A Brisbane man is fighting his local council after it blocked him from subdividing his inner-south block due to risk of flooding. He says the block has never flooded during a major weather event.
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00:00When Ashley Pettit looks at his expansive backyard, he is perplexed.
00:06The Moorooka man sees houses on either side of the yard and can't understand why he
00:10can't subdivide his own.
00:13In a meeting, Brisbane City Council rejected his plans.
00:15Basically, they told me that it was in a flood zone and due to flood risk, I wasn't going
00:20to be allowed to subdivide here.
00:21However, his block didn't go under during the major floods on Council's mapping tool.
00:25Instead, it's overland flow, stormwater, that Council is worried about.
00:30Experts say it's tricky to assess.
00:31Small changes like a driveway can make a difference.
00:34If you're building in a flood area, you're going to be displacing that flood water and
00:39it has to go somewhere.
00:40Council says the risk of overland flow for the property is irregular, with a 1 in 50
00:44chance of dangerous flooding every year.
00:46But Mr Pettit's local councillor says planners aren't taking a common sense approach.
00:51There are ways around this issue and I think Council has just taken an extreme way of dealing
00:58with this.
00:59The Council suggested Mr Pettit build a granny flat, but he wants to build a house that reflects
01:03his neighbourhood.
01:04I looked up all the prehistoric floods and I bought a property that has never flooded
01:08before.