Granny flats in Fraser Coast — do you need approval?

Zone by zone

Dwelling house (a secondary dwelling is part of a dwelling house — Planning Regulation 2017, Schedule 24). Residential zones first.

Overlays that change the answer

• Airport and aviation facilities overlay (obstacle limitation surface, runway distances, public safety area, building restricted area Zone A). A material change of use that would be accepted or accepted subject to requirements becomes code assessable where it triggers the overlay (e.g. buildings intruding into the obstacle limitation surface, or a new residential or business use in the public safety area). (Table 5.10.1 Airport and aviation facilities overlay)
• Airport and aviation facilities overlay — 20 ANEF contour or greater. No change to the category, but building work for a dwelling house or dual occupancy and subdivision must also meet the Airport and aviation facilities overlay code. (Table 5.10.1 Airport and aviation facilities overlay — ANEF contours)
• Bushfire hazard overlay (medium, high or very high hazard and buffers). No change to the category, but building work for a dwelling house or dual occupancy, new residential uses and subdivision must also meet the Bushfire hazard overlay code. (Table 5.10.1 Bushfire hazard overlay)
• Coastal protection overlay (storm tide hazard area, erosion prone area, coastal building line). No change to the category, but building work for a dwelling house or dual occupancy in a high or medium storm tide area, and building work seaward of a coastal building line, must also meet the Coastal protection overlay code. (Table 5.10.1 Coastal protection overlay)
• Heritage and neighbourhood character overlay — local heritage place. Building work on a local heritage place becomes code assessable, or impact assessable if it involves demolition, relocation or removal; an accepted change of use becomes code assessable (impact if it involves demolishing the heritage place). (Table 5.10.1 Heritage and neighbourhood character overlay — heritage place)
• Heritage and neighbourhood character overlay — adjoining a State or local heritage place. Building work (other than minor building work) on a lot adjoining a heritage place becomes code assessable; an accepted change of use becomes code assessable. (Table 5.10.1 Heritage and neighbourhood character overlay — heritage place)
• Heritage and neighbourhood character overlay — neighbourhood character area. Building work becomes code assessable if it involves an extension forward of the front building line, an extension over 10 m² visible from the street, enclosing a front verandah, changing front or side cladding, going above two storeys or 8.5 m, or building a garage, carport or outbuilding; a change of use involving demolition of a visible pre-1946 building becomes impact assessable. (Table 5.10.1 Heritage and neighbourhood character overlay — neighbourhood character area)
• Fraser and Great Sandy Strait Islands overlay — Rural zone. A dwelling house (including a granny flat), dual occupancy and a non-complying home based business become impact assessable, as does any reconfiguring a lot. (Table 5.10.1 Fraser and Great Sandy Strait Islands overlay)

Worth knowing in Fraser Coast

Fraser Coast Planning Scheme 2014 (Version 11), Part 5, converted from the council PDF (not an official copy). A material change of use is impact assessable unless the table says otherwise or the use isn't listed (section 5.3.2(1)); reconfiguring a lot is code assessable in every zone except that creating extra lots in the Emerging community and Limited development (constrained land) zones is impact assessable (Table 5.7.1); building work and operational work are accepted unless the tables say otherwise (section 5.3.2(3)). Table 5.8.1 makes building work for a dwelling house, a dual occupancy or a domestic outbuilding on a vacant lot accepted subject to requirements (Dwelling house code / Dual occupancy code) in the Low, Medium and High density residential, Rural, Rural residential and Emerging community zones and in Mixed use Precinct MU1 sub-precinct 2; the table's heading is 'building work associated with a material change of use', so applying it to sheds and extensions on an existing house is an inference. Pools, fences and demolition aren't listed, so they are accepted unless an overlay applies. A building approval under the Building Act is still needed in all cases. Unusually, a dual occupancy is accepted development (no development application) in the Low density residential zone outside Precinct LDR1 and in the Medium density residential zone. A dwelling house (which includes a granny flat) is accepted in the Low, Medium and High density residential, Emerging community, Rural and Rural residential zones, code assessable in the Limited development (constrained land) zone and Mixed use Precinct MU6, and not listed (impact) in centre, industry, recreation and community facilities zones. The Mixed use zone has no zone-wide table: it is split into Precincts MU1 (Urangan Harbour, with sub-precincts 1–11), MU2 (Hervey Bay Airport Business and Industry Park), MU3 (Carriers Arms Hotel), MU4 (Dominion Flour Mill), MU5 (Fraser Island Resorts) and MU6 (Maryborough Residential Airpark), so several answers there are 'varies'. Other precincts: LDR1, HDR1 (Hervey Bay tourism nodes), LII1 (City Reach), MII1 (Hervey Bay entrance, where industry becomes code assessable). Local plans (Tables 5.6.1 Maryborough and 5.6.2 Pialba principal activity centres) override the Principal centre zone and Community facilities zone in their precincts — e.g. residential uses become impact assessable in the Maryborough retail focus and riverfront and Pialba retail core precincts, and offices become impact assessable in the Maryborough inner-city residential and riverfront precincts. Accepted development subject to requirements that doesn't meet the listed acceptable outcomes becomes code assessable (section 5.3.3(2)). Schedule 6 of the Planning Regulation 2017 can make a dwelling house in a residential zone or a community residence accepted regardless of these tables (Table 5.4.1), and subdividing one lot into two in a residential or industry zone is code assessable under Schedule 10 (Table 5.4.2). Overlays override zone and local plan categories (section 5.3.2(8)). Several overlays (acid sulfate soils, agricultural land, extractive resources, infrastructure buffers, water resource catchments) don't change the category but add their overlay code as a benchmark for assessable development. Part 5 states no numeric minimum lot sizes; those are in the zone codes and the Reconfiguring a lot code.

What else you'll need

• Building approval
• Plumbing approval

More about Fraser Coast

• What can you build in Fraser Coast? Council overview and development applications
• Every Queensland zone explained, with what each council allows and the planning overlays that change the answer
• What Fraser Coast Regional Council charges for a development application, compared with other councils
• A Landbrief site report for your Fraser Coast address — every planning layer that applies to the lot
• Development applications in Urangan
• Development applications in Torquay
• Development applications in Dundowran Beach
• Development applications in River Heads
• Development applications in Pialba
• Development applications in Point Vernon
• Development applications in Wondunna
• Development applications in Craignish

Other projects in Fraser Coast

Dual occupancySubdivideShed or carportExtensionPoolFence or wallHome businessTownhousesShop, café or officeClear treesDemolish

The statewide position on this project: Granny flat in Queensland.