City of Gold Coast Planning and Development Hub

We have an updated Amenity and Aesthetics declaration that will commence on 1 February 2024.

If you design, certify, or build class 1 and 10 buildings and structures, now is the time to familiarise yourself with the new declaration.

The new declaration updates the previous declaration with some new definitions, updated references and clarified wording. There is also a new item for houses with second kitchens.

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We have a unique waterway environment supporting a natural non-urbanised appearance that’s part of the Gold Coast’s iconic image.

Proposed development must be balanced with protecting our waterways, an important role we undertake.

This guideline is intended for industry professionals as practical information on applying the various requirements applying to development in the waterway building setback

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We are pleased to announce improvements to the Express DA process and online documents, aimed at enhancing efficiency and streamlining our services to better cater to your needs.

Updates to Pre-submission request lodgement process:

From 4 December 2023 we will introduce the option for customers to lodge pre-submission requests electronically via the online lodgement portal (City of Gold Coast - Lodge a Development Application). Please note that from this date customers will not be able to submit pre-submission requests via email, however, we will continue to accept applications by mail or in person.

This change is part of our ongoing efforts to streamline and enhance our services. The process will align itself to the same lodgement process as a standard development application, where forms will be online and applications can be submitted from the one online portal for ease and consistency across the City.

Updates to Express DA online documents:

In conjunction with the transition to electronic submissions, we have made updates to the Express DA Guidelines and online documents. The updated guidelines and documents will be uploaded to the Express DA website (Express DA website) on 4 December 2023

Specifically, updates include:

• updating Accepted to code – code templates to align with the City Plan (version 10)
• updating the EDA guidelines, including:
  1. increasing the pre-submission review timeframe from five business days to 10 business days
  2. removing requirement for a flood conveyance check updating eligibility requirements / exclusions.

The City of Gold Coast recently announced its new organisational structure which came into effect on 1 November 2023. The new structure features seven departments: Infrastructure Gold Coast; Service Gold Coast; Environment, Heritage and Resilience; Planning and Regulation; Invest Gold Coast; Strategy, People and Performance and Business Services.

Introducing the Planning and Regulation department

The Planning and Regulation department is led by Executive General Manager Alisha Swain. Alisha is an experienced Local Government executive with more than 20 years’ experience and is known by many for her former role as Director Economy, Planning and Environment.

The new department is responsible for strategic planning and development assessment/statutory planning as well as City standards and local laws, licencing and permits, and compliance functions across the diverse functions in the city.

The department includes the following four branches, each under the leadership of a General Manager:

• City Development (Mick Moran, General Manager) – is responsible for the management and assessment of development applications (including major developments, planning assessments and specialised engineering and landscape assessments) as well as being responsible for planning and building advice, infrastructure charges, infrastructure agreements, plan sealing, planning appeals and planning certificates.
• City Planning (Catherine Rollo, Acting General Manager) – is responsible for long term planning and policy development to manage growth and development of our city while protecting and conserving our natural resources and heritage. This includes strategic infrastructure planning (including coordinating the LGIP), strategic urban and regional planning, city design (including City Architect and Placemaking)
• City Standards (Ainslie Buffett, General Manager) – is responsible for issuing all licences and permits as well as developing City standards and policy across key compliance functions including local laws, parking and environmental health.
• City Inspectorate (Luke Connery, General Manager) – this newly centralised branch is responsible for enforcing the City standards and local laws across building, community, public safety and environmental health compliance. The City’s development compliance unit now sits with this branch.

Transfers to other departments

The following functions from the former Planning and Environment directorate have been transferred to other departments:

• The environment planning and assessment unit, which includes environmental conservation, environmental policy and planning, catchment management, natural hazards engineering and planning, and the Our Natural City strategy, is now located in the new Environment, Heritage and Resilience department.
• The City’s contributed assets unit, which is responsible for construction supervision of developer contributed assets (from prestart to handover at off-maintenance), is now located in the Engineering, Design and Standards branch in the new Infrastructure Gold Coast department.

Importantly, our commitment to providing a seamless service for our industry partners remains a high priority for the City.

