How do I know if a BMO applies to me?

If you are planning a development of your property, maybe a house, maybe a shed, granny flat or pergola, then the first step really needs to be checking what zone you're in and what overlays apply to your property. Once you know that, you can investigate all the rules and regs that apply.

Good news, all the info is in one spot. The Victorian government has made it very easy for us all to check and start our own research before we start booking contractors.

Go to: VicPlan, type your address in the search field (you can search by either street address or parcel number) and when it finds you, VicPlan will bring up all the property information down the left hand side of the screen. You can even have it collate it into one downloadable property report, which you can then attach to emails or have for reference as your project moves along.

For example, if we search for 61 High St, Woodend, which is the Coles supermarket site in Woodend, VicPlan shows us that this site is part of the Macedon Ranges planning scheme, sits in a Commercial zone and has a number of overlays applicable. VicPlan will show you the site in a map view and highlights the site boundaries and shows neighbouring sites, roads and other geographical information.

Each overlay on the left is a clickable link and will take you to the clause in the planning scheme which relates to that overlay and lays out the purpose, objectives and planning requirements of that overlay.

Now, if this was your site, you could click on all the links provided to investigate the zoning regulations and what each overlay requires with regard to development and planning applications.

There are also a heap of tools and layers you can play around with to find contours, rivers and even measure the area or perimeter of a site. It's very nifty. Admittedly, the site itself is a bit slow and clunky sometimes, especially when you try to change the views, but as a free resource to access for planning information, it really is invaluable.