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Volume 5, Thursday 3rd August, 2006
Boom town D L O S
Above and right: One of the new transportable buildings recently placed in Andamooka Written By Stuart Deed The housing crush affecting Roxby Downs has begun impacting on the communities of Woomera and Andamooka. A wave of new housing developments has swept through the town of Andamooka in past months. And the growth has not gone unnoticed – the South Australian Development Assessment Commission (DAC) has already contacted the Andamooka Progress and Opal Miners Association (APOMA) to ensure all works are legal. Chair of APOMA, Pat Katnich, said APOMA had no control over people bringing transportables into town but she thought people could be doing it to save money. “I would assume that people are bringing them (transportables) into town because they think it’s cheaper to live here than Roxby Downs.” “Andamooka is a cheaper option in many respects because people don’t have to pay council rates but they must also be aware that there are no services here,” Ms Katnich said. If the trend of bringing transportable building into Andamooka continued, Ms Katnich said the town’s infrastructure could be jeopardised. “The pressure on the infrastructure within town could definitely become a problem because the town is not set up for a large and sudden influx of people,” she said. “There are some big issues at play in this situation. Waste management, infrastructure and water - which is very expensive – are all problems. Those people coming into town will have to be conscious of that,” she said. There could also be other, more subtle impacts on the town.
“The character of the town will need to be looked at quite closely in the future and it means the community will have to look at what they want for the town because there’s no urban planning in place.” “I doubt it will be good for the town if there’s a radical change but we can’t influence the external pressures on the town,” Ms Katnich said. However, there are a number of potentially positive impacts which could come with the housing boom if it continued. “The new influx of housing will be good for business within town and it would be terrific to see more families in town. It would certainly support the community’s argument that we need to have a Reception - Year 7 school,” Ms Katnich said. According to DAC Senior Project Officer (Investigations), Joanne Payne, eight applications to build in Andamooka had been received in the last few months. DAC will hold a seminar at the Tuckerbox Restaurant at 7:30pm on Tuesday, August 8, to inform townspeople of what must be done to develop in Andamooka, especially with second-hand transportable buildings. “In any area deemed “out of council” for South Australia – like Andamooka – all building and development applications must go through the DAC, which acts in place of a council,” Ms Payne said. “What we do is work through progress associations – like APOMA – to try and get the necessary information out into the community.” “However, when we have any problems we organise to go out to that particular community and set up a meeting to tell people what they
need to do and answer any questions they might have,” Ms Payne said. Prior to the Development Act in 1993 Andamooka and all “out of council” areas were subject to planning regulations but not building regulations. All that changed in an effort to improve safety, a concern which still dictates housing regulations. “What we’re trying to ensure is the safety of the people building and using the houses, or those who will be using them in the future,” Ms Payne said. Health, structural, fire safety and the visual impact on neighbouring properties and the town are the main concerns which are evaluated by DAC. Many of the houses entering the town are former Woomera buildings which are viewed as second-hand transportables and may require additional work to ensure compliance with the Building Code. A number of these were renovated by a well known local housing contractor and on-sold to people in Andamooka keen to cash in on the town’s available real estate. But Ms Payne warned that these people needed to be aware of the building rules required, especially since there appeared to be some confusion regarding the rules and regulations which apply to Andamooka. “We’ve had some misunderstandings as to what people need to do when they want to build a house or re-locate a transportable building,” she said. Ms Payne said some people appeared to have received incorrect information that DAC rules did not apply to Andamooka.
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