For more information about our Executive Leadership Team and the new departments, visit cityofgoldcoast.com.au/councilstructure

The Gold Coast has matured and is on the cusp of a new era of growth.

Invest Gold Coast are proud to the Gold Coast Investment Prospectus. Download your free copy to access in-depth economic trends, insights into high growth industry sectors and locations, and investment opportunities.

>> Download the Gold Coast Investment Prospectus

On 14 September 2023, the Council of the City of Gold Coast adopted the Council of the City of Gold Coast Charges Resolution (No. 1) of 2023 (“Charges Resolution”).

The Charges Resolution commenced on 28 September 2023 and replaced the Council of the City of Gold Coast Charges Resolution (No. 1) of 2022.

The Charges Resolution sets the adopted charges for providing trunk infrastructure for development within the City’s local government area. The Charges Resolution includes changes to align with the recent amendment to the Local Government Infrastructure Plan as well as administrative changes (including a new format to improve readability).

A copy of the resolution is available for viewing on the City's website.

For more information, including a copy of the Charges Resolution, please visit the City's website at cityofgoldcoast.com.au/chargesresolution

You can also email the City’s Strategic Infrastructure team at StrategicInfrastructure@goldcoast.qld.gov.au

From 1 June 2023 the City commenced a position in accordance with Council resolution G20.0618.018 (18 June, 2020) whereby only Stormwater Australia SQIDEP-certified proprietary stormwater treatment devices would be considered for use on development sites.

For applications considered properly made before 1 June 2023, the City has accepted proposals which include proprietary treatment devices that have been submitted to Stormwater Australia for SQIDEP evaluation but have not yet been certified.

To this end, the following requirements will be included for applications considered properly made before 1 June 2023. The updated requirements will be reflected on development approval conditions. The changes are summarised as follows:

• monitoring in lieu of receiving SQIDEP certification is no longer supported
• certification or endorsement letter from Stormwater Australia must be submitted to the City prior to issue of a development approval for Building works
• If a SQIDEP-approved device results in lower pollutant removal rates than modelled for in the development application, the applicant must provide supplementary treatment measures to meet the City Plan stormwater quality objectives.

If certification is not able to be achieved for the nominated device within a timeframe suitable for applicants, an alternate and currently approved device is required to replace it. To facilitate this, a change application may be required. Applicants are encouraged to contact City officers to discuss options.

For development applications lodged on or after 1 June 2023 the City requires that developments utilise Stormwater Australia SQIDEP-certified proprietary stormwater treatment devices.

City Plan Version 10 commences today (4 July 2023) and incorporates six amendments:

• Major Update 2 & 3 (in part)
• Major Update to City Plan Policies (Schedule 6)
• City Plan Major Amendment – Heritage overlay provisions
• Local Government Infrastructure Plan Amendment
• Minor and Administrative Amendment 9
• Minor and Administrative Amendment to City Plan Policies (Schedule 6) Land development guidelines

City Plan Version 10, as well as superseded and historic versions of City Plan, are available via ePlan - cityplan.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/eplan/

On 17 October 2022, the Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning and Minister Assisting the Premier on Olympic and Paralympic Games Infrastructure approved, in part, the Major Update 2 & 3 amendment package.

The Minister approved 21 of the 34 items in the amendment, which commenced today as part of City Plan Version 10.

Thirteen items were unable to be adopted as the Minister was unable to determine the extent to which some of these changes will impact housing supply.

The 13 remaining items will be progressed as part of a new Amendment Strategy endorsed by Council in May 2023. Council’s desire to continue to advance these items is based on the Minister’s ongoing support for the policy underpinning them and their importance to the community and development industry.

The new Amendment Strategy will deliver prioritised outcomes through smaller amendment packages sequenced to improve community understanding and be more focussed and streamlined.

The first amendment introduces key foundational changes such as the new Low-medium density residential zone and a revised approach to measuring building height. This amendment is anticipated to go out for public consultation in August.

Find out more about the Amendment Strategy and current City Plan amendments on the City’s website - cityofgoldcoast.com.au/cityplan