In 2018, Katie was visited by a council member in the cafe advising her that the building her cafe was operating in was registered as a shed not a cafe.

She was given a checklist from a building surveyor of things that needed to be done in order to make the building compliant as a cafe and in 8-10 months, the list was completed, costing her around $60,000 of personal income and business profits.

The list was sent off and the application was rejected due to the land the cafe is on being a 'green wedge zone' and is not permitted to have a fully functioning cafe on premises and was told we need to revert the building back to its accepted use 'a barn'

All we are hoping for out of this Petition is to be granted access to operate under exisiting use and keep The Barn Owl Cafe in Silvan.

Katie has grown a thriving business that she never though was possible in such a short amount of time and to have that taken away is heart breaking.

This cafe was Katie's dream and this is the last door she can open in order to fight to save her cafe. Her livelihood, investments, her staff (11 employees) the local businesses who supply their goods to the cafe, and her customers. It is not just affecting Katie, it is affecting the entire community.

#savethebarnowl