Perth Voice Interactive

THE development assessment panel at Vincent is yet to refuse a project outright.

DAPs feature two councillors and three paid, state-appointed experts and need a majority of three to approve an item. They must handle applications valued at more than $7million, while developers can choose between the DAP and the elected council if their development is between $3m—$7m.

Since the Barnett government set them up, there’ve been 45 applications to the local DAP. Thirty-four have been approved, two withdrawn, and nine are still to be determined.
The optional threshold for an application going to DAP is being lowered to $2m (the government says they are more efficient than council planning processes). Mayor John Carey says important and controversial projects have benefited from the elected council’s careful consideration (such as the Domination Homes saga on Hobart Street the Voice reported on this year).

“Council on behalf of residents mediated a much better outcome for residents,” Mr Carey says.

He also suspects that if a development is hovering a bit below $2m, applicants might bump it up to qualify for DAP.

“What you’re going to see as a result of this is more developers moving to the DAP,” he says. “Our concern is we’re seeing more decisions taken away by council and we’re seeing more community concerns.”

While there are council and community concerns about the decisions DAPs make, a faster and easier approvals process was the explicit brief for the Barnett government in bringing them in.