2014-08-19 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda - Pages 1-101

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                  19 AUGUST 2014


An applicant who does not agree with the value of the establishment cost may, by notice, require
Council to use the method under the relevant charges resolution to recalculate the establishment
cost. The applicant’s notice must be given before the ICN becomes payable and Council must
amend the existing ICN as applicable. Therefore application of this section of the Act could be
made some time after the approval and original charge notice were first issued (i.e. when the
development nears completion which could be up to 4 or even more years later).

Council’s current resolution already includes a method for calculating offsets and refunds, but it
will need to be reviewed for compliance with the amended Act and Statutory Guideline 03/14.

9.    Conditions Relating to Infrastructure

Whilst most of the previous restrictions about imposing conditions continue, local governments
will no longer be able to impose a condition requiring an applicant to enter into an infrastructure
agreement. The conditioning power now also only relates to development applications and not
requests for compliance assessment.

For a condition about infrastructure, a decision notice for a development approval must now
include a reference to the provision of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (SPA) under which the
condition was imposed (i.e. to identify if the condition is about non-trunk or trunk infrastructure).

10.   Conversion Applications

Previously, trunk infrastructure was limited to infrastructure specified in a local government’s PIP.
The amendments to the Act have introduced a new mechanism whereby applicants may seek to
have non-trunk infrastructure converted to trunk and thereby gaining an offset or refund against
the infrastructure charge.

The ability to make a conversion application only exists if:
 a particular condition of a development approval requires non-trunk infrastructure to be
   provided, and
 the construction of the non-trunk infrastructure has not started.

Such an application must be in writing similarly as for offsets and could be made quite some time
after the approval and original charge notice were first issued.

Council’s criteria for deciding conversion applications must be included its charges resolution and
must be consistent with the criteria provided in the Statutory Guideline 03/14.

If the conversion application is approved then Council must amend the Decision Notice to identify
the works as trunk infrastructure and amend the Infrastructure Charge Notice to detail the offset
and refund applicable.

11.   Appeals

Appeals are available to both the Planning and Environment Court and the Building and
Development Dispute Resolution Committee.

The appeal rights about an issued infrastructure charge were previously limited to:
 the charge in the notice being so unreasonable that no reasonable relevant local government
   could have imposed it; and
 an error in the calculation of the charge.


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