HAWKESBURY Council staff will investigate options to allow second homes to be built on rural blocks in Oakville and Maraylya.
At the September 21 Council meeting, councillors voted to endorse a Notice of Motion, moved by independent councillor Peter Reynolds, calling for the investigation.
Secondary homes on large rural blocks of land has been a sore point between many Hawkesbury residents and Council and the state government for a number of years.
A number of attempts have been made in the past to allow people to build second homes on such blocks, but they have been unsuccessful so far.
The primary reason given by the state government is that the extra population brought into the area by allowing second homes would cause problems during times of flood evacuation.
However, Cr Reynolds said he believed that argument did not stack up in all areas of the Hawkesbury, and Oakville and Maraylya were two such areas where flood evacuation, for the most part, would not be an issue.
“Oakville and Maraylya are located on the eastern boundary of our Council area,” he said.
“They are not affected by the evacuation issues that stop detached dual occupancy and secondary dwellings in the rest of the LGA.”
Cr Reynolds said many residents did not understand why people in Richmond or Windsor could put up a granny flat on their land, but people on large rural blocks could not put up a second home hundreds of metres from their own house.
“The idea that you can't build a granny flat on five acres at Oakville, but you can build a granny flat on a suburban block in Windsor or Richmond almost defies logic,” he said.
Part of the NoM that passed Council, will also see Council investigate whether secondary dwellings could be used as social housing, by creating incentives for landowners.
Independent councillor Paul Rasmussen said he opposed the idea.
“We don't want to be putting detached dual occupancy houses throughout the Hawkesbury,” he said.
“There is minimal contribution [to rates], we will add extra traffic and other pressures on very scant facilities.”