The 30-Minute Site

How I Engineered a Snap-Back Zoning Activation

By Clarke Towson – CEO, INTJ Billing / Spotswood Trailers
Published: July 29th, 2025

In a planning system designed for permanence, I built the opposite: a fully compliant, fully transport-appropriate TRZ2 site that can be activated or reversed in under 30 minutes — legally, cleanly, and without permit.

This article explores the philosophy, legality, and structural engineering behind what I call a “Snap-Back Activation” — a form of lawful temporary land use made possible by the cracks in Victoria’s planning logic.

What Is a Snap-Back Activation?

A Snap-Back Activation is a transport-zoned site activation that meets the following criteria:

• All infrastructure is TRZ2 appropriate (bollards, chains, trailers, ramps)
• Nothing is concreted or fixed to the earth (except for the bollard footings)
• The entire site can be reverted to an empty block in under 30 minutes
• All removals are lawful, leaving no permanent trace
• Activation can resume just as quickly — and lawfully

Why It Matters

This setup isn’t just efficient — it’s an existential challenge to the planning enforcement model. It removes every foothold a regulator would normally rely on:

• No buildings
• No change of use (it's transport use in a transport zone)
• No fixed development or prohibited overlays
• No opportunity for enforcement before compliance is restored

“This is not non-compliance. This is weaponized compliance.”

The Engineering Details

Here’s what currently resides on the 112m² TRZ2 site at 7 Cullen Court, Spotswood:

• 8 × Stainless steel retractable bollards
• 10mm stainless steel chains linking each bollard set
• 3 × Galvanized cage trailers
• 4 × Vevor curb ramp sets (8 total)
• 4 × Gorilla 170L garden carts (transport equipment)
• Lock systems, signage, and native flora to improve visual amenity
• 8 x coloured parking bay markers

Every item is movable, every configuration reversible, and all of it deploys with standard tools. No excavators, no concrete saws, no builders — just brains and legality.

Planning System Implications

This method exposes a systemic flaw:

If the zoning is ultra vires (as is the case at 7 Cullen Court, where the TRZ2 classification lacks Clause 23 consent), and the landowner uses the site for a compliant transport purpose, then:

Council cannot require a permit.
DoT cannot enforce zoning intent not supported by title or statute.
Any enforcement action collapses the moment the site is reset — which takes less time than it does to draft a notice.

The Broader Threat to Bureaucracy

If other TRZ2 zoned private property owners follow this model, Victoria could see a wave of micro-activations by landowners who:

• Read the law carefully
• Exploit zoning inconsistencies with precision
• Deploy lawful use in ungovernable timeframes

As AI-powered analysis tools mature, these snap-back legal structures may proliferate — automating compliance while sidestepping red tape. That’s not a threat. That’s evolution.

Conclusion

The Snap-Back Activation model is more than just a tactic — it’s a new planning modality. One based not on confrontation, but on agile compliance and legal fluency.

It proves that good faith, meticulous reading of the law, and a refusal to blindly submit to outdated assumptions can produce something the system has never seen before:

A site that obeys the law so completely… it breaks the bureaucracy built to contain it.