TWO Issues!
In the recent newsletter, the date of the Scotland Island Kindergarten was incorrectly shown as ?
It is, as you may be already aware, the 15th of March 2008
COUNCIL ADOPTS NEW HOUSING OPTION
Pittwater Council has voted in favour of a recommendation to allow 'secondary dwellings' as a housing option for the local area.
Secondary dwellings are small self-contained homes that are located on the site of a larger existing property.
The move comes as a result of the increasing lack of affordable housing choice for residents in Pittwater and extensive negotiations between the Council and staff from the NSW Department of Planning.
In a report presented to the Council at its meeting on Monday 3 March, senior planning staff outlined the case for amending the Pittwater Local Environmental Plan (LEP) to allow secondary dwellings to be built on residential land.
The main changes are:
That a secondary dwelling would be self-contained but not separately titled;
That a secondary dwelling could be located within, attached to or separate from the main dwelling;
That a secondary dwelling would have a maximum total floor space of 60 square metres or up to 20% of the total floor area, whichever was greater.
Pittwater Mayor David James said that the option was open to community input as to the size of secondary dwellings. "We are asking for residents' opinions as to whether it should be 15% or 20% of the total floor area of both the self contained dwelling and the principal dwelling," he said.
Mayor James said that state government agencies such as the NSW Department of Housing would be contacted about the proposed changes and that during the public exhibition there would be consultation with community groups.
"All being well, I would expect that by the end of this year applications for secondary dwellings will be able to be submitted."
The proposed amendments to allow secondary dwellings will be on public exhibition for comments from 29 March to Monday 5 May 2008 at www.pittwater.nsw.gov.au and at the Council's customer service centres at 1 Park Street Mona Vale and 59A Old Barrenjoey Road Avalon.
