Development Application Process
If you are carrying out any building work or doing any kind of development, then you may need Council approval. Below is a summary of the various stages in the development application process, from your initial idea, to the finished project.
Step 1. What do you want to do?
Step 2. Is your proposal classified as Exempt or Complying Development?
Step 3. Documentation required for lodgement of a Development Application (DA)
Step 5. Talk to Council, neighbours and consultants to prepare your application
Step 6. Make sure that your application is adequate and correct
Step 7. Submission of your application
Step 9. Notification & exhibition
Step 11. Determination and Council Meetings
Step 12. After consent is granted - what is the next step?
Step 14. Modification of a Consent – Section 96
Step 1.
What do you want to do?
Once you have a clear idea of the work that you wish to do it will be much easier to look at the specific controls that Council will apply to your particular project. You may use the Online Property Information Tool to find out more information about your property and the relevant controls and you can also speak to Council's Duty Planner about your proposal.
Step 2.
Is your proposal classified as Exempt or Complying Development?
If your proposal is of a minor nature, refer to the exempt development criteria to determine whether development consent is required. If the proposal meets the specific criteria for that development type, then development consent is not required. If your proposal does not meet the criteria, then it is not Exempt Development and approval will be required.
Development which does not fall within the listed exempt development criteria may be able to be lodged as a complying development certificate. To find out if your development can be approved as complying development, please refer to Council's complying development web pages. If your proposal does not fall within Exempt or Complying Development, then a Development Application will be required to be submitted to Council to seek approval.
Step 3.
Documentation required for lodgement of a Development Application (DA)
If you need to lodge a DA, a good place to start is to have a look at the Development Application Form, the relevant DA Checklist specific to your proposed development and the DA Appendix. These documents are designed to assist you in providing a fully complete and accurate application so that delays in the processing of your application are avoided as much as possible. By referring to these documents you will be able to understand the information and detail required for your DA.
Step 4.
Review LEP and DCP
Council has a number of plans, policies and strategies that help shape future development within the Canada Bay area. To find out more about these and how they will affect your proposal, please refer to our Planning Controls page. You will need to consider the relevant LEP and DCP in the design process and ensure you address all relevant controls when submitting your DA.
Step 5.
Talk to Council, neighbours and consultants to prepare your application
This is probably the most important part of the development assessment process. Getting this step right will often make the difference between having your DA proceed through the Council smoothly or experiencing delays and having Council not support your application.
Talk to Council
Council's Duty Planner can provide valuable information and feedback on what you would like to do. Informal meetings can provide a general indication as to whether the proposal meets the objectives of the planning controls and can identify issues that need to be addressed in the DA. A formal Development Application Pre-Lodgement Panel service is also available for larger developments.
Talk to your neighbours
Although you are not required to consult your neighbours when considering a proposal on your site, Council encourages you to discuss your development proposal with your neighbours. This can often overcome any concerns your neighbours might have with your plans. If your neighbours have an understanding of your proposal and any concerns are taken into account, it may reduce the number of objections that Council may receive when the DA is formally notified.
Engage a consultant planner and architect/designer and other professionals
When preparing a development application, you will generally need, at a minimum, to employ the services of a designer or draftsperson. For more complicated proposals, you may need the services of an architect and may also need the services of a qualified consultant town planner to prepare your Statement of Environmental Effects. Your Town Planner will also be able to advise if you need to consider engaging other professionals such as a heritage professional, traffic planner, engineer or registered surveyor.
Please remember Council cannot recommend professionals to you, however, if you need advice as to a suitable consultant planner, you may contact the NSW Secretariat of the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) on 9280 2121. Otherwise contact the Australian Institute of Architects on 9356 3122 who can provide details of Architects suitable for your proposed development.
Step 6.
Make sure that your application is adequate and correct
It is Council’s experience that the primary reason for delays in processing applications is that the necessary information is not provided or it is inadequate. Council has DA Checklists for different types of development and these detail the minimum, and additional, requirements for a DA submission. You should read the relevant checklist carefully and ensure you provide all of the 'Always Required' information and any of the 'Required in Certain Circumstances' information if these criteria apply to your proposal. The checklist also indicates the number of copies of documentation required. If your proposal involves development that is covered under two or more checklists, please ensure you submit all information required ie new dwelling and pool (you do not have to supply additional copies of existing documents). The checklist must be completed and submitted with the DA.
Step 7.
