An overlay is a planning control that allows us to regulate the types of development that occur in the Alpine Shire.
You may need to pay special attention to the following overlays in the Alpine Planning Scheme when developing your planning application.
Bushfire Management Overlay
Your planning application must minimise the risk of loss of life and property by bushfire.
The Bushfire Management Overlay (BMO) ensures that careful consideration is given to development applications in areas considered a high bushfire risk.
The BMO triggers the need for a planning permit for certain developments and requires new developments to implement appropriate bushfire protection measures.
The purpose of the BMO is to:
- ensure that the development of land prioritises the protection of human life and strengthens community resilience to bushfire;
- ensure that the location, design, and construction of development appropriately responds to the bushfire hazard;
- ensure development is only permitted where the risk to life, property, and community infrastructure from bushfire can be reduced to an acceptable level; and
- specify location, design, and construction measures for a single dwelling that reduces the bushfire risk to life and property to an acceptable level.
The BMO requires a planning permit for certain developments and subdivision, bushfire hazards to be assessed, and implementation of bushfire protection measures.
Particular documents are required with each type of planning application. You may need to engage in a qualified professional to undertake some of this work.
Understand the requirements of building in a BMO by visiting the Department of Transport and Planning.
Seek further support regarding BMOs, including accredited Bushfire Planning and Design Practitioners (BPAD), by visiting the Country Fire Authority (CFA).
Heritage Overlay
Your application could impact significant buildings, areas, places, or trees. Your project then requires a planning permit to make sure that heritage is protected.
If there is a Heritage Overlay (HO) on the property, you must get a planning permit for all external changes. This includes building a front fence or installing solar panels and other services. It may also include if you want to paint your property or remove or prune trees.
You will need a planning permit for whole or partial demolition of any building or structure.
Protection of heritage places
Local heritage places are protected in the Alpine Planning Scheme through HOs, which require a planning permit to alter a heritage place.
A HO conserves and enhances heritage. An overlay shows how your land can be used and developed. All HOs are recorded in the Alpine Planning Scheme.
Importantly, the HO does not stop development, but it helps ensure that any new works don't affect the heritage significance of the place. Heritage sites are protected in one of two ways:
- HOs applied to an individual site, building, or object
Individual HOs can have controls that require you to get a planning permit to paint a building, make changes inside a building, and remove, destroy, or prune a tree on the site. A place with its own HO is an important heritage site.
- HO applied to a broader area
Most heritage sites do not have their own individual HO. Instead, they are identified and protected within a HO control that applies over a wider area, which may include all the houses in a street or group of streets. This is called a Heritage Precinct Overlay (HPO).
A HPO can include places with no heritage value. These places have a HO so that new development does not have a negative impact on the heritage significance of the whole area.
You can find a list of all individually listed heritage sites and all properties in a HPO via the Alpine Planning Scheme.
You can also check if your property is in a HO by visiting the Victorian Heritage Database.
Guidelines for heritage areas
We have the following guidelines to assist in altering or changing houses in heritage areas.
Heritage Victoria also has information about heritage places and what heritage listing means for landowners.
Land Subject to Inundation Overlay
The Land Subject to Inundation Overlay (LSIO) minimises the potential flood risk to life, health, and safety associated with development.
The LSIO reflects where break out flows or flooding occurs on a particular site.
When building in flood-prone areas, your planning application requires the approval of the catchment management authority to protect against loss of life, infrastructure, and water quality.
For more information about potential flooding impacts on your site, contact North East Water Catchment Management Authority.
Significant Landscape Overlay
The Significant Landscape Overlay (SLO) identifies, conserves, and enhances the character of significant landscapes.