Hillside Development Guidelines
A comprehensive set of hillside development guidelines is needed to assist developers, planners, engineers, environmental professional etc in order to gain insights into best practices for safe hillside development.
As slopes become steeper, grading and infrastructure works become more challenging and costly and the risk of slope instability increases. In addition, the amount of hillside modification, loss of aesthetic attractiveness and environmental degradation become greater. The Hillside Development Guidelines are intended to encourage the application of principles and good practice to protect the resources of hillside areas and to preserve the aesthetic appearance of the hillsides.
Some of the guidelines include:
Development on hillside within all slope classes will only be permitted where the slope is stable. Existing landslide susceptibility/hazard maps should be used where available to assist in this process.
Hillside development shall be permitted on slopes up to 30 degrees (58 % slope). Developments may however be allowed in areas in excess of 30 degrees under extraordinary circumstances subject to special conditions.
Developments in high landslide prone areas should be avoided
Height of retaining walls/structures taken from ground level or the base of the cut should not exceed 4 metres unless otherwise approved by the Authority
For larger hillside developments {>60 lots or 1 hectares (2.5 acres) and for multi-family developments}, grading shall be phased so as to encourage rapid re-vegetation, or it may be necessary to conduct earthwork construction or other measures to minimize erosion and movement of sedimentsTo read / download the full guideline click on the link below to get the Hillside Development Manual.