Submission of your application
Your application can be sent via mail to Council, or you can come in person. On lodgement you will need to provide the development application form, checklist, and all documentation required on that checklist. You will also need to pay the appropriate fees. Customer Service will go through the requirements of your checklist and ensure that you have all information necessary to lodge your application. If you are missing any information it is likely that Customer Service will not accept your application and will ask you to return to Council with the required information. If you have all required information, Customer Service will allocate you a development application number and provide you with a receipt.
Step 8.
Senior staff review
Once your application has been accepted, it will be forwarded to Council's Statutory Planning Services for review and assessment. Your application will be reviewed by senior planning staff. If the information provided does not satisfy the requirements of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000, the application will be returned to the applicant with a letter outlining the information that is required or that will need to be amended before resubmission. A full refund will also be mailed out.
If the application is ready for assessment, it will be allocated to an officer, referrals will be made seeking advice and comment from internal departments and external bodies, a letter acknowledging receipt of the application will be sent to the applicant and notification letters will be prepared.
Step 9.
Notification & exhibition
Most development applications go on public notification and exhibition which generally lasts for two weeks (See Part 2 of the DCP for more information). This will involve the following:
- a notice will be placed on the site
- notice, in writing, is sent to owners and occupiers of adjoining and nearby land
- copies of plans are available for viewing at Council
- Online DA Tracking gives up to date information on the progress of a DA
During the notification period, the community may raise concerns in relation to a proposal by submitting them in writing, to the attention of the assessing officer. Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions - Public Notification of DAs.
Step 10.
Assessment of the DA
The NSW Planning system sets out how a DA must be assessed. These criteria fall under a series of headings generally known as 'matters for consideration'. If you are interested in finding out more, these matters are contained in section s79C of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (1979) (the Act).
Any state, regional or local environmental plan
These are known as environmental planning instruments (EPIs) and are important statutory controls for assessing a development application.
Local Environmental Plans (LEPs) such as the Canada Bay Local Environmental Plan 2008, and ‘deemed instruments’ such as the Canada Bay Development Control Plan, contain legal restrictions for the use of land. For example the land use table contained in these instruments sets out what you can and cannot do on your land. If what you want to do is prohibited in the zone, Council cannot grant consent to your application.
LEPs or deemed instruments may contain development standards such as floor space ratio, height limits and others. These are known as statutory standards. Council takes the position that an application should comply with these standards.
If you feel that in your particular situation there is strong justification to depart from a statutory standard you must lodge an objection to the standard under Clause 4.6 of the Canada Bay LEP. Council must consider this before consenting to any DA which is inconsistent with a statutory standard. Clause 4.6 objection must be lodged with the development application.
Should you need to submit a Clause 4.6 objection you will need to obtain the services of a consultant town planner or other land use professionals who are familiar with the requirements of the EPI and Clause 4.6.
In brief however, a Clause 4.6 objection must support the departure from the statutory standard by identifying the objectives of that standard and resolving whether or not, in the particular circumstances of the case, its strict imposition is reasonable and necessary in terms of those objectives.
Further it will be necessary to demonstrate that there are sufficient environmental planning grounds to justify contravening the standard. Applicants should understand that the grounds put forward for the departure need to be compelling, as Council will view any departures from a statutory standard as a serious matter.
Any draft environmental planning instrument that has been placed on public exhibition
From time to time Council will review its LEPs. During that review, Council is required, to ensure that development proposals are not only consistent with existing LEPs, but the future planning intentions of Council and the community as indicated in a draft LEP.
Any Development Control Plan (DCP)
DCPs are non-statutory instruments which provide more detailed guidance to development. As such they are not contained in EPIs but are applied consistently by Council in the determination of DAs. Council's position is that development should comply with standards contained in DCPs. However, it is recognised that standards within a DCP are intended to have a degree of flexibility and may be varied if a convincing case is put to Council that in the circumstances of the particular application the objectives of the standard are met despite the area of non-compliance.
It is also important to note that DCP standards often seek to control the impact that your development might have on your neighbour’s property. The most common impacts that arise here include whether your development will unreasonably overlook or overshadow your neighbour’s house or land, or if you will block out an important view. For this reason DCPs will contain minimum solar access controls and objectives to protect views and privacy.
Another common issue is the scale or size of your development and whether, because of its size, it will unnecessarily or unreasonably dominate your neighbour’s land from a visual perspective, or compromise the existing streetscape.
In a similar way to a Clause 4.6 objection, Council will carefully consider how your development performs against the objectives of the standards when making a decision as to whether or not a departure from a DCP standard should be granted.
