Griffith City Council has requested their full statement on land supply and development applications be published.
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Land supply
Mayor John Dal Broi stated “There is ample land zoned for residential development in Griffith as a result of Council's comprehensive forward planning in the Land Use Strategy and LEP. Most of it is privately owned. Council cannot force a land owner to sell their land to developers, and cannot force a developer, who has purchased land for development, when they are to develop it.”
Mayor Dal Broi also commented that “Around two years ago, Council recognised a potential land shortage as well as some reluctance of land owners to meet the market. Council responded then by amending the Development Control Plan for the Collina area to allow the next stage of land release to occur out of sequence, meaning any of the 4 properties affected could develop at any time rather than one after the other. This had an immediate effect such that today Council has been able to approve a 109 lot subdivision at Collina, for which the developer is yet to commence construction, and is about to approve a second subdivision of 98 lots at Collina. For each of these, 15% of the lots are eligible for multiple dwellings per lot, so the number of dwellings that can be approved exceeds original lot yield Council is aware other land owners are thinking of their options”.
Acting General Manager, Neil Southorn added that “Council has also recently approved the 72 lot subdivision at Willandra Gardens which is now under construction. For each of these, 15% of the lots are eligible for multiple dwellings per lot, so the number of dwellings that can be approved exceeds the 72 lot yield. There are also some smaller residential subdivisions in the pipeline.”
Mr Southorn said “At Lake Wyangan, there is an approved 70+ lot subdivision just south of the school and the Council owned land just north of the school, which carries a 185 lot approval, has been offered to the market for residential development. There are also a number of areas of land zoned for large lot residential development at various stages of design and approval”.
Given Council approved 103 dwellings last financial year, which was up on the previous few years, there is enough land available to meet demand for the next few years, with the development industry telling Council not to create a situation that floods the market.
Mayor Dal Broi also revealed that “In regard to longer term planning, Council is part of a process in partnership with the Aboriginal Land Council aimed at fast tracking the Aboriginal Land Claim over a large parcel of Crown land at Collina that is zoned for residential development.”
“There are another 4 privately owned properties at Collina that will be available to come on line when needed. Additionally, a couple of parcels of vacant land closer to the City centre are also available, including land that has recently been sold to the private sector by State Rail. Council is also hopeful the land currently owned and occupied by Linx, formerly Patricks, may one day soon be available for redevelopment when Linx relocates.”
Time taken to approve DAs
Acting General Manager, Neil Southorn stated that “Council stands by its record. In the 2014/15 financial year, Council recorded the best DA time of any NSW regional city with a population below 70,000 with an average net time of 28 calendar days. Since then, the number of DAs has increased and Council has had to deal with some significant staff shortages, so the next round of data may not be so good. In response to staff shortages, the Planning Department has engaged contract workers to fill the gap to meet industry expectations.”
Mr Southorn also explained that “Comparison with Leeton cannot be based on anecdotal comments or individual DAs. It is quite possible that a particular application at Leeton or anywhere else may have been approved quicker than one or more in Griffith, but a comparison can only be effective if the number of DAs per year, the number of DAs per assessment officer, the complexity of the application and the site and the type and value of development are also analysed.”