Important amendment to Planning Act in a hurry

On 20 March, the Planning and Development (Project Facilitation) Amendment Bill 2014 was tabled in the Assembly.  Planning fast track bill.  Although Greens Minister, Shane Rattenbury, supports the Bill, he successfully had the Bill referred to the Standing Committee on Planning, Environment and Territory and Municipal Services on 8 April for decision on 6 May.  On 11 April, comments were invited from the community by COB 22 April.  At 9.24 am on 14 April an email was despatched advising that the first hearing would take place that day from 11 am to noon.  The witness was the planning Minister Simon Corbell, accompanied by four members of the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate.  Mr Corbell described the Bill as “part of the measures to support the building industry”.  Notes on Planning Amendment Bill hearing 14 Apr.  The only other scheduled hearing day is 24 April.  FoHV lodged  a submission today.  See Friends of Hawker Village – Project Facilitation Bill.

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Precinct code – rewrite or change?

The ACT Planning and Development Agency (ACTPLA) released Technical Amendment 2012-06 for community consultation in late October.  This amendment to the Territory Plan involved transferring various provisions relating to individual sites in the ACT in different codes located throughout the Territory Plan to a single code, specific to each site, known as a precinct code.  With assistance from several sources, we were able to trace the origin of the various rules and criteria contained in the Hawker precinct code.   Most of them came from the Group Centres Development Code which no longer exists.   There was one criterion that had been reworded and seemed to have potential for a less favourable outcome than the original wording.   After discussion facilitated by Mary Porter, ACTPLA agreed to retain the original wording.  The technical amendment (including the Hawker precinct code) was incorporated into the Territory Plan on 14 December.   As a technical amendment, it did not need approval from the Legislative Assembly.