DESIGN REVIEW PANEL

The Design Review Panel has been created to evaluate all proposed home and landscape designs within Watagan Park.

Purchasers or their selected builders must submit the proposed house design along with their landscape plans for review and approval by the Design Review Panel prior to lodgement with Lake Macquarie City Council or accredited private certifier for approval.

In reviewing each home design, the Design Review Panel will take into consideration applications submitted and/or approved on neighbouring lots to ensure that there is no repetition in design and or colour schemes. If such repetition occurs, the Design Review Panel will work through alternative solutions with you and your builder. Colour palettes of adjacent homes should complement each other.

THE APPROVAL PROCESS

Any person intending to build on or landscape an allotment within Watagan Park must:

1. INFORM YOUR ARCHITECT AND/OR BUILDER ABOUT THE GUIDELINES
Provide your architect and/or builder with
a copy of the Guidelines or direct them to the Watagan Park website to download a copy. Make sure they understand that it is a condition of your Sale of Land Contract that you must comply with the Guidelines.

2. SEEK APPROVAL FROM THE DESIGN REVIEW PANEL
Prior to the lodgment of your plans with Lake Macquarie City Council or an accredited private certifier or commencement of any works, you or your architect/builder (on
your behalf) must seek approval for your house and landscaping from the Watagan Park Design Review Panel by lodging your building plans, colour scheme and landscape plan for approval.

3. DESIGN REVIEW PANEL APPROVAL
The Design Review Panel (‘DRP’) may approve or conditionally approve your building plans, landscape plan and colour scheme or ask you to resubmit if there is any non-compliance to the Guidelines. The Design Review Panel will stamp your plans and return them to you with a letter of approval. If you wish to lodge your plans for approval with Lake Macquarie Council prior to settlement the DRP will also arrange for landowners consent to be issued to allow you to lodge your plans. However, approval of plans will be at Council’s discretion and any changes to the design requested by Council must then be re- submitted to the DRP for review and approval.

4. ALTOGETHER GROUP APPROVAL
Prior to lodgement with Lake Macquarie City Council or private certifier, you must submit your building design to Altogether Group for approval. Details of how to submit are contained with the Altogether Group Builder’s Guide.

BUILDING DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

AERIALS AND SATELLITE DISHES
Aerials and satellite dishes must be coloured dark grey and concealed from public view as much as practicable.

AIR CONDITIONERS
Air conditioners are to be located below the eaves line and screened from public view and from adjoining lots. Roof-mounted or unscreened wall and window mounted air conditioning units visible from the street or public areas are not permitted.

BUILDING HEIGHT
Building heights and massing are to be appropriate to the scale and quality of the streetscape. They must minimise the impact on neighbours, the streetscape, and to minimise overshadowing to adjoining lots.
Lake Macquarie City Council’s Development Control Plan 2014 provides detailed requirements for building heights.

RETAINING WALLS
Lake Macquarie City Council’s Development Control Plan 2014 provides requirements for cut and fill and retaining works.
Retaining walls are to be segmented dry stacked or laid block work structures when visible from the street and in a sandstone colour finish.
Timber retaining walls are prohibited if visible from the street or public areas.

CORNER EXPRESSIONS
Dwellings on corner lots shall reinforce the location by addressing both street frontages with the appropriate use of articulation, materials, feature windows, roof elements, screens, verandahs, balconies or pergolas.

EXTERNAL WALLS
The external walls are to be constructed either wholly or predominantly of masonry (including autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) such asHebel). All masonry surfaces including AAC but excluding face brickwork, must be rendered or bagged and painted. Face bricks are to be a smooth consistent texture or tightly grained texture uniform in colour and with straight edges. Tumbled or heavily textured bricks are considered to be inappropriate.

Lightweight materials such as weatherboards and fibre cement sheeting are permissible provided they do not account for more than 30% of the non-glazed wall area. Asbestos containing materials are not permitted.

EXTERNAL SECURITY MEASURES
Security devices are permitted where they are neither visually prominent nor cause unreasonable noise disturbance to neighbours.

FACADE
The design of the dwelling should provide a building façade and entry clearly visible from and addressing to the street. Design features, verandahs and pergolas that are integrated with the overall building design are encouraged. Features such as ‘dummy parapet’ walls that interrupt and protrude above the roof line, other than as a part of the entry or garage detail are not acceptable.
Materials used on the façade are required to return a minimum 1.5m to the sides of the dwelling.

