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DEVELOPMENT
APPLICATION PROCESSING BY COUNCIL
1 - General
Because quite a large number of applications are received each
month, an efficient means of handling them is necessary to get
them all processed in reasonable time. In Lane Cove, this is
facilitated by giving delegated authority to Council
officers to approve or reject comparatively simple or clear-cut
applications without having to refer them to a full Council
meeting for a decision.
Guidelines setting limits for what may be approved under delegated
authority have been set by Council, and these may be amended
from time to time by resolution of Council.
2 - Straightforward cases
In cases where the proposed development:
· Is relatively modest in scale,
· Clearly complies with Council's LEP, applicable DCPs
and Dwelling Policy Code,
· Will have minimal adverse impact on neighbours and
local environment, and
· Has not been subject to formal submissions of objection
from potentially affected neighbours
Council officers may approve the application and set conditions
of consent under delegated authority without referral to Council.
In these cases, the reviewing Council officer will prepare a
short report with recommendations and submit this, with the
file and other accompanying material to the manager of the Environmental
Services Division for review and approval. If the manager is
satisfied that the DA falls within the guidelines set, and is
a complying application, he may approve the application with
or without some additional conditions.
.
DAs that are clearly not complying with Council codes and requirements
may also be rejected by Council officers without further reference
to elected councillors.
3 - Slightly more difficult cases
In cases where the development application
· Does not comply with Council's LEP, applicable DCPs
and Dwelling Policy Code, or
· Has been subject to formal submissions of objection
from potentially affected
neighbours;
A report and recommendation is prepared by the Environmental
Services Division and the development application is referred
to the Council's General Manager for review and, if appropriate,
approval under a higher level of delegated authority. Referrals
to the General Manager will always occur if substantial objections
have been lodged.
If the General Manager is satisfied that most of Council's requirements
have been met and that, on balance, the development is appropriate,
he may consent to the DA with or without additional conditions.
If he does not feel able to approve the application under this
level of delegated authority, he may refer it to the Planning
and Building Committee for consideration. This committee
consists of four elected councillors - usually the Mayor and
one Councillor from each ward.
Development Applications may also be referred to the Planning
and Building Committee by an elected councilor who wishes the
application to be considered at this higher level. In the event
that a member of the public is sufficiently concerned about
a particular DA, he or she may contact one or more of their
local councillors to request such a referral to be made. The
Councillor may or may not feel that such a referral is warranted.
In the event a DA is referred to the Planning and Building Committee
or any Council meeting, the reviewing officer will prepare a
formal report describing the proposal, and outlining the chief
issues. This report , which also includes a recommendation,
is sent to all councillors about three days prior to the meeting
at which the DA will be considered, together with their other
business papers.
4 - Council Officer reports
The form and size of council officer reports varies somewhat
according to the type and scale of the proposed development.
In general, however, they tend to follow the following heading
order:
Summary - Applicant, owner, proposal, class, zone, value,
date lodged, author, and list of notified parties
Recommendation - Approval, rejection etc
Reason for Referral
Site - outline description
History - preceding events to this application, which
could include (for example) a previous application
Amended Proposal - (if applicable)
Conservation Status - if applicable
Proposal Data/Policy Compliance - listing of key data
in following format
|
Proposed
|
Code
|
Complies
|
| Gross Floor Space, m2 |
x
|
y
|
Yes/No
|
| Floor Space Ratio |
z
|
0.5:1
|
Yes/No
|
| Site Coverage, m2 |
|
|
Yes/No
|
| Soft Landscaped
Area |
|
35%
|
Yes/No
|
| Building Line, m |
|
7.5
|
Yes/No
|
| Site Boundaries, m |
|
1.5
|
Yes/No
|
| Overall Height, m |
|
9.5
|
Yes/No
|
| External Wall Height, m |
|
7.0
|
Yes/No
|
Environmental Appraisal/Policy Compliance
|
Satisfactory |
| Protection of neighbours views
|
Yes/No |
| Privacy between buildings |
Yes/No |
| Neighbours outdoor privacy |
Yes/No |
| Reasonable solar access to habitable rooms |
Yes/No |
| Reasonable solar access to recreational
areas |
Yes/No |
Response from Neighbours - Summary of written comments
received
Referrals - Summary of referrals made to other Council
officers and external authorities, together with the responses
received, which may (for example) recommend conditions.
Assessment - the Council officer's analysis, findings
and recommendations on all of the foregoing which may, for example,
suggest waiving of strict compliance with some code requirements
because of lack of objection from neighbours, or other mitigating
factors.
Recommendation - If this is for approval, this part of
the report will likely run for several pages, and list numerous
conditions - most of which are standard and routine. Conditions
may also be imposed requiring amendments to the proposal that
could address issues raised by objectors or Council officers.
Attachments - Typically copy of reduced A4 plans, owners
submissions and copies letters of objection.
Copies of these reports (excluding confidential attachments)
are made available for public inspection at the Council Chambers
and libraries. They are also published (with the meeting agendas)
on Councils Web Page.
5 - Planning and Building Committee Deliberations
Lane Cove Council's Planning and Building Committee meets every
two weeks, usually at 8pm on Monday evenings when the Ordinary
Council meeting (which opens to the public from 7pm) finishes.
