12:00a.m. 18th July 2008

| By Rae Wilson

Twin Waters residents Michelle and Macy-Sky Ralphs, with puppy Machette, could lose their yard if council enforces a 10-metre fence shift. Photo: Jason Dougherty/177087

Twin Waters residents must spend thousands of dollars to remove or shift sheds, walls, fences, concrete paths, and possibly pools, from their backyards after a council move to enforce an environmental covenant.

The 10-metre covenant affects the backyards of 25 residents, whose properties back onto Nojoor Road.

The buffer has been in place since the land was developed to protect visual amenity and provide connectivity to a conservation park across the road, but lax compliance is expected to leave 19 residents substantially out of pocket.

Mike Beal, who lives in Sand Lane, said he moved from New Zealand in October last year and his solicitor never pointed him to any covenant.

He said he now realised he had inherited a pool fence and associated concrete which is 30 cm over the boundary.

“The pool is safe, it’s just a fence we would have to move,” he said.

“It has to be done in six weeks. Paying a couple of grand to move a fence seems bureaucratic.”

Regulatory services manager Janelle Parker said council attention was drawn to the area because of complaints about people damaging vegetation there.

She said a council officer, who would liaise with each property owner on a case by case basis, had inspected 25 properties and found only six completely compliant with the covenant.

“When the investigating officer originally went out there, there were things being stored there, brought in through their back fences, such as boats, campers,” she said.

“There’d been vegetation removed and areas being mown but the condition stated in the covenant is for a buffer along there.

“There’s things such as pool fencing and sheds which require building approvals and they don’t even have them.”

Ms Parker said the investigating officer would meet with each owner individually but expected owners who had cleared or built structures would be responsible for correcting the situation.

Michelle Ralphs, also in Sand Lane, said she would lose the backyard where her children played because the covenant intruded 10cm onto the path at the back of their house.

The mum, who has two children and a third on the way, said they had removed trees in the 10-metre covenant area because they were riddled with thistletoe and white ants.

She said council had approved a landscaping plan with native plants which cost several thousand dollars and officers had even told her she “did a good job”.

But Ms Ralphs said council had now told her that decision was incorrect and she would have to comply with the vegetation covenant.

“The swing set, the garden shed and slab under it needs to go, the grass will need to come up and the trees replanted with native vegetation and natural wood chipping,” she said.

“The slab where the pool filter goes, which cost $1000 to install, will need to be moved two foot away from the covenant.

“So basically our entire yard is encroaching on the covenant.

“We knew there was a covenant there but didn’t know it was so strong.

“I want to know if the new council is trying to enforce they mean business or are they really doing this for environmental reasons?

“If they want more trees in to provide more oxygen then I’d rather pay $1000 to have trees planted in a park somewhere so everyone can enjoy them.

“We feel we need to sell because the kids don’t have a backyard, we have an unusable backyard.”

Ms Ralphs said she expected the bill to conform to the covenant would cost up to $10,000, including money spent to alter the yard and plant the trees.

“We bought it as a 600sqm block, we pay rates on that 10 metres and we have to maintain it but we can’t use it,” she said.

Annie Rich said she bought her place on Starfish Way about six months ago so she could accommodate her mother too and had no idea about the covenant.

“I’m pretty angry about it. None of our trees have gone, it’s all the same with gum trees and all the undergrowth,” she said.

“But they said they are concerned about the pool fence. I can’t see the purpose of digging up concrete.

“We’ve got a beautiful house, we love it, but I don’t think we would have bought it if we had known.”