What is a Pre-Application Information?
When a development proposal is lodged at Council for Planning Permit approval it is more likely to be assessed and processed quickly, with a positive outcome if it contains all of the required information and has been designed to comply with the Kingston Planning Scheme and Policies.
Plans submitted to Council for pre-application advice prior to lodgement of an Application for Planning Permit will help to resolve design issues and identify any additional information required to be submitted to facilitate a speedy consideration of the application.
Written Pre-application advice can provide a number of benefits to both the developer and Council.
These benefits include:
Increased certainty about the outcome of an application ;
Reduction in time delays caused by requests for design amendments and further information;
Reduction in the overall application processing times;
Improvement in the quality of information submitted to Council;
Improvement in the design quality of applications; and
Reduction in the number of applications refused
How do I organise a Pre-Application Advice?
The City Development Team has a qualified planning officer available between 8:30am and 5:30pm Monday to Friday. The planning officer can provide verbal preliminary comments on your proposal in person, however, written comments will not be provided for "over the counter" advice. If you require written pre-application advice the following information is required to be submitted:
Sketch or concept plans of the proposal (mandatory);
Certificate of Title including plans, covenant details or S173 Agreements (if applicable). (mandatory);
Neighbourhood and Site Description Plan (Mandatory for proposed residential development) (mandatory);
Site or survey plan of the subject property;
Other relevant documents (eg. Arborist report, site photographs, shadow diagrams)
Upon receipt of this information, a Council Planning Officer will provide written preliminary advice based on the information received and taking into account relevant planning provisions and the Kingston Planning. The written pre-application advice will be provided within 10 working days.
NOTE: It is not essential to provide all of the information listed above, however, please note that any advice offered by the planning officer will be based on the quality of plans put before them. It should also be noted that a thorough assessment of the proposal will not be made at this stage and it is possible that some issues will be overlooked.
Disclaimer:
The objective of a Pre-Application meeting is to provide a comprehensive and as detailed assessment of the development proposal as possible at this stage, however, please remember that it is a preliminary assessment only, and it may not be possible to identify all areas of concern. It is also noted, that while an officer may acknowledge that a design element may be acceptable, if your design requires any variation of the Kingston Planning Scheme requirements, you will still be required to justify this variation in writing when a formal Application for Planning Permit is made. There is no guarantee that any variation to the Kingston Planning Scheme will be supported.
STAR Application Process (Straight to Advertising and Referrals)
As a result of the pre-application meeting process, the Kingston City Development team is proud to introduce the STAR (Straight to Advertising and Referrals) pre-application meeting process.
The STAR program reduces timeframes by working with applicants prior to lodgement to resolve key issues and ensure complete applications are lodged.
By participating in the STAR program, Council's City Development team commits to issuing public notification (advertising) of your application and initiate referrals within 10 business days of lodgement.
If you believe your application is suitable for this process or you would like discuss this process with a planning officer, please do not hesitate to contact us on 9581 4131.