So let me tell you about this tree we had, and how it relates to the decking to be built.
As I said in an earlier post, all of the "trees of significance" in the housing estate are under a "heritage protection layer" which is managed by the local council. What this means is that if you do anything to any of those trees the council will come down on you like a ton-of-bricks and fine you using a formula based on the thickness of the branches you have cut on any of these trees. There is also an inspection regime, where the council can come onto your property every couple of years and check the trees to make sure you are looking after them. It's a pretty tight (and in my opinion draconian) regime that is meant to stop speculators buying up blocks of land that have trees, cutting them down, and then selling them again for more than they brought them. The fine system makes it prohibitive (and strangled in council red tape) to do so.
Now we had an issue that one of the trees on the property was dead.
It wasn't just pinin'! Its passed on! This tree was no more! The tree has ceased to be! It had expired and gone to meet 'is maker! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! Its kicked the bucket and shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-TREE!!
Not so according to the council. To them it's a "protected" dead tree.
Now in order to get a "protected" dead tree "unprotected" you have to go through a number of hoops. First up you have to get an arborist report to confirm that the tree is in fact "dead". We used an arborist recommended by the council as I thought it would smooth the waters if it came from someone they were used to dealing with. While the arborist was at it, I got him to check the large Cypress, as in order to build the back deck I was going to need to trim the lower branches of the tree, so I may as well put both trees on the request. One inspection to remove the dead tree, one to trim the other. $300 per tree.
Cha-ching! Arborist report = $600.
Then lodge a planning permit with the council.
Cha-ching! Planning permit = $500.
Attached to the planning permit needs to be the tree removal permit.
Cha-ching! Tree removal permit = $150.
So I am going to be out $1,250 without even putting a saw to the tree yet! This is just for permission to put the saw to a dead tree.
After all the permits were lodged the days turned into weeks, the weeks into months. Checking with the council at least on a weekly basis, I was given the standard line "the application is being assessed".
Finally after six months the council came back to me:
Council Officer - "What's this about a deck?"
Me - "What deck?"
Council Officer - "Your arborists report refers to building a deck"
Me - "It does?"
Council Officer - "Yes, your request to prune the large cypress tree states that you want to trim the lower branches to enable to construction of said deck"
Me - "So it does! What does that mean for getting rid of the dead tree?"
Council Officer - "Well you'll need to amend the planning permit and include details on the construction of the deck"
Me - "What kind of details?"
Council Officer - "It will require all the planning and construction details, what it's going to be made of, where it's going to sit, where the post holes are, how it's attached to the dwelling etc. all in triplicate with the amended permit fee" (Cha-ching!)
Me - "$&@K!" (after I got off the phone of course)
You see I wasn't actually there when the arborist came around to inspect the tree, my wife was. When the arborist asked why we wanted to remove the lower branches of the cypress tree she unknowingly responded "so we can build a deck", which the arborist duly noted and included on the report, which I didn't read in any great detail. Silly me.
To cut a very tortuous story shorter, four more months went by after creating plans and lodging more requests, and over $2,000 spent, I finally got the planning permit from the council to:
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As I said in an earlier post, all of the "trees of significance" in the housing estate are under a "heritage protection layer" which is managed by the local council. What this means is that if you do anything to any of those trees the council will come down on you like a ton-of-bricks and fine you using a formula based on the thickness of the branches you have cut on any of these trees. There is also an inspection regime, where the council can come onto your property every couple of years and check the trees to make sure you are looking after them. It's a pretty tight (and in my opinion draconian) regime that is meant to stop speculators buying up blocks of land that have trees, cutting them down, and then selling them again for more than they brought them. The fine system makes it prohibitive (and strangled in council red tape) to do so.
Now we had an issue that one of the trees on the property was dead.
 |
| One Dead Tree |
Not so according to the council. To them it's a "protected" dead tree.
Now in order to get a "protected" dead tree "unprotected" you have to go through a number of hoops. First up you have to get an arborist report to confirm that the tree is in fact "dead". We used an arborist recommended by the council as I thought it would smooth the waters if it came from someone they were used to dealing with. While the arborist was at it, I got him to check the large Cypress, as in order to build the back deck I was going to need to trim the lower branches of the tree, so I may as well put both trees on the request. One inspection to remove the dead tree, one to trim the other. $300 per tree.
Cha-ching! Arborist report = $600.
Then lodge a planning permit with the council.
Cha-ching! Planning permit = $500.
Attached to the planning permit needs to be the tree removal permit.
Cha-ching! Tree removal permit = $150.
So I am going to be out $1,250 without even putting a saw to the tree yet! This is just for permission to put the saw to a dead tree.
After all the permits were lodged the days turned into weeks, the weeks into months. Checking with the council at least on a weekly basis, I was given the standard line "the application is being assessed".
Finally after six months the council came back to me:
Council Officer - "What's this about a deck?"
Me - "What deck?"
Council Officer - "Your arborists report refers to building a deck"
Me - "It does?"
Council Officer - "Yes, your request to prune the large cypress tree states that you want to trim the lower branches to enable to construction of said deck"
Me - "So it does! What does that mean for getting rid of the dead tree?"
Council Officer - "Well you'll need to amend the planning permit and include details on the construction of the deck"
Me - "What kind of details?"
Council Officer - "It will require all the planning and construction details, what it's going to be made of, where it's going to sit, where the post holes are, how it's attached to the dwelling etc. all in triplicate with the amended permit fee" (Cha-ching!)
Me - "$&@K!" (after I got off the phone of course)
You see I wasn't actually there when the arborist came around to inspect the tree, my wife was. When the arborist asked why we wanted to remove the lower branches of the cypress tree she unknowingly responded "so we can build a deck", which the arborist duly noted and included on the report, which I didn't read in any great detail. Silly me.
To cut a very tortuous story shorter, four more months went by after creating plans and lodging more requests, and over $2,000 spent, I finally got the planning permit from the council to:
- Remove the dead tree (yay! "but must be replaced with a similar cypress species" boo!)
- Prune the lower branches of the large cypress ("but only by a qualified arborist")
- Permission from the planning department to build the back deck within the protected tree zone ("but a building permit would be required from the building department" and a whole bunch of other conditions about protecting the tree roots etc.)
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