DUAL OCCUPANCY
Dual occupancy development (both attached and detached), must comply with Section 88B:
Watagan Park owns or controls any lot or part of a lot within the Estate and for a period of three years thereafter:
i. Subdivision of the lot burdened, that creates any additional allotment, is prohibited.
ii. Dual occupancy Dwellings (attached and detached) are prohibited where two separate garages and/or two separate front entry doors are accessible from the same public street.
iii. Dual occupancy Dwellings (attached and detached) on the lot burdened may be permitted where that burdened lot has two or more street frontages, provided that:
a. Permission is granted by Watagan Park in writing, as determined by it in its absolute discretion, and
b. The Dwellings address both street frontages, and
c. Garage and front door access to each Dwelling is via different streets.

d. Design of both dwellings demonstrate high architectural merit, as determined by the Watagan Park design review panel in its absolute discretion.
e. The plans, elevations and a schedule of external materials, colours and finishes including roofing materials have been submitted to and approved in writing in accordance with the Watagan Park Design Guidelines. Approval must be obtained before application is made to Council or any other relevant authority.
iv. Secondary Dwellings, granny flats and studios will be prohibited on a lot burdened where that burdened lot has two or more street frontages.
v. Secondary Dwellings, granny flats and studios on the lot burdened may be permitted, provided that:
a. Permission is granted by Watagan Park in writing, as determined by it in its absolute discretion, and
b. No subdivision occurs either before or after the erection of the secondary dwelling, granny flat or studio, and
c. The secondary dwelling, granny flat or studio is positioned behind the main dwelling and is not visible from any public street, and
d. Secondary garages and secondary front entry doors are not visible from any public street, and
e. The external materials, colours and finishes of the secondary dwelling, granny flat or studio and landscaping is consistent with the materials, colours, finishes and landscaping of the main dwelling, and
f. The plans, elevations and a schedule of external materials, colours and finishes including roofing materials have been submitted to and approved in writing in accordance with the Watagan Park Design Guidelines.

GARAGES AND OUTBUILDINGS
To ensure garages do not dominate the streetscape, the garage opening/s width shall be limited to a maximum of six metres or 50% of the overall width of the allotment measured at the building line, whichever is the lesser. They are to be setback a minimum of 1m behind the predominant front building line. Garages are to be designed to be integrated to the main building and be attached. Separate garages, provided they are located behind the dwelling and not visually prominent from any street frontage, will be permitted if Council deems they comply with Council’s relevant Development Controls and guidelines.

Outdoor barbecues must not be located where disturbance to adjoining lot owners will occur.

POOLS
Swimming pool pumps and filters must be screened from public open spaces and adjoining lots, and shall not create noise disturbance to adjoining residents. Associated fencing, landscape areas and shade structures should be designed and detailed in a manner complementary to the main dwelling. The maximum exposed edge of any concrete slab associated with pool construction when viewed from any elevation may not exceed 150mm.

ROOFS
Roofs are to be predominantly simple gable or hip and pitched between 22.5 and 30 degrees. Mono pitched skillions with minimum 5 degree pitch are permissible if considered to have architectural merit. Eaves should be a minimum of 450mm and be around the majority of the dwelling. Larger buildings should provide a varied roof scape to break up the visual mass. Roof cladding is to be Colorbond, or where a concrete/ terracotta tile is used a slimline profile is preferred.

BUILDING SETBACKS
Refer to Lake Macquarie City Council’s Development Control Plan 2014 for current setback requirements.

LANDSCAPE DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

High quality landscaping of individual allotments is an important part of creating an attractive residential community that will make Watagan Park a desirable place in which to live.

The following landscape guidelines take their inspiration from the local bushland that surrounds the estate and complements Lake Macquarie City Council’s preference for the use of native plants.

CROSSOVERS AND DRIVEWAYS
Crossovers (i.e. that part of the driveway that extends from the boundary line to the kerb) are to be installed by the owner in plain concrete.

Only one vehicle crossover per lot is permitted. The maximum width of a driveway at the property boundary is 4.5m. Driveways are also to provide opportunities for additional off-street car parking.

Driveways are to be dark grey to black in colour either as in-situ concrete or concrete pavers. Finishes are to be non-slip and may include: honed, grit- blasted and exposed aggregate.

Stamped concrete, stencilled concrete and applied concrete textures are not considered appropriate.

