Murrindindi Planning Scheme

21.09Other townships STRATEGIES

21.09-1Context

Apart from Kinglake, the Shire has number of other unsewered small urban developments. Land within these townships includes allotments ranging from small residential sized lots created in the early parts of the century to rural residential lots developed the 1970’s and 1980’s. A potential problem in relation to these areas can be the effluent generated by the septic tank installations polluting ground water and adversely affecting water quality in the headwaters of the catchment.

Development has tended to take place on an ad-hoc basis without the benefit of an overall plan for the mitigation of bushfire risk or provision for reticulated sewerage or water supply. Murrindindi Shire Council has the following unsewered areas:

Buxton, Taggerty, Yarck, Thornton, Molesworth and Narbethong are all small villages located adjacent to the Maroondah Highway and Goulburn Valley Highway.
Taylor Bay, located on the edge of Lake Eildon, is a sprawling settlement of low density residential allotments located around two arms of Taylor Bay, Lake Eildon.
The Long Gully Road area and the Silver Creek area, both south of Flowerdale, are small subdivisions that do not have reticulated water and sewerage. The Long Gully Road area is less developed and has a range of environmental and servicing constraints and difficulties.
The Torbreck Street area, south of Taggerty, is an old and inappropriate subdivision without reticulated water and sewerage. The area has a range of environmental and servicing constraints and difficulties.
Despite the lack of sewerage, the towns of Buxton, Molesworth and Thornton have reticulated water supply.

Murrindindi Shire has experienced considerable demand for low density residential and rural living development. The Rural Residential Study, Murrindindi Shire, March 2004 has demonstrated the need and capacity for further land to be zoned Low Density Residential at Buxton and further land to be zoned Rural Living at Buxton and Yarck.

Provision of Low Density Residential land is required at Buxton to meet demonstrated demand for lower density residential development in a town with reticulated water provision and an ability to dispose of effluent. Areas around Buxton and Yarck have the demand and capacity to provide rural living development in locations that have ready access to a range of physical and social services. Many of these areas are already fragmented into rural living type lots and have existing rural living type development located on them.

Rural living development areas around Buxton and Yarck can be provided on a sustainable basis, implementing the Goulburn Broken Regional Catchment Strategy, November 2003 key principle of ‘landscape change’ where net environmental gain is achieved through the use and development for land for ‘rural living’ purposes.

Sustainable rural living development can be achieved through the use of the Rural Living Development Guidelines, Murrindindi Shire, March 2004 which have been developed to guide the design and development of rural living areas.

TheKinglake Ranges, Flowerdale and Toolangi Plan and Design Framework,February 2014sets out a strategic framework to guide the future development of the Toolangi, Castella, Kinglake, Kinglake Central, Kinglake West - Pheasant Creek, Hazeldene and Flowerdale areas.

Bushfire poses a significant risk to life and property in Murrindindi Shire with almost half of the municipality being vegetated, this risk being exacerbated by location, dispersed settlement and lack of infrastructure. The townships of Flowerdale, Toolangi, Buxton and Taggerty were directly affected by theBlack Saturday fires in February 2009.

21.09-2Issues

Risk to life and property from bushfire and managing bushfire risk for proposed subdivision and development in identified bushfire risk areas.
Unsewered urban development resulting in the pollution of the environment and the Goulburn-Broken catchment.
Absence of reticulated sewerage, and for some towns, reticulated water supply.
Ability of existing and new lots to dispose of effluent.
Maximising the use of existing infrastructure within and nearby established townships.
The need to provide Low Density Residential zone opportunities in the Buxton township and Rural Living zone opportunities in proximity to established townships.
Requirement for external development contributions for new subdivision and development in township, low density residential and rural living areas.
Provision of rural living zoning, subdivision and development on a sustainable development basis.
Location of development within high fire hazard areas without a reticulated water supply.
The need to avoid environmental impacts, prevent further servicing problems, minimise development and restructure existing lots in inappropriate subdivisions in the Long Gully Road area, south of Flowerdale, and the Torbreck Street area, south of Taggerty.
The rebuilding of townships severely affected by the Black Saturday fires in February 2009.

