Kiama Council’s December Meeting unanimously agreed to measures that will reduce the number of Development Applications (DAs) coming to the councillors for a decision.

The change is in line with other measures Council is implementing to reduce the overall time taken to process DAs. Extra incentive for this has come with Council being included in the State Government’s Public Space Legacy Program.

This State Government Grant provides a potential $3 million in funding, linked to the achievement of targets set for Development Application (DA) processing.

Council successfully applied to be included in the program, and is seeking funding for improvements to Hindmarsh Park and the Kiama Harbour area.

The December Meeting reinstated delegated authority to the General Manager to determine all DAs with a value up to $5 million that have received no more than five objections during the notification period. 

In 2016, this dollar value had been reduced to up to $2 million, and the number of submissions that had to be received was three.

In the case of Modification of DAs, delegated authority will now be given where there is no significant change to the outside of the building, and otherwise where the value of the modifications do not exceed $5 million and there are no more than five objections.

A DA may still be brought up for decision by Council with the support of three councillors.

In accepting Council’s proposal, the Department has provided specific targets which need to be met. These targets are also linked to improvements in the overall system and customer experience.

Council must improve overall timeframes to be:

·        122 gross days by 31 December 2020

·        109 gross days by 30 June 2021.

The report from the Director Environmental Services to the December meeting said, “Work has commenced on improving the overall timeframes for DA processes, whilst still retaining rigor and requirements necessary for the proper processing of applications in the system.

“Staff are also working through a number of process improvements to assist in the pre-lodgment and lodgment of development applications and the quality requirements of applications prior to being placed in the system.”

From 1 January, all DAs and modifications must be lodged via the NSW Planning Portal.