By Tyler Wright
After Natalie and Lee Guest’s Kalorama home and property were destroyed in the devastating 2021 June storm event, the couple began plans to rebuild on the land they call home alongside their 14 year old daughter.
But almost 13 months later at the end of June 2022, these plans were brought to a halt when the Yarra Ranges Council told the Guest family it would be highly unlikely to approve a future planning application.
This decision was made after the land was deemed a ‘moderate’ landslip risk by a report from mandatory geotechnical assessment – a process required on a piece of land covered by an Erosion Management Overlay (EMO).
The Guest’s property falls under this overlay and is an area of pre-existing landslips, requiring a geotechnical assessment be completed to establish the level of risk.
The geotechnical report stated there was a 1 in 100,000 year probability of the house being destroyed by a landslide – a source of frustration for Natalie after already spending close to $50,000 on landscaping and organising for the rebuild to begin in September before being delivered the news.
Natalie said Bushfire Recovery Victoria had replaced the top section of the property’s driveway and installed a retaining wall – a futile effort if a rebuild is unable to go ahead.
“We want to do a long single leveled home and stretch it out across the block, because this is a flame zone here – our whole house was within the 50 metre boundary to be a flame zone” Natalie said.
“So we can’t we can’t do that now, we could have but it’s another 60 per cent on top of the building price to do a flame zone house.
“We thought while we’ve got the opportunity – well, we thought that we had the opportunity, to build and be further up, old age, [dodgy] knees, let’s eliminate all the stairs.”
Now, the family of three and their dog are still living in a rental in Bayswater with costs footed by their insurance company, with compensated accommodation ending in July 2023.
Until then, the family are fighting for solutions to make their beloved home habitable once again.
“All our ducks were all lined up to be working, [with] everything happening at the right time; geotech surveys, septic guys, everything was all lined up and all happening as we thought that it should be re our re-planning journey, and we were well ahead,” Natalie said.
“[Then] the council said if you want to build you’ll have to fight us and go to VCAT because of the erosion management overlay.”
In a statement to the Star Mail, the Yarra Ranges Council said it had not received a planning permit from the Guests, therefore no formal decision has been made, but it would be highly unlikely an application with a moderate geotechnical risk assessment would be approved as it does not meet the requirements of the Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme.
“We have been discussing the issue of complex planning matters with the Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning (DELWP) and Bushfire Recovery Victoria (BRV) since the storm and have raised this specific issue,” Yarra Ranges Mayor Councillor Jim Child said.
“Back in November 2021 we provided the State Government with our business cases for our storm recovery. This included requested funds to undertake geotech assessments for all properties lost in the storm covered with an EMO however this has not yet been agreed to,” Cr Child said.
“We have raised this again and hope to work collaboratively with DEWLP and BRV to help our residents faced with this difficult situation. Together we are exploring a number of options that may help residents facing this situation some of which are established responses”
Cr Child said understanding what planning controls apply to your home is important and residents can find out what overlays apply by contacting Yarra Ranges Council planning officers or searching the www.planning.vic.gov.au and entering your suburb.
Even if you do have an Erosion Management Overlay applied to your land, it does not mean that it will necessarily be a risk. Only a geotechnical report will provide you with that information,” Cr Child said.
“We will continue to work closely with our residents as they navigate through the planning scheme and we also have counselling support available. If you need assistance after the June storm you can contact our recovery team with by calling Council on 1300 368 333 or emailing communityrecovery@yarraranges.vic.gov.au.”
According to the Yarra Ranges Council, to date there have been plenty of planning applications approved following the storm but none for complete rebuilds yet.
Cathrine Burnett-Wake MP for the Eastern Victorian Region said the Minister for Planning has the power to expedite an amendment to the Planning Scheme to update the Erosion Management Overlay to resolve this issue and what is deemed a moderate risk – something the MP will be calling for when parliament returns in August.
“It must be amended to clearly and sensibly state what constitutes a ‘moderate risk’ so that a rare 1 in 100,000 year probability is not deemed moderate and does not prevent future rebuilds,” Cathrine said.
In a statement to the Star Mail, a Victorian Government spokesperson said the Victorian Planning Provisions and local planning schemes, including schedules to overlays, have a range of measures in place to ensure the community is safe from risks to life and property, including landslip and bushfires.
“We’re continuing to work with and support storm impacted communities and councils to help them rebuild and recover as fast as possible”, the Victorian Government spokesperson said.
“Should a planning permit application be submitted to build on this site, it would be a matter for the Yarra Ranges Council to consider as the responsible authority.”
