Assessing your Application

The Officer assessing the application may need to visit the site for a better understanding of the proposal. If this is the case and access into a building or site is required, the Council Officer will contact you to arrange a suitable time.

Your application may be referred internally within Council for expert advice – such as to Council’s Accessible City Program for traffic and parking matters, or to Council’s Safer City Program to assess potential emergency and public safety concerns.

If appropriate, your application may also be referred externally for advice – such as to the State Heritage Unit of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for proposals that affect State Heritage listed properties, or to the South Australian Police Department or Environmental Protection Agency.

Expert advice received will be taken into consideration by the Planning Officer.

Some forms of development will require public notification. Public notification allows adjoining or nearby property owners the opportunity to look at a proposed development, consider the likely impacts the proposal may have on them, and provide comments about the proposal prior to a decision being made.

In these instances, Council will write to each property owner and allow 10 business days for comments to be made.

A detailed report will be developed by a Planning Officer taking into consideration the outcomes of all of the above steps. This report will outline the recommended decision.

Over 90% of development applications are delegated to the administration for decisions. The remaining applications are determined by the Council’s Development Assessment Panel.

See the Development Assessment Panel page for information on the role and structure of the panel.

The Building Rules Assessment can be undertaken by either Council or a Private Certifier. The assessing officers ensure the proposed works are in accordance with the Building Code of Australia and relevant Australian Standards; this includes items such as disabled access and fire and life safety systems.

When the building officer is satisfied that the proposed works have been designed in accordance with the Building Code of Australia and are consistent with the approved planning documents, the officer is able to finalise the application and grant Building Rules Consent and in turn Development Approval.