A call for Western Plains Regional Council to reduce more than $17,000 in fees has been approved.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A business in Fletcher Cresent, Dubbo sought to have their Section 94 Urban Roads Contribution recalculated, as inaccurate building plans had been submitted to council.
In a letter to council the applicant said: “the plans of the building that were submitted to council stated on them office area, where in fact it is not really office space”.
“This is where I believe the problem and mistake has been made and therefore having quite a large bill for urban roads.”
Section 94 contributions are calculated based on gross floor area of a development and the number of trips it generates. The fees are calculated based on a rate per trip of about $450.
Based on a smaller floor area, the applicant calculated their contributions should be cut by $17,088.
In a report on the contributions, council’s senior planner Lee Griffith said after reviewing the information the applicant was advised the calculations were incorrect and not applied in accordance with the Section 94 Contributions Plan.
Another applicant in Dubbo has also called for their contributions to be significantly reduced.
A developer at Blueridge Business Park establishing a welding business, is appealing to have their fees reduced from $14,940 down to $2,903, based on a belief the average number of trips is lower than the figure council obtained.
“Based on discussions with council, it seems the Blueridge subdivision has been the beneficiary of a general variation from the Contribution Plan rates, based on material that proponents provide to council,” the developer wrote to council.
“While this is no doubt beneficial to many of the occupants, if the average rate of development in the process was applied to our development it would not be a fair result.”
Based on the developers own research, the traffic would be lower than the current contributions state. However, a decision on the contributions has been deferred, pending a further traffic analysis by a suitably qualified person.