When do you need a planning permit?

A planning permit may be required:

• If there are overlays over the property
• Is in the Farming Zone on a lot smaller than 40 hectares
• Is a second dwelling on any land
• Is within 1 km of the boundary of a proposed or operating wind energy facility, or 500 metre from the title boundary of land on which a work authority has been applied for or granted under the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990.

You may need a planning permit if you are renovating or extending your house. This might include:

• adding an extra room
• building a pergola or deck
• building an outbuilding such as a carport, garage or shed
• building a front fence
• installing a new driveway
• installing services like solar panels, a water tank or an air conditioner
• installing a shipping container as a residential dwelling

You won't always need a planning permit for your renovation. This will depend on the zones and overlays on your property.  

If is an overlay on the property, you may also be required to get a planning permit for certain types of developments. This includes if you want to build a front fence, pergola, veranda, deck, disabled access ramp, garage or carport. It may also include if you want to remove, destroy or lop vegetation or subdivide land. 

Types of overlays that are common include:

• Land Subject to Inundation Overlay (LSIO)
• Bushfire Management Overlay (BMO)
• Environmental Significance Overlay (ESO)
• Heritage Overlay (HO)

If you are dividing land or a building into two separate lots, this is called subdivision which will require a planning permit.

If you are subdividing your backyard or a vacant lot of land, we recommend that you submit a planning permit application for a multi-use development before you submit one for subdivision. This will make your subdivision application simpler.

You might need to apply for a planning permit if you are:

• starting a business
• changing the layout or purpose of your business
• changing the location of your business
• adding a liquor license to your business
• displaying new signage.

This includes starting a home-based business.

You will need to apply for a planning permit for a home-based business if:

• there are more than two people who do not live in the home working at the business at the same time
• the total floor area used for the business is more than 200 square metres, or more than one-third of the whole house
• more than one commercial vehicle is present on site.

Other requirements for permits for businesses at home

There may also be other requirements that you will need to meet if you want to run a business from home. These include requirements for running a home-based food business.  

You will need a planning permit to build more than one dwelling on a lot. A dwelling includes a house, unit or townhouse.

The number of dwellings you can build depends on the zoning of your land and the design of your development. Your proposal will need to meet the requirements of the Yarriambiack Planning Scheme plus any other relevant legislation.

Some of the factors that can affect how many dwellings you can build will include:

• your property's zoning
• site orientation to the sun in relation to shadowing on neighbouring properties
• car parking and space for cars to turn
• windows on abutting land that are close to the boundary
• the slope of the land.

Once you have a set of plans, we recommend you request a pre-application meeting.

When assessing your plans, we will consider:

• the size of your development
• how it fits into the neighbourhood (or, if in a zone for increased density development, whether it makes a positive contribution to the area)
• the impact it has on the rest of the neighbourhood
• what car parking is needed
• the features of the site.