efforts, I hope that all works out well in the future. Might I suggest that when you are walking the streets talking to all of the locals, that you attempt to build a ‘save the suburb from the developers fund’ so that you can put up the bonds for the objections if they go to court. This will also show just how many residents are committed to fight the good fight – signatures are cheap.
Jon
Hi Jon
Bring on the new residents as I run 3 businesses and am looking forward to developing as many of the 13,500 houses that I can.
I don't like riding horses and I have no one to follow me with tapping coconuts so I will have to give the white knight scenario a miss.
I still cannot see progress with a 100 year old house sitting on a postage stamp size piece of land with a brick and tile duplex sitting out the back. The place is starting to look like a blind man planned it.
I suppose it may be selfish but I love where I live.
Any HELPFUL information would be appreciated.
Thank You
J.DHi jamo.d – as an ex town planner (& current developer), I'll wear my town planning hat to try and answer your question. The Council….all Council's, in all states all operate under a planning scheme or Ordinance which sets out the relevant provisions for all types of developments whether it be residential, commercial, industrial and so on. For residential developments for example, there will be a residential code (which may have a different name in different states and under different planning schemes), which will set out the relevant requirements which need to be met. In some instances, there is discretion to vary the requirements and some clauses may be guidelines rather than actual conditions or requirements.
Now, in order to have any success with stopping a development, any objection you make must target a level of non-compliance with the regulations. So, it's no good just saying, there's already 10 blocks in the street with units. That is a statement of fact, but is not necessarily a reason to refuse a DA, unless the Council has a specific policy of unit to house ratios in place. Also, things like, "there will be an increase in traffic" is a statement of fact. All streets are designed to accommodate a certain number of vehicle trips per day, and while the development will increase traffic, if the level of traffic is still within the capacity the street can support (irrespective of whether it used to be a quiet little street for the past 20 years), then this argument will fail.
My suggestion is to employ a town planner to assess the plans for you and provide a check list of any technical areas of non compliance and then frame your objection based on this. Alternatively, familiarize yourself with the planning provisions so that you can do this for yourself.
Lobby groups and the like are a nuisance factor, but nothing else. If Council refuse a DA based purely on public pressure, Council knows full well it will succeed at the Planning Appeals Board anyway. Their refusal is only to appease the masses (for the short term). Once it gets to appeal no amount of placard waving and chanting will matter…..the DA is assessed purely and simply on its merits and compliance with the code.
Despite what you may think of Councils (and believe me, I'm one of their worst critics – that's why I left), from experience I can say that for Council to approve a DA it's covered off on every possible area of non compliance to ensure nothing comes back to haunt them.
Good luck
s,r,prop,
Well said and explained. So many people seem to think that the councils and the developers are conspiring against them, when in reality it is so difficutl to get a DA that works to everyones satisfaction.
Jon
Inregards to the above mentioned,….. Betweeen the developers,.. architects,… builders and consultants,…. the development probally has as all nessary points covered before you even find out about it,…. before they even purchased that block.
"How To Stop Developers?"
Buy the land yourself. You've bought your property, you should get to decide what happens on your property. That's called ownership rights. Somebody else bought the other properties. They should get to decide what (within reason) happens on those other properties. That too, is ownership rights. You shouldn't get to decide what happens on their property (outside of reasonable limits, and residential housing in a residential area isn't unreasonable), otherwise your rights are being unfairly extended while their rights are being unfairly impinged.I think the whole NIMBY movement is disgraceful. People are pushing the view that they 'own' all the beneficial 'externalities' that surround their properties. Things such as views, quietness, other people's vacant land etc. Yet they don't (and won't) pay for these externalities (despite implicit acknowledgement that they are/have benefited from them), they only bitch and moan when they are threatened. You don't pay, you don't own it.
Cheers, F. [cowboy2]
Go Foundation… Well said!!!!!!
looks like your out gunned and out numbered j.d. but i sympathize with you to a certain extent. You treasure your surroundings and you have a prefabricated(to you), attachment of how things should be. This is just normal for EVERYONE tho. I do say should because we all know that real home owners(house you buy for the sole reason to live in) buy homes for there location AND what that location offers to them personally… so your buying into the whole vibe of the area.
its just to bad that that piece of the pie cant be kept or controlled to your liking. But the kicker is that everyone else is buying around you for the exact same reasons.Location and what that offers to them. There exact reasons are probably different but the core of it all is the same.
Nobody denied you your home. Why should you deny them. And home(the whole pie…yip you guessed it i obviously like pie) is what a person makes it. It just happens to be different from your overall idea of what it should be
Hi
What a busy week.