Off-street parking for caravans, campervans, boats, work trucks etc. must be provided for behind the front building line and to the extent reasonably possible, screened or away from view from any public area.

FENCING
The design intent is that fences will not dominate streetscapes, parkscapes and residential interfaces.
Fences are to be 1800mm high, measured from either ground level or top of retaining wall, and constructed using ‘Grey Ridge®’ Colorbond® for all elements.

Rear and Side Fences: may be installed to the rear boundary and along the side boundaries. Fences along the side boundary may extend only to a point which is set back 1m behind the nearest corner of the residence at which point the fence may return to join the building. Any gates are to be constructed to match the fence (i.e. ‘Grey Ridge®’ Colorbond®). Screen planting to side and rear boundary is generally encouraged to provide privacy and to soften the look of the fencing.

Front Fences: are not permitted.

Corner Allotments: are permitted to have privacy fencing on the secondary street lot boundary provided that it does not extend past the setback of the main building and provided that the final fence panel rakes down to a maximum 1,200mm height.

FRONTAGES –
FRONT PLANTING ZONE
Other than as required for driveways and pathways, the first two metres immediately behind each allotments front boundary must be planted with native plants contained within a mulched garden bed in accordance with the recommended species list.

The front planting zone is to extend the full width of the block except where a driveway, recycled water system or path occurs.

The front planting zone must also include a minimum 2m x 2m garden area into which must be planted a tree selected from the recommended species list. The trees on the list have been selected as they are suited to the growing conditions likely to be found on site.

The remainder of the front garden must be turfed, paved or covered with decorative gravel mulch.

Street trees installed by the developer and located within the nature strip must not be removed without the prior consent of council.

All costs to relocate or remove these trees shall be borne by the landowner.

LETTERBOXES
To produce a consistent streetscape, letterboxes are to be of suitable quality to complement the house design. Where practical, letterboxes should be located just inside the front boundary on the right hand side of the driveway as facing the dwelling from the street.

The approximate dimensions of the letterbox are to be: 830mm (L – facing the street) x 470mm (W) x 1200mm (H).

All letters boxes are to include a house number which is to be legible from the street.

RECYCLED WATER SYSTEM
As noted elsewhere in the guidelines, all properties are to be supplied with a recycled water system located in one of the front corners of the lot. An area of approximately 1.8m x 3m needs to be edged and landscaped in a manner that will allow Cooranbong Water to access pit covers and ensure that roots do not enter into their system.

The landscape treatment may either include the use of stones up to 75mm diameter (e.g. river stones or tumbled sandstone) inter-planted with tufties (e.g. Lomandra ‘Tanika’ Tanika Mat Rush], Ficinia nodosa [Nobby Clubrush], Dianella spp [Flax Lily], Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Nafray’ [Nafray Fountain Grass]) or mulched and planted with low groundcovers (e.g. Myoporum parvifolium [Creeping Boobialla], Grevillea x gaudichaudii [Creeping Grevillea], Scaevola aemula [Fan Flower]).

LANDSCAPE PLAN
All building plans submitted for approval must include a landscape plan that includes the following information:
• Lot boundaries.
• House layout properly located on the plan.
• Design details and materials of all surfaces, retaining walls, edging, and fencing.
• All plants and their location.
• Underground services (e.g. sewer, water, telecommunications, recycled water.)
• North point.
The following figure is a representation of what an acceptable landscaping plan should look like and include. Hand drawn plans will also be accepted providing they are accurate, to scale and legible.

EXAMPLE LANDSCAPE PLAN

NATIVE PLANT PREFERENCES

NATIVE GROUND COVERS AND GRASSES

Scientific Name (Common Name)

Anigozanthus ‘Bush Gem’ (Kangaroo Paw Cultivar)

Anigozanthus flavidus (Kangaroo Paw)

Bracteantha bracteata (Paper Daisy)

Cissus antartica (Water vine)

Daniella revoluta ‘Little Rev’ (Little red cultivar)

Ficinia nodosa (Knobby Club-rush)

Grevillea x gaudichaudii (Grevilla ‘Gaudi Chaudii’)

Hibbertia scandens (Snake Vine)

Lomandra longifolia (Lomandra ‘Tanika’ Cultivar)

Lomandra logifolia ‘Tanika’ (Creeping Boobialla)

Myoporum parvifolium (Tussock Grass)

Scaevola aemula (‘Mauve Clusters” Scaevola)

