Yarriambiack council to discuss Minyip bunker after resident complaints

Council will discuss the house in Market Street, Minyip, at a meeting on Wednesday.

The owner of the house has carried out building works without a permit and council received a letter from neighbours requesting the matter be investigated.

Councillor Corinne Heintze said the resident first started doing works to his house in 2009.

“Some years ago he started to do odd things to the house, like filling in the front wall with concrete,” she said.

Cr Heintze said at the time council investigated, but had no issues with the work.

“You can build your house out of whatever you like and concreting an existing wall is not an extension, so he didn’t need a permit,” she said.

Cr Heintze said the resident then started excavating under the house about two years ago, building what he described as a bunker.

“Council put a stop to the work, unless he applied for permits,” she said. 

“Then about two months back some of the neighbours heard him excavating again and wrote a letter to council.”

In a report to council, building surveyor Wayne Wilkie said an inspection revealed further works had been carried out.

“Some external weatherboards had been removed and the cavities filled with concrete,” he said.

“One section of the subfloor had been deepened significantly and the remainder of the subfloor had soil removed.

“Additional steel subfloor frame supports had been installed as a means of making the building stronger.”

Cr Heintze said councillors would discuss on Wednesday whether a full engineering inspection of the building was needed.

Mr Wilkie said the resident had indicated he was prepared to pay any fines or costs as a result of his actions.

“It is acknowledged that the resident has broken the law by carrying out work without a building permit and he could be prosecuted accordingly,” he said.

The resident’s work also appeared on the television show A Current Affair last week.

Cr Heintze said she was concerned the program’s coverage would inflame the situation or make the resident out to be a joke.

“However, the show certainly gave the resident the benefit of the doubt,” she said.

The show interviewed neighbours, who claimed the resident’s bunker was devaluing properties in the town.

Cr Heintze said if the resident kept his work to what council approved, there wouldn’t be any issues.

“But as far as their claim that his ‘concrete bunker’ devalues the street, you don’t have to go far to see some terrible old houses in the town,” she said.

Mr Wilkie said the aesthetic appearance of a house did not come within the realm of the building regulations.

“While neighbours might be aggrieved by the perceived unsightliness and diminution of their property values caused by the resident’s actions, this situation should be dealt with on a legal, moral and ethically sensitive basis.”