2023-03-07 Planning & Environment Meeting Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                     7 MARCH 2023


Application process, assessment and conditions
   Review application forms to include fees and clarify building classification requirements;
   Review the examples of supporting material on the website and improve where necessary;
   Establish tighter timeframes for STA assessment and information responses from applicants;
   Better communicate status of application and expected assessment timelines;
   Continue to improve inhouse processes, procedures and staff training for continued
    consistency in STA assessment and compliance actions;
   Investigate whether advice notes are required for better interpretation of conditions of approval
    and code of conduct for guest behaviour, including kids pool swimming.
Website
   Review and simplify website information, including direction to fees, approvals, complaints,
    examples of supporting information, approval and complaints statistics and better information
    for residents.
   Review search engines and google searches to improve webpage optimisation.
Complaints management
   Provide a summary of complaints to property managers for STA properties on request,
    excluding complainant details;
   Investigate the preparation of a “good neighbour” guide for all residents, which could be
    distributed to new owners, real-estate letting agents and resident groups.
3.2 Review of short stay letting team and timing of applications
The base permanent short stay local laws team comprises the supervisor compliance officer and
administration officer.
Temporary fixed term members of the team include 2 compliance officers for 3 years (ending
January 2025) and 1 administration officer ending December 2024.
The initial workload for the team was identified as being evenly spread over the first 3 years of
operation and would reduce following that period once all of the short stay let properties were
assessed. Following this period, it was projected there would be fewer applications and the
workload going forward would be about compliance and annual renewals.
However, with the higher than expected take up of the fee waiver period and further applications
lodged within the first 12 months, 68 % of expected applications have already been lodged,
doubling the expected work load.
Because of this high number of applications, the last 12 months has been focussed on assessment
of applications and dealing with compliance matters as they arise, rather than proactive
compliance.
Both the STA industry and the resident / community groups have called for council to improve the
pace of implementation of the local law and specifically increase resources to deal with the
application backlog and undertake proactive compliance on properties operating without an
approval or not meeting signage requirements. There are currently around 1300 properties
identified as operating without an approval which will require proactive compliance action and need
to gain an approval under the local law. It is anticipated this will increase the workload and number
of applications to be assessed in the next 6-12 months.
Proposed actions
To meet the high demand to assess current applications and proactively undertake compliance
action it is recommended Council commit additional temporary staff resources to the Short Stay
Local Laws team including:
     3 year Level 6 coordinator compliance role
     3 year Level 4 compliance officer

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