SUBMISSION TO QUEENSLAND PLANNING PROVISIONS VERSION 3.0

Transcription

1 Queensland Division PO Box George Street BC QLD 4003 Telephone (07) Facsimile (07) Web: 25 November 2011 ABN Marisa Graetz QPLAN Implementation Planning Services Division Growth Management Queensland Department of Local Government and Planning Queensland Government PO Box City East Qld 4002 Dear Ms Graetz SUBMISSION TO QUEENSLAND PLANNING PROVISIONS VERSION 3.0 The Planning Institute of Australia (PIA Queensland Division) would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide input into the Queensland Planning Provisions Version 3.0. The Planning Institute of Australia is the professional organisation that promotes excellence in urban and regional planning. The mission statement of the PIA Queensland Division is: To take and maintain the leading role in promoting both good planning and the planning profession in Queensland for the benefit of the community and PIA members. The Planning Institute of Australia possesses a unique perspective in that it represents over members in Queensland from varying professional backgrounds including urban planning, urban design, environmental planning, economic planning, social and transport sectors. It also represents members from diverse areas throughout Queensland, some of which have provided advice for this submission. If you would like any further information please do not hesitate to contact the Institute on the above telephone number. Yours sincerely Greg Tupicoff PIA Queensland President

2 SUBMISSION - QUEENSLAND PLANNING PROVISIONS (QPP) VERSION Background PIA Queensland Division has previously provided submissions on the former drafts of the QPP (QPP 1.0 and QPP 2.0). The purpose of the QPP is to provide a clear and consistent framework: - for planning schemes in Queensland - to assist in the implementation of state, regional and local policies affecting land use and development - for the integration of state, regional, local and community expectations in relation to planning scheme areas. PIA Queensland Division has been advised by members in North Queensland about issues arising from the QPP as many of these are at the advanced stages of drafting their QPP compliant schemes. 2. Definitions 2.1 Rural Workers Accommodation PIA Queensland Division members have advised there are concerns associated with the absence of the definition for Rural workers accommodation or comparable definition in the QPP. In remote areas in Queensland it is common for large properties, or cattle stations, to contain several dwellings clustered in a homestead, which accommodate employees and their families of the station on a permanent basis. These additional dwellings are not only conventional and legitimate within this geographical context, but they contribute to the ongoing viability of the use by assisting in retaining permanent staff, upon which rural operations on site depend. In most local government planning schemes in Queensland which include broad hectare rural areas, there is usually some provision made for Rural workers accommodation in the Planning scheme. The current version of the QPP makes no provision for this. Without the provision of a standard QPP definition, they will in contrast trigger Impact assessment as an undefined use. This may also frustrate cattle station owners and managers attempting to access both finance and insurance to support the establishment of further Rural workers accommodation infrastructure. PIA Queensland understands that related definitions in the QPP include Caretakers accommodation, Non-resident workers accommodation and Multiple Residential dwelling. However none of definitions clearly and accurately describe the use, but

3 rather refer to an associated but different form of development. These alternate definitions are unsatisfactory for the following reasons: (i) Caretakers accommodation- Dwellings on large rural properties accommodate a range of workers, and not just caretakers. (ii) Non-resident workers accommodation- Rural workers are often permanent residents on large farms and stations, and not non-residents. (iii) Multiple dwellings- This is a term which generally used in an urban context, and the establishment of multiple dwellings in the Regional Landscape and Rural Production Area (RLRPA) is in conflict with the FNQ Regional Plan, as an urban activity. PIA Queensland would like to see the inclusion of a definition for Rural workers accommodation in the QPP. 2.2 Transport Depot PIA Queensland Division supports the inclusion of a definition for a Transport depot, which has now been included in the QPP suite of use definitions. However we would like to see the definition expanded slightly to include a single semi-trailer or B-double on a rural or rural residential lot under this definition. It is common within some local government areas to have a single large vehicle being stored or serviced on a rural residential lot, which causes conflicts with neighbouring properties. Without a definition which fits, there is no way to respond to this. Currently the Transport depot definition states: Premises used for the storage, for commercial and public purposes, of more than one motor vehicle. Our concerns could be resolved by simply changing the wording from more than one to one or more motor vehicle. Size thresholds for singular vehicles could be included to prevent one small transit van or mini-bus being stored on a residential property. 2.3 Car wash There is no definition for a car wash, or a generic definition under which a car wash could logically fall under. Could the Department advise us which definition / most appropriately captures a car wash? 2.4 Administrative definition - Structure The definition for structure is very rudimentary and could be expanded to more clearly relate to freestanding and special structures. Also, an open sided shed falls under this definition, but currently the wording does not reflect this. 2.5 Dual Occupancy and Dwelling House