Viola hedercea (Native Violet)

‘

NATIVE SHRUBS

Scientific Name (Common Name) 

Acacia myrifolia (Myrtle Wattle)

Banksia ericfolia (Heath Leaved Banksia)

Banksia integrifolia (Coastal Banksia)

Banksia serrata (Old man Banksa spinulosa ‘Birthday Candles’ Hairpin Banksia)

Callistemon citinus ‘White Anzac”(Callistemon ‘White Anzac’ Callistemon pinifolius)

Correa reflexa(Correa)

Doryanthes excelsa (Gymea Lily Leptospermum polygalifolium)

Leptospermum scoparium (Lemon Scented Tea Tree)

Macrozamia communis (Burrawang)

Maleleuca hypericifolia (Hillock Bush)

Pultanaea villosa (Bush Pea)

Syzygium australe ‘Resilience’ (Resilience Lilly Billy Syzygium ‘Cascade’ Lilly Pilly)

Westringia ‘Zena’ (Coastal Rosemary)

Kangaroo Paw

Paper Daisy

Grevillea

Correa

NATIVE AND DECIDUOUS TREE PREFERENCES

NATIVE TREES

Scientific Name (Common Name)

Acumen smithii “Minor’ (Dwarf Lily Pilly)

Callistemon salignus (Willow Bottlebrush)

Corymbia maculata (Spotted gum)

Corymbia ficifolia “‘Summer ‘Red’ (Grafted Flowering Gum)

Cupaniopsis anacardiodes (Tuckeroo)

Elaeocarpus reticulatus (Blueberry Ash)

Corymbia gummier (Bloodwood)

Glochidion ferdinandii (Cheese Tree)

Syzygium australe (Lilly Pilly)

Waterhousia floribunda (Weeping Lilly Lilly)

DECIDUOUS TREES

Scientific Name (Common Name)

Fraxinus angustfollia ‘Raywood” (Claret Ash)

Jacaranda mimosifolia (Jacaranda)

Lagerstroemia indica (Crepe Myrtle)

Nyssa sylvatica (Tupelo)

Pyrus calleryana cultivar (Callery Pear)

Sapium sebiferum (Chinese Tallow Tree)

Ulmus parvifolia (Chinese Elm)

Jacaranda

Grafted Flowering Gum

Crepe Myrtle

Tupelo

The following colour palettes and materials have been selected to suit the Watagan Park Community and it’s surrounds.

Prior to lodging plans with council or undertaking site works, you or your builder/ architect will need to obtain written approval from the Watagan Park Design Review Panel. The applicant/builder on behalf of the landowner can complete the application.

To submit an application, click on the button below and create a new application

SUBMISSION DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR LODGEMENT

1.  All drawings (site plans, floor plans, elevations and sections etc) in A4/A3/A1 PDF format.
2. A description of external material finishes including roofing materials and colour palettes used.
3. Landscape plan, prepared in accordance with the examples shown, showing existing and proposed trees including names, location of bin storage, location of fencing (including height, colour and material), location of driveway (including colour and material), and indication of materials, colours and finishes, sheds, outbuildings and pools.
4. A copy of approved BASIX report outlining all commitments and referenced on submitted plans.

NOTE

• The more detail you provide us up front, the more efficiently we will be able to assess/ approve your application.
• These Guidelines (or approval by the Design Review Panel) should not be considered
  as a substitute for the Lake Macquarie
  City Council Development Control Plan 2014). Applicants should consult the
  LMDCP (in particular, Part 3, Development within Residential Zones) along with any other applicable planning instruments
  to make sure that plans meet all Council requirements.
• The Design Guidelines will be annexed to your contract for sale and purchase, and are also referred to in a s88B Instrument that applies to all of the land at Watagan Park. Please consult your legal advisor if you wish to obtain advice on the legal implications of a s88B Instrument.
• The Design Guidelines may be amended from time to time by Watagan Park during the different stages of the Watagan Park community development.

Disclaimer of liability: While every effort is made to provide accurate and complete information, Watagan Park does not warrant or represent that the information in this brochure is free from errors or omissions or is suitable for your intended use. Subject to any terms implied by law and which cannot be excluded. Watagan Park accepts no responsibility for any loss damage, cost or expense [whether direct or indirect] incurred by you as a result of any error, omission or misrepresentation in information. Photographs and illustrations in this document are intended to be a visual aid only. All information is subject to change without notice.