It is always important to realise that DCPs are developed in consultation with the community and reflect both community and Council's expectations for development of land in the Local Government Area. A departure from a DCP standard will be carefully examined and a non-compliance may not be permitted.
The likely impacts of the development
This is a very broad consideration and requires that Council assesses how your development responds to its urban or natural setting. In particular, Council is required to assess how the development relates to the character of the neighbourhood.
This does not necessarily mean that the development has to be identical to other buildings in the street. It does mean that in terms of height and size the development should reflect the character of the locality.
Often, if a development largely complies with the development standards and objectives contained in the relevant LEP and DCP, Council is able to say that issues of scale and height are satisfied. However if a design is seen to be overbearing or out of character within its locality - mere compliance with statutory and non-statutory standards does not guarantee that your application will be supported.
Other issues that often arise under this consideration include matters of solar access, visual and acoustic privacy and view corridors. Once again these matters are usually dealt with in the DCP. If a development is found to be acceptable in terms of the LEP and DCP Council is generally able to conclude that it is satisfied that the impacts of the development are acceptable.
The suitability of the site for the development
This consideration requires that Council assess development against matters which are known constraints that limit development on certain land. In larger developments, and Masterplan sites, Council must consider issues such as transport demands, reticulated services (such as water and sewerage), open space and recreation to name a few.
In other developments, Council may need to consider issues such as natural hazards including flooding or land subsidence or the effect of heritage listings.
Any submissions made and the public interest
In addition to those matters listed above, Council is also required to consider submissions to the application, whether made by concerned residents or state authorities or instrumentalities.
Step 11.
Determination: Delegations and Council Meetings
How is a DA determined?
The Council must either approve or refuse a DA.
A DA is determined in two ways. Either by the elected Council or by delegated authority granted to the officers of the Council. The City of Canada Bay’s current policy is that DAs may be determined by delegation when:
- there are two or less written objections;
- where an application achieves a majority of compliance with relevant development standards; and
- where it is consistent with the objectives of the controls.
If you have objected to a development application then Council will write to you and set out any conditions that have been applied to any consent issued.
Where a development application has attracted more than two objections or is substantially non-compliant with relevant controls, but the assessment has concluded that the application is acceptable from a planning perspective, it will be referred to the elected Council for determination with recommendation from staff.
Councillors will consider these applications at their 'Committee of the Whole' meeting held on the first Tuesday of every month.
Both the applicant and objectors will be notified in writing that the application will be sent to the Committee for consideration. At the Committee meeting, all parties will be given an opportunity to have their say.
The Committee of the Whole comprises all Councillors and has the authority to determine by way of approval or refusal, all DAs submitted to it.
The Council's Agenda containing the reports on DAs becomes available on the Friday afternoon before the meeting at Council's libraries, Council's Customer Service Centre and on Council's website.
Step 12.
After consent is granted - what is the next step?
The Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 provides that a person who has a Development Consent, which involves any building work, must obtain a Construction Certificate. For further information on construction certificates and process, please refer to the Building section of our website.
Step 13.
Review and Appeals
If Council has refused your development application and you are unhappy with decision, you can apply to Council in writing for a s82a Review of the determination. Alternatively you can appeal to the Land and Environment Court.
Step 14.
Modification of a Consent – Section 96
Before or during the building process, it may become necessary, or you may simply choose to alter your proposal from what was approved by Council. If this does occur you MUST contact Council to find out if you need to make an application to amend your original development consent.
Unless the changes are extremely minor, have little or no external implications to the approved building form, and Council has formally advised you in writing, you will need to submit an application under s96 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act to modify your original consent.
S96 applications are considered in a similar manner as the original Development Application, including the notification process. For further details on the submission of a s96 application please either contact Council’s Customer Service Centre on 9911 6555 and ask to speak with the Duty Planner, or review the Section 96 Application Form. A s96 application to modify the development consent will also require an application to modify the Construction Certificate.
It is important to realize that if the changes you want to make are so significant that Council forms the view that the development as modified is no longer substantially the same development consented to then it will be necessary that you lodge a whole new development application.
Important Information
Please be advised that the information on these pages is intended as a guide only and is a summary of the key steps relating to the preparation of Development Applications with Canada Bay Council. Any person using the advice provided above should be aware that it may not necessarily relate to every situation or circumstance. Accordingly, seeking further advice from Council’s Duty Planner or from an independent planning consultant or similarly qualified person is recommended. Furthermore, please be advised that this advice is subject to change without notice.