4 Dual Occupancy Dwelling House Premises containing two dwellings on 1 lot (whether or not attached) where the use is primarily residential A residential use of premises for one household which contains a single dwelling. The use includes outbuildings and works normally associated with a dwelling and may include a secondary dwelling. Dwelling house, Multiple dwelling Caretakers accommodation, dual occupancy, hostel, short term accommodation, student accommodation, multiple dwelling This definition needs to be clarified by removing the reference to "may include a secondary dwelling". Even with the fourth column examples, private certifiers will have problems identifying the difference. This will have implications in mining communities for example, about whether the second dwelling out the back is a Dual Occupancy or a Dwelling House (secondary dwelling) (see below). 3. Level of Assessment PIA Queensland Divisions suggests there is a need for some further clarification around changes to levels of assessment. For example: Currently the QPP V3 states that where the (self assessable) development does not comply with one or more identified self-assessable acceptable outcomes of the applicable code(s) the development becomes whether development requiring compliance assessment or assessable development. PIA Queensland Division believes it may be more appropriate to state where the (self assessable) development does not comply with one or more identified selfassessable acceptable outcomes of the applicable code(s) the development becomes whether the development requiring code assessable development. It is very difficult to imagine a circumstance where a use would go directly from being self assessable to impact assessable due to non-compliance with self assessable outcomes. It is also not considered to be ever required for a use to go from self assessable to compliance assessable, as it does not resolve the matter of non compliance. 4. Purpose of the code

5 The current version of the QPP has rectified a previous inconsistency between the purpose of the code in Part 6- Preliminary within the zone codes, and the mandatory QPP zone purpose statements which described the purpose of the zone. However the purpose of the code and the purpose of the zone code are quite different. The mandatory purpose statements more accurately describe the purpose of the zone, than they do the purpose of the zone code, as the code often only deals with a limited number of planning requirements while the purpose of the zone, as described by the purpose statement, is often achieved not by the zone code in isolation but a combination of interacting code provisions across the scheme. Therefore, it may be more consistent to describe the purpose of the Zone, for example: The (mandatory) purpose of the Residential Living Zone is... The Tablelands Regional Council purpose of the Residential Living Zone is... The purposes of the Residential Living Zone Code are to achieve the purposes of the Residential Living Zone. The purposes of the Residential Living Zone Code will be achieved through the following overall outcomes: Furthermore, PIA questions the need for a mandatory QPP purpose statement as well as a mandatory local government purpose statement. Whilst there may well be value in certain instances for expanding the purpose in the local context, this is unnecessary in all cases, and thus the local government purpose statement should be an optional rather than mandatory input. 5. Strategic Framework PIA Queensland Division understands there are now four levels of tiered statement within the Strategic Framework. These include: 1. Strategic outcomes 2. Elements for strategic outcomes 3. Specific outcomes for elements 4. Land use strategies to achieve specific outcomes It is strongly recommended that 2. Elements for strategic outcomes become an optional requirement, as they are often superfluous and repetitive statements rephrased but essentially referring to the same principles and features as described in both or either the Strategic Outcomes or the Specific Outcomes. 6. State-wide codes PIA Queensland Division has been advised that the prescribed state-wide codes have limited utility, and all contain various errors within them. Reconfiguration of a lot (subdividing one lot into two lots) and associated operational work code

6 In 19 of the 23 compliance outcomes of the subject code, reference is made to the relevant local planning instrument to provide qualification and quantification of what is actually required of the applicant. The code fails to recognise that the applicant is already reading the relevant local planning instrument. This will not assist in making basic development more accessible and user friendly- in fact it does the opposite. Furthermore, a development assessment officer will be required to refer backwards and forwards from the state wide reconfiguration of a lot code back to the local government reconfiguration of a lot code, as the latter is the one which contains complete criteria. This is not a user friendly approach. The code makes a distinction between the complexity of subdividing one lot into two lots and subdividing one lot into three of more. Most development assessment officers will have experiences of instances where the former has been complicated and the latter has been straight forward. In short, it is the site and location which will determine the complexity of the assessment, and not the number of lots created. As the draft QPP V3 currently stands, this code is an imposition on local government which provides no value to either the community or local government in terms of facilitating development, and duplicates the criteria within the Reconfiguration of a lot code proper. 7. Overlay and Local Plan s Table of Assessment Whilst PIA Queensland has no objection to the current prescribed format of the Tables of Assessment for overlays and local plans, it should be stated somewhere in the document that only variations to the levels of assessment determined by the zone are listed in the Overlay and Local Plan levels of assessment. Also, it should be stated that the Overlay or Local Plan criteria provide additional criteria, and in all assessment criteria of the Zone Tables of Assessment continue to apply. 8. Clustering PIA Queensland Division believe individual Councils should be allowed to determine what defined uses go in the clusters the Department has set. Our members have advised that in some circumstances in rural councils, all the clusters cannot be utilised because the Councils want different uses to have a variety of assessment levels, especially if they have thresholds. For example, bulk landscape supplies are in the Business Activities Cluster with shops and offices. Most Councils are happy to have shops and offices in the CBD but not bulk landscape supplies.