>
Infuriating reason: A couple’s dream home is going off the rails as they are left with an empty block of land that they can’t build on because it’s considered “high risk”
- Couple Matt and Grace Slade can’t build their dream home
- The city council rejected its application because it is located in a flood zone
- It has left the Slades distraught and added financial strain.
A couple has been left on the brink of bankruptcy after plans to build their dream home were scrapped by the local council who say the land is in a “flood zone.”
Matt and Grace Slade bought a 60-year-old house in Epping, Sydney’s north-west, with plans to tear it down and rebuild it, completely unaware of the risk of natural disasters.
They removed the existing property because it was riddled with asbestos and filed a development application to get their new home approved in the process.
But the Parramatta Local Council rejected the request, explaining that their block of land was in a high-risk area as it has a large stormwater pipe within an easement that runs diagonally across the property.
Although they are affected by the sentence, their neighbors do not have such a restriction.
Devastated Sydney couple’s development application rejected by local council as it is in a flood zone
The couple bought a 60-year-old house in Epping, north-west Sydney, which they tore down with plans to rebuild it.
“Just from the way we’ve been treated with this, there’s no understanding of the situation we’re in,” Slade said. a current affair.
He claimed that his builder had recently received an email from a DA officer telling him that the build would be rejected.
“The district attorney officer said bluntly that no new housing is allowed on this block of land and we are advising his client to leave or we will turn him away in five business days,” Mr. Slade said through tears.
The couple is currently paying off a mortgage and also paying rent in which they live around the corner from their block of land.
It has put incredible financial pressure on the couple as their development plans remain in limbo.
“If this land, if you can’t build anything on it, it’s essentially just glorified municipal park land,” Slade said.
He explained that the family was heading towards “breaking point” and was asking the council to reconsider.
“Please, as a taxpayer, as a taxpayer, as a citizen of this country, we have the right to build something on this land,” he added.
The Slades have questioned why their plans were rejected while houses on their street were given approval to rebuild, which they allege the council has not recognised.
Matt Slade (pictured) tearfully recounted to A Current Affair how his builder had recently received an email from a district attorney officer who told him bluntly that the development would be turned down.
The Slades have found themselves in an incredibly difficult financial situation, paying their mortgage and rent on a property they live in, as their development plans remain in limbo.
An Epping neighborhood council map shows the Slade land block sitting directly on a stormwater pipe, with 60 per cent in a floodplain area with a five per cent annual chance of exceedance.
No structure is permitted within a five percent annual probability of exceedance, in accordance with council regulations.
Parramatta City Council said in a statement that no decision had yet been made on the Slade development application.
The council explained that the application was still being evaluated and that they were in communication with the builder on the matter.