Members of the public may attend these meetings, and affected
parties may be permitted to address the Committee on particular
DA concerns.
The Planning and Building Committee has authority to approve
or reject Development Applications, but it may convene a meeting
between the proponents and opponents of some difficult developments
to try to mediate on issues of disagreement. As a result of
such mediation, the proponents may agree to modify their DA
in some respects to make it more acceptable to concerned neighbours.
The Planning and Building Committee may refer the DA to a full
Council meeting, usually after a specially convened on-site
Inspection Meeting, which all councillors and members of the
public may attend.
6 - Site Inspection Meetings
If the Planning and Building Committee decides to refer a DA
to a formal Site Inspection Meeting, it will set a date and
time for this meeting, and will also require the proponent to
make specific arrangements to facilitate this meeting. Such
arrangements typically include erecting markers and height poles
to delineate the extremities of the proposed development, but
may also include marking trees that are to be removed, and making
available full-scale plans for viewing by councillors and then
public on the day.
Site Inspection Meetings are usually held on the first Saturday
of each month and, since they may run for more than an hour,
it is difficult for Council to schedule more than two or three
on any one Saturday. The meetings may be held immediately prior
to the next full Council meeting at which approval decisions
would be made. However, sometimes a week or more may elapse
between the inspection and Council meeting.
If the matter is significant, the majority of all 9 elected
councillors will try to attend the Site Inspection Meeting.
The Mayor, if present, will chair proceedings. Council officers
will also be present to assist. Prior to the formal part of
proceedings, everyone will usually walk over the site and inspect
plans and sight poles etc.
The Mayor or Division Manager will generally summarize the proposals
and outline relevant concerns as described in the report. He/she
will then usually allow fellow councillors to ask questions,
and give the applicants and objectors the opportunity of voicing
their views.
Most inspection meetings end without apparent conclusion, which
is reasonable since their chief purpose is to inform councillors
and other parties properly of all the issues to be considered.
However, in some cases inspection meetings may facilitate -
in some cases by mediation - some accommodation of objectors
concerns by the applicant, and ultimately submission of more
acceptable revised plans.
7 - Resolution in Council
The vast majority of Development Applications are currently
approved or rejected without needing to be discussed or determined
by elected councillors at Council meetings. This is as it should
be.
For the more difficult cases that have proceeded through most
of the steps outlines above, it is necessary that final approval
or refusal be determined at a full Council meeting. In the event
that the relevant meeting happens to be on the third Monday
of the month, members of the public may address the meeting
for up to 3 minutes on this or other issues. Councillors may
ask questions of speakers, but are under no obligation to respond
to the points made, and will in fact almost never directly do
so.
When the matter is due for discussion and resolution, the officer's
recommendation may be proposed and seconded for acceptance by
two councillors, and counter-motions (possibly including conditions)
may be proposed and seconded by others.
The motions will then be debated, with councillors speaking
both for and against the relevant motions. Finally, votes will
be taken on the motions, and the development application will
then be:
· Approved in accordance with the council officer's report,
or
· Approved in modified form, or with additional conditions,
or
· Refused
Even if approved in modified form, nearly all of the conditions
listed at the end of the council officer's report will be retained
and will apply.
8 - If the Application is approved
Construction may not proceed until a full set of detailed and
fully dimensioned plans have been lodged and approved by council
officers, and the applicant has been issued with a Construction
Certificate. A Construction Certificate can also be issued
by a private accredited certifier. It will usually take the
applicant quite a number of weeks to prepare and lodge these
plans, and council staff will need several weeks more to review
and approve them.
A Construction Certificate will not be issued unless the detailed
plans are fully compliant with those submitted with the approved
DA, and with all of the set conditions. In the event that the
plans are not compliant, or lack the required detail, the applicant
will be asked to resubmit until council officers are satisfied
that all their requirements have been met.
Since all of this takes time, and the applicant also needs to
get confirmed quotations from builders and other trades before
proceeding, it is common for actual construction to be delayed
for 3-6 months or more after the DA has been approved.
A list of all approved DAs approved each month is published
by Council in (amongst other places) the Village Observer. It
is also available for inspection on Lane Cove Council's Web
Page www.lanecove.nsw.gov.au.
9 - If the Application is refused
In the event the DA is refused by Council, or conditions are
set that would require a substantial modification to the proposal,
the applicant can do any of the following things;
a. Let the application lapse altogether,
b. Re-submit the application to Council with relatively minor
changes designed to make it more acceptable,
c. Submit a new application substantially different from the
one refused (this may be treated as a fresh application), or
d. If he/she considers the refusal unfair or the conditions
too onerous, appeal to the Land and Environment Court for a
determination.
The last named course involves the applicant and Council in
significant costs, and may take many months to be heard and
resolved. For all parties, therefore, it is a course of last
resort, and should be avoided if at all possible.
Having said this, it is alleged by many that some applicants
with substantial financial resources may seek to force their
will on Council and on the local community by threatening recourse
to the Land and Environment Court, and maintaining great confidence
of a judgement in their favour.
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DEVELOPMENT IN GREENWICH
This version was posted in August 2002 |
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