Malmsbury farmer Travis Bruni has won the fight to turn his shed come ‘man cave’ into a legal residence.
Mr Bruni said last week’s ruling at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal was a relief and meant he could continue to grow his farm.
“I would have walked away from farming if this didn’t get approved. There’s just no way I could justify keeping it going without being able to be on site,” he said.
Macedon Ranges Shire Council last year put a stop to the angus and hereford breeder from living in a converted shed at his Youngs Road property.
Mr Bruni said the shed had developed into an illegitimate residence over 18 months as he found a need to be on-site for calving heifers.
At 22.7ha, the property was outside the Farm Zone’s minimum 40ha build requirement and he relied on a permit to continue living there.
Recommending refusal, council officers warned councillors against fragmentation of agricultural land without justification for a permanent dwelling on site. The application also attracted two objections.
But an appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal overturned that decision.
The tribunal dismissed the council’s view that the set-up would limit farming activities, instead accepting contrary evidence that on-site observation was critical to calving.
Senior VCAT member Laurie Hewet’s ruling was based on a farm management plan complemented by an agricultural scientist’s expert review and opinion.
The opinion was that 20-30 heifers needed close supervision as “almost certainly some intervention will be required”.
He said without the dwelling, “rearing operations and agricultural productivity would be diminished”.
The council had also argued the proposal could encourage development of other nearby vacant lots, “impeding the ability for them to be effectively farmed”. This too was rejected, on the basis that each application is considered on its merits.
The property is part of his family business located across 232 hectares of grazing land on five separate properties. The herd size is currently 295 head.
Mr Bruni said the million dollar price-tag on larger farming parcels proved too much for those just starting out and some flexibility was needed.
“There’s a lot of farmland available in the Macedon Ranges that is above 100 acres to build on, but for a young person starting out in farming it’s just out of reach,” he said.
“If people already have a mortgage to pay elsewhere, it just makes it near impossible.”
