Perth Council developments may become easier under proposed changes
The City of Perth Council is calling for changes to Western Australia's Development Assessment Panel (DAP) system, saying that the choice of whether applications are assessed by DAP or Council should fall to developers.
Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said, in a submission responding to a Department of Planning report, that inner-city developments should have the $15 million value threshold, where applications for developments are now automatically referred to DAP, should be raised or completely removed.
The Council's analysis found that in 2012/2013, the DAP for the City determined 17 applications with development values from $17.5 million to $380 million, with the length of time to determine these ranging from 74 to 120 days. The target of the DAP is a maximum of 90.
“The DAP endorsed the City of Perth’s recommendations in all instances with only minor modifications to the wording of some conditions in a few cases to clarify requirements rather than to alter the intent,” Scaffidi said.
“It is evident from this assessment that the DAP process has not added any value, efficiencies or effectiveness to the development application assessment process in the City. Instead it has added costs, complexities and administrative burdens to outcomes that are likely to have been arrived at by the Council within similar timeframes."
It is still the Council's planning staff who prepare reports to the DAP, so Scaffidi notes that there is no workload benefit with the current system.
“Neither is there any acknowledgment in the Department’s discussion paper of the part the WA Planning Commission, Department of Planning and developers may play in delays in the planning process. There is no cost/benefit analysis of the DAPs as compared with the City’s planning system," she said.
The balance between efficiency and sound outcomes needs to be further maintained, she said, with a general belief that the City's processes were efficient prior to DAPs.
“The main focus of DAPs is said to be in determining applications that are considered to be ‘significant and complex’. However, establishing mandatory dollar value thresholds based on arbitrary values of development is not a satisfactory way to determine whether a development proposal is significant or complex," she said.
A $100 million threshold was suggested, if it is decided that a threshold is required.