Developers to foot bill for assessment of rezoning proposals

Wednesday, 8 August 2018

New integrated fees and charges approved by Council will provide a boost to infrastructure revenue.

The fee increase brings Inner West into line with similar-sized and neighbouring councils.

“This is good news for Council and good news for the community,” said Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne.

“Council is constantly being bombarded by developers with large and complex proposals. Dealing with these takes up a lot of valuable Council time.

“We also recognise that the amount of development taking place in the Inner West is often a strain on local infrastructure.

“Now, we will have more money from developers so that ratepayers are not footing the bill for developer-initiated rezoning,” said Mayor Byrne.

The fee increase will help recover costs to Council and ratepayers.

“The increasing number of what we call ‘unsolicited’ requests to amend Council’s Local Environmental Plans drain resources – resources that would otherwise be used to advance our own policy initiatives to benefit all Inner West citizens,” said Mayor Byrne.

Council exhibited the suggested fee structure changes recently for a period of one month, and received no objections.

The fee increases include:

• Preplanning proposal fees: by between $500 and $1,000, and will result in fees being charged of $2,500 to $7,000 per application depending on the type of changes proposed

• Planning proposal fees: by between $6,000 and $10,000, and will result in fees being charged of $18,000 to $100,000 per application depending on the type of changes proposed.

A new category of amendment has also been introduced where complex changes are proposed to multiple properties:

• ‘Precinct’ amendments: will attract fees of $12,000 for pre-planning proposals and $150,000 for planning proposals. Developers previously paid a ‘complex’ proposal, $6,000 and $90,000 respectively.
  
  

Planning Proposals must be submitted to Council if a proposed development seeks to make changes to the Local Environmental Plan (LEP).

Consultation with Council's Strategic Planning department, undertaken at the start of the application process, provides early advice on Planning Proposals.