BUYING FARM LAND AND WANT TO BUILD A SMALL HOME TO LIVE ?
LOTS UNDER THE MINIMUM AREA IN A FZ cannot be built upon unless you can show why ?
With the current 2024 small second homes and tree change / sea change trends of people moving out of the city due to cost of living and seeking of a better alternate lifestyle choice people see or own land that is under the minimum size to build. On the issue of going “off grid” and ‘growing your own food’, and that counting as ‘agricultural use’, together with a general reading of the scheme, I briefly elaborate a little on the specifics of the farm zone FZ ordinance:
Clause 35.07 states:
The purpose of the FZ is (not necessarily in any particular order):
To implement the State Planning Policy Framework and the Local Planning Policy Framework, including the Municipal Strategic Statement and local planning policies.
This means, that any planning application that you may make, must further the implementation of the State Planning Policy Framework (SPPF), the Local Planning Policy Framework (LPPF), the Municipal Strategic Statement (MSS) and local planning policies (both of which will be particular to your local Planning Scheme) as they relate to the use of your particular site (less than the default minimum of 40ha or as may apply) together with any development that you propose (dwelling, etc.).
To provide for the use of land for agriculture. To encourage the retention of productive agricultural land.
‘Agriculture’ is defined in the Victorian Planning Provisions (VPPs) at Clause 74 as:
Land used to:
a) propagate, cultivate or harvest plants, including cereals, flowers, fruit, seeds, trees, turf, and vegetables;
b) keep, breed, board, or train animals, including livestock, and birds; or
c) propagate, cultivate, rear, or harvest living resources of the sea or inland waters.
As long as you propose to do any/all of the above on your approx 3.5ha, then you are considered (according to the VPPs) to be undertaking ‘agricultural’ practices.
Take careful note also of the second sentence, here the emphasis is on ‘encouraging the retention of productive agricultural land’. This means, you first have to ascertain if the proposed site is indeed considered to be ‘productive agricultural land’. It is at this point of your research where you will need to take note of Clause 72, because it is here where the VPPs define three very important topics:
‘Agricultural production’ is:
Any form of primary production of renewable commodities. It does not include extractive industry, mining, or timber production from native forest.
‘High quality productive agricultural land’ is (my emphasis in bold):
Land which is used for animal husbandry or crop raising, and is capable of continuing to sustain agricultural production, and:
a) is of prime, or very good, agricultural quality, having regard to soil type, growing season, and availability of infrastructure, and is of sufficient extent to support agricultural activities on an economically viable scale; or
b) has been identified through a regional, sub-regional, or local study as being of particularly good quality and strategic significance for agriculture in the regional or local context.
‘Land capability assessment’ is:
The assessment of the physical ability of the land to sustain specific uses having regard to its management, and without long term on-site detriment to the environment.
To ensure that non-agricultural uses, particularly dwellings, do not adversely affect the use of land for agriculture.
The above purpose of the FZ will be very important to any eventual application that you may make, too. This is because you will need to show (justify) that your proposed dwelling poses no ‘adverse affect to the use of land for agriculture’. Many things need to be considered here, and it will be the local policy (such as the one I mentioned in my original post) where you will go to for direct guidance in making your application. Or, if no local policy exists (not all – especially smaller municipalities – have one), then you will need to rely solely on Clause 35.07-2 of the FZ ordinance, the ‘use of land for a dwelling’ in making your application.
To encourage use and development of land based on comprehensive and sustainable land management practices and infrastructure provision.
In responding to this purpose (objective) of the FZ ordinance, you will need to justify in your application that the use and development you propose is based on ‘comprehensive and sustainable land management practices and infrastructure provision’. This often means (some municipalities require one as part of their local policy, as previously mentioned in my original post) that you will have to prepare an Environmental Management Plan (EMP), or similar. This is where your knowledge and skills of/in permaculture will come to the fore.
To protect and enhance natural resources and the biodiversity of the area
FIRST STEP is to call Edmund 0468377999 to see what can be done for you site.