21.09-3Strategies and objectives

Minimise bushfire risk to human life and property in township areas, giving priority to the protection of human life.
Integrate bushfire risk management in the rebuilding of fire affected communities and in townships identified as having high bushfire risk.
Ensure an acceptable bushfire risk level to life and property and that development does not proceed in locations where this bushfire risk is unacceptable.
Ensure that appropriate bushfire protection measures are identified and implemented for any subdivision or development proposal in areas of high bushfire risk.
Guide the future use and development of land in the Kinglake Ranges through the use of theKinglake Ranges,Flowerdale and Toolangi Plan and Design Framework, February 2014.
No expansion of areas for residential development until servicing has been adequately addressed.
Provide Low Density Residential zone opportunities in the Buxton township to provide the potential for a range of residential densities and development with reticulated water.
Guide the design, layout, subdivision, form, servicing and coordination of future development of Low Density Residential zoned land through the use of development plans.
Provide Rural Living zone opportunities in proximity to the established townships of Buxton and Yarck.
Provide net environmental benefit and sustainable outcomes through the subdivision and development of land zoned Rural Living.
Maximise infrastructure use and improve the quality of infrastructure services within and nearby the major towns of the municipality.
Increase the level of external development contributions for township, low density residential and rural living subdivision and development through the use of development contributions plans.
Provision of reticulated sewerage and water services to the unsewered settlements based on priority.
Minimising environmental impacts from growth of unserviced settlements.
Minimising environmental impacts and servicing difficulties from further development in unserviced and constrained settlements. In particular, development should be minimised and existing lots restructured in inappropriate subdivisions in the Long Gully Road area, south of Flowerdale, and the Torbreck Street area, south of Taggerty.
Restructure existing lots in the Long Gully Road area, south of Flowerdale, and the Torbreck Street area, south of Taggerty.
Bringing sub-standard septic systems into conformity with current SEPP standards.

21.09-4Implementation

The strategies objectives will be implemented by:

Applying the Low Density Residential Zone to land to the southwest of the Buxton township, also applying the Development Plan Overlay to guide the design, layout, subdivision, form, servicing and coordination of future development.
Applying the Rural Living Zone with a minimum and average subdivision sizes of 4 and 6 hectares to the north of the Buxton township and southeast and northwest of the Yarck township.
Apply the Bushfire Management Overlay to areas of high fire risk to ensure that development does not proceed unless the risk to life and property from bushfire can be reduced to an acceptable and that bushfire protection measures are considered.
Using the Rural Living Development Guidelines, Murrindindi Shire, March 2004 to provide sustainable rural living subdivision, design and development that implements the Goulburn Broken Regional Catchment Strategy, November 2003.
Preparing development contributions plans to be applied through the Development Contributions Plan Overlay for new areas to be subdivided and developed in the Township Zone, Low Density Residential Zone and Rural Living Zone.
Rezoning the Silver Creek estate area to Riverside Crescent to Township with the application of the Design Development Overlay to ensure that minimum setbacks are provided for all buildings from all waterways.
Rezoning land in Yea-Whittlesea Road, within the Silver Creek estate that is presently subdivided into rural living type lots to Rural Living, with a minimum lot size of 8 hectares.
Applying the Restructure Overlay to the Long Gully Road area, south of Flowerdale, and the Torbreck Street area, south of Taggerty.
Using the Urban Areas and Effluent Disposal and Water Quality policies to reduce environmental impacts of effluent disposal systems for new developments.
Instigating further studies in relation to the environmental, social and physical issues facing these small communities prior to any further expansion.
In conjunction with Goulburn Valley Water, developing a strategy to bring reticulated sewerage and water services to the unsewered settlements based on priority.
Developing a septic tank inspection program to bring sub-standard systems into conformity with current SEPP standards.
Investigating buying allotments for consolidation to existing lots or crown land areas.
Developing fire protection, stormwater management and road construction programs and plans for the above areas.

Municipal Strategic Statement - Clause 21.09Page 1 of 4