THANK YOU s.r.prop for the professional reply, that is exactly what I needed to hear. Another quick question – The local group I mention later on has had a Unit Development D.A deferred and told me that they are now taking the matter to State Government, I did not ask too many questions about it, what will they be trying to do ?
And a special thanks to the two forum members that sent the private messages, I feel sorry for what you both have been through.
It is pretty obvious that posting the Question "How to Stop Developers" on a developer information website, is about the equivalent of an African American attending a Klu Klux Klan meeting. So outgunned and outnumbered, who gives a rip, I am only after some information.
Jon, my intentions for door knocking and pamphlets was to gauge opinion on what people thought about what was happening in the area. I did not want to ram my opinions or ideas down their throats as some of the respondents on this forum seem to want to do.
A great forum SHOULD have a mix of opinions.
Door knocking takes a lot of time. If I drink any more tea and eat any more cake and biscuits I will need a motorised chair to haul me around. But I will fit in with all the fat kids in the new units that have no back yards to play and exercise in. Luckily I had Brain Tumour Surgery in July and don,t have much else to do for the next year or two so door to door it is. Has been good to see some old friends and who is who in the community.
In one of the local papers yesterday there was an article on how a group of 30 residents two streets over (hadn't got that far yet) have had an application for a Multi-Unit D.A deferred based on their concerns and have the backing of the local council member that I have arranged a meeting with. Have spoken to the group spokesperson today, she was very appreciative for the information that you have provided on this forum. They put in a 30 signature objection letter and were asked to address the next council meeting, the councillors were a little surprised to see the crowd at the council meeting and refused to hear the objections that night. Well the crowd turned up next time much to the shock and surprise of the councillors and had the D.A deferred.
Our council is up for elections next year, who do they want to piss off, the voters in the community or the couple of out of town developers and their small donations. It will be interesting to see.
It was interesting to hear that another developer in the same street had a heap of objections to his D.A so he quickly changed a few windows on the plans and had the info sent straight back out, well the people affected thought that the matter had already been settled and did not object to what they thought was a double up of paperwork that had already been dealt with, no complaints, D.A approved.
They are a lot wiser now, knowledge + action.
What a pack of hard core NIMBY'S. They have some imaginative and effective objections.
My concern in regard to my situation was for the poor bugger who tries to sell their development next door to me as I have 3 x 50 – 60 kg hunting dogs, ferrets, chooks and ducks, a large noisy workshop along the fence, I spray paint and abrasive blast regularly down the back, large swimming pool and trampoline, 2 young sons with 14 motorbikes that are ridden around the yard nearly every day (I hope they don't mind the smell and the noise).
I have had some tips from a few of the locals over the last week on how to hold up and slow down the developers has anyone been a victim of any of these and how effective was it ? –
1) Complaints every day to everyone and anyone during construction (Workcover violations, illegal workers, trespassing, personal threats, noise, smell, dust, swearing, property damage, etc) to slow the development down so as to increase the build time and costs thus reducing profits.
2) When the units are finished and being viewed get the metal drop saw out and cut up scraps of metal each time till the group has left. It will take years to sell the property.
3) I used to be a professional Roo Shooter, when the mates drop off roo's, pigs, rabbits and goats for the dogs to eat get a little extra and let it rot down the back. There is always a pig or goat head down in the chook pen getting picked clean.
4) Erect large signs in your yard facing the development, letting the potential buyers know what you think.
5) I do not approve of this at all but it has been done apparently, throw dog shit up into the gutters to run into the water tanks. Costs a bit to have it flushed out and adequately cleaned, if it can be.
6) Heavily spray your house for termites and get some finches, feed them LOTS of termites, they love plywood and particle board. I re-clad my house and painted Creosote on ALL timbers, walls, floor and roof, couldn't move back in for almost 2 weeks.
7) Grow some Dawn Redwoods down the boundary fence they grow very tall, very fast.
Ring crime stoppers and keep reporting suspicious activity (child porn, drug dealing, illegal brothel)9) Put a notice on the local notice boards "Free Building Materials"
10) Run for local council.
At the moment I seemed to have solved my problem, I can and will be buying the back half of the old lady's block next door and applying to council for a boundary adjustment. I will soon have a 3/8 acre total with the new 1/8th of an acre under garden and fruit trees. She has agreed to give me first option on the front half with house when she is ready to sell. The other neighbour will be staying as the house next door to him was sold to relatives of a friend of mine who purchased the property for the large back yard for their kids. He liked the idea of selling me the back half of his block, but is not willing to as yet. WOO WOO 1/2 acre here we come.
Any additional information for the action group would be much appreciated.
Thank You
J.D
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