The Minister for Planning yesterday launched a series of state government and council-led initiatives that aim to encourage better design outcomes, these include:

• Capital City Design Quality – A review of design policy for Adelaide’s city centre has now been finalised and new policies are in place to support a higher standard of design and support carbon neutral initiatives.
• Design Guidelines – prepared by the Office of Design and Architecture to support the delivery of well-designed homes in metropolitan Adelaide and towns across South Australia. ​This is the first in a series of guidelines to be released progressively.
• Improved Design on Inner Metropolitan Corridors – aimed at improving the form and appearance of new developments and providing better design outcomes for communities.
• Rezoning inner metropolitan growth corridors – a number of sites along important transit-corridors, identified in the 30 Year Plan for Greater Adelaide are proposed to be rezoned for mixed use development.

This DPA was originally initiated with a focus on rezoning another series of transit corridors.  In response to market trends and community feedback, we have prioritised the rezoning of areas that:

• have the potential to generate jobs for South Australian’s  and provide housing choice,
• can accommodate a mix of land uses that promote walkable and vibrant places with access to public transport
• have the potential to achieve positive urban design outcomes and contribution to the street (i.e. by creating active places)
• have site conditions that enable the interface with any adjoining areas to be well managed (i.e. of a suitable size, separated by roads etc).

We would like to thank the Adelaide City Council and the Cities of Onkaparinga and Prospect for working with us to test and build the design policy.

Development Plan Amendments (DPAs) in these areas focus on improving the form and appearance of new developments and improving the integration of new developments with existing homes.

The following is available for consultation:

• Inner and Middle Metro (Sites) DPA 
• Inner Metro (Design) DPA
• City of Prospect Urban Corridor and Interface Areas Policy Review DPA
• City of Onkaparinga General Residential and Miscellaneous DPA 
• Design Guidelines – Design Quality and Housing Choice

View the Minister’s message about the initiatives and our vision for land use in Greater Adelaide here.

An integral part of the current planning reform is the development of a Community Engagement Charter that will shape how the public participate in proposed changes to planning policies and rules.

DemocracyCo and Matt Davis are assisting DPTI and the State Planning Commission develop a draft Charter. They have devised an innovative, collaborative program that will see community representatives work alongside practitioners, local government and special interest groups to produce the Charter. This is to occur over two weekends in July.

We are seeking around 30 people with a broad range of expertise in planning to support a community-led panel draft the Charter. For more information, or to express your interest in being part of this process, please contact Anya.Hart@sa.gov.au.

This month, DPTI will commence a series of Local Government practitioner information sessions (roadshows) covering the implementation of the PDI Act. The sessions are aimed at informing and supporting Council practitioners in the transition to the new system and will cover a range of topics.

Invitations have been sent via Eventbrite to Council CEOs and senior staff for the three metropolitan and five regional roadshows. Any officers involved in planning, development, infrastructure, land division and related fields are encouraged to attend.

If you have not directly received an invitation but are interested in attending, please contact TenilleFrancyne.Anderson@sa.gov.au for an invitation to be sent. Enquiries may be directed to Mark.Adcock@sa.gov.au.

Today we have launched Snapshot SA and Our New Planning Future on the SA Planning Portal to coincide with the Minister’s announcement yesterday. Snapshot SA is an exciting new way of showcasing key demographic and development data in an easy to digest format.

Our New Planning Future provides a summary of a range of recent strategic initiatives and is provides a new online platform for engaging with communities on the future of land use in our state. We will progressively improve the site to include innovative engagement tools and planning information over time. Take a tour of the new pages and let us know our thoughts.

As the next stage of the implementation of the new planning system, it is proposed to proclaim the provisions for the new Assessment Panels structure to commence from 1 October 2017. Under the PDI Act, Assessment Panels will include:

• a maximum of five (5) members.
• Up to one of the five may be an elected member of Council.
• Councils will need to appoint an Assessment Manger.
• Non-elected members of Panels and the Assessment Manager will need to be Accredited Professionals under the new Act provisions, but not at first. The accreditation requirement will likely be introduced later in 2018 once the accreditation scheme has been established.
• Elected members will need to be suitable persons appointed by Councils as set out under the new Act.

Under the transitional arrangements, Regional Assessment Panels may be transitioned to the new Act, however the participating Councils must specifically request the Minister re-appoint the regional panels by no later than 1 September 2017 to enable the necessary arrangements to be made.

Further information, including draft regulations, a draft Code of Conduct for Panel members, and draft procedures for Regional Panels can be found on the SA Planning Portal.

Last week, Kaush Singh, Development Manager, Infrastructure from Economic Development Queensland presented to the Planning Reform team about the various infrastructure policies, planning methodologies and charging mechanisms  currently in place for Priority Development Areas across Queensland.  Kaush’s experience and learnings will be hugely beneficial for the Reform team as it moves towards developing the pilot projects and various policies associated with developing and implementing the basic and general infrastructure schemes under the PDI Act.

6 June 2017 PIA Event – Essential traffic planning for planners.