Albany councillors to debate modifications to draft Local Planning Scheme after nearly 200 submissions

Albany councillors will debate the merits of more than 100 proposed modifications to the City’s draft Local Planning Scheme 2 at the committee meeting on Wednesday. The City has promoted LPS2 as a way to help deliver on the ambitions of creating a more compact city as guided by its planning strategy adopted in 2019. The draft scheme was publicly advertised for comment over a three-month period from late September through to December 23, during which 180 public submissions were made. A further 15 submissions commenting on the draft were made by State Government agencies. The City’s Development and Infrastructure Services Committee’s first meeting of the year on Wednesday will be a chance for councillors to discuss modifications that have been made to the draft as a result of consultation. A new requirement for potential tree farms to be granted development approval is expected to be a key talking point as laid out in the officer’s report prepared for councillors. Setting aside more than 4ha of land for tree farming will become more difficult under the new scheme because it will require development approval from the City in both rural and priority agriculture-zoned areas. The report notes landholders and the tree farming industry have objected to the proposed change because it creates “a level of unnecessary ‘red tape’ and affects their ability to plant trees for shelter belts, corridor plantings or revegetation of degraded areas”. “For the new scheme, it is proposed that tree farms in the rural zone are not permitted unless the local government has exercised its discretion by granting development approval,” the report said. “The discretionary decision-making process gives the local government the opportunity to assess plantation management plans and fire management plans to ensure development occurs in accordance with scheme and industry standards. “The proposed level of assessment is fairly consistent throughout planning schemes of the local governments in the South West, Great Southern and along the South Coast.” Another key talking point will be the land that has been identified for urban development within Yakamia. Last year multiple councillors suggested members of the Friends of Yakamia Forest group take the opportunity during the public comment period for LPS2 to advocate for a zoning change for an area earmarked for future development. The report notes comments were submitted seeking such modifications and it recommends further consideration on the issue take place via reviews of Local Planning Strategy 2019 and the Yakamia/Lange Structure Plan. “The Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage is currently undertaking a review of the Yakamia/Lange Structure Plan,” it said. “If strategic documents (such as structure plans) identify alternative recommendations after LPS 2 is approved, the scheme can be amended.” Other modifications suggested to the draft have been broadly broken up into a further five categories in the report. It states changes to the scheme maps have been suggested “in particular where discrepancies exist between the current and draft new schemes and between land use characteristics and zone or reserve classifications”. There have also been a number of general text modifications “to provide clarity and consistency”. Land use permissibility modifications have been suggested “especially where the land use conforms with zone objectives”. A number of provisions that had been included dealing with the keeping of pets have been suggested for deletion as the “planning system does not manage the keeping of domestic pets”. Submissions from the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation have also prompted a number of potential modifications to land use allocations within public drinking water source areas. Following discussion of LPS2 at the committee level, the full council will consider endorsing the draft scheme with modification at its meeting on February 28.