H i l l s V o i c e - y o u r c o m m u n i t y n e w s p a p e r , y o u r v o i c e i n t h e H i l l s
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When a person applies to Council to change the use of land,
a major consideration is whether the land is suitable for its
intended use. In the case of changes that involve sensitive
uses such as residential, schools or child care centres, a site
history will be required detailing former uses and activities to
consider if there is a likelihood of contamination on the land.
Site contamination exists if chemical substances are present
on or below the surface of the site, in concentrations above
background levels and that are, or have potential to be,
harmful to the health of humans.
In a peri-urban environment like the Adelaide Hills,
applications are regularly made to build houses on land that
has been used previously for market gardens, orchards,
vineyards, dairies, farming, and fuel storage. In such cases,
a site history checklist and chemical usage information will
be required. Potentially contaminating activities include
agricultural or horticultural uses that involve spraying with
chemicals, irrigation using waste water, animal dips, spray
races and waste burial areas. The filling of land with soil or
building rubble and the storage of fuel or large quantities of
chemicals are also potentially contaminating activities.
A risk management and assessment approach has been
adopted by Council in relation to determining if site
contamination exists. An applicant will be requested to
engage a qualified site contamination consultant to assess
and report on the existence or extent of site contamination
(including soil sampling) in and around the intended building
envelope. If the report concludes that the risk of site
contamination is higher than low, the applicant will be
required to engage a site contamination auditor to direct
further investigations, to determine remediation measures
that will be required for the land, and to oversee the
remediation. It is a site contamination auditor who ultimately
makes the determination that the land is suitable for the
proposed use. In some cases, such as where fuel storage
has occurred, it may be necessary to go straight to a site
contamination audit, and in other cases a site audit will not
be required.
For more information contact Council Planning and
Development Services on 8408 0558 or go to:
_contamination/publications
Are you considering applying for a change of land use to residential?
First, you will need to consider whether there is site contamination.
We recently consulted on the
Draft Bushfire Protection Protocol
Adelaide Hills Council has a mix of building fire safety and
bushfire safety requirements to consider in relation to the
safety of buildings in the Council area. Council has a Building
Fire Safety Committee (BFSC) to review building fire safety
of certain types of buildings as required by state development
legislation.
A draft protocol has been formulated to provide guidance
to the BFSC and property owners when dealing with all the
building fire safety and bushfire safety requirements. It is
intended to reinforce, complement and enhance the
requirements of the Building Code while providing guidance
in the application and interpretation of the Building Code for
classes of buildings that do not currently have any bushfire
construction parameters.
Consultation has taken place with the Country Fire Service,
Metropolitan Fire Service, Department of Planning Transport
and Infrastructure, Department of Health, as well as
Alexandrina and Barossa Councils who are also in bushfire
risk areas.
The requirements are necessary to safeguard people from
injury due to a fire in a building, while evacuating a building
during a fire, to facilitate the activities of emergency services
personnel, to provide safe and dignified exit for occupants
from a building in the event of an emergency, and to provide
fire fighting equipment so that the fire brigade has the
necessary equipment to undertake fire fighting operations.
The Building Code requirements for buildings in bushfire
risk areas details extensive specifications and standards for
residential buildings, boarding and guest houses, hostels,
hotels and motels, schools and residential outbuildings.
Whilst required to consider bushfire construction in
conjunction with building fire safety requirements for
commercial buildings, the Building Code does not provide
any acceptable parameters for bushfire construction in
identified bushfire risk areas for commercial buildings. This
lack of acceptable construction practice complicates the
ability of the Committee to provide direction to a building
owner as to what parameters would be considered
acceptable as a minimum standard for bushfire protection for
commercial buildings, or indeed in extreme circumstances,
whether the building should be occupied at all during the
bushfire season.
The draft protocol assists in the evaluation by the Building
Fire Safety Committee of:
• What is an “adequate” level of fire safety for particular
types of buildings in a bushfire risk area and
• Owner/occupier proposed measures for bushfire safety of
buildings and occupants, including bushfire survival plans.
Consultation on the draft proposal is now closed but a copy
can be downloaded from the Council website:
Engaging
