Developers facing potentially huge increase in cost of building in one Perth area

The City of Cockburn will on Thursday consider ramping up how much developers have to pay to build in the area.

A special meeting has been called after councillors narrowly voted at their November 11 meeting to reject a staff proposal.

The city currently charges a lesser rate than recommended, and staff had proposed that this be maintained.

However, the council voted 4-5 against it amid fears it was not bringing in enough money, and called for a new proposal to be presented at Thursday’s meeting.

Development contribution provisions have been part of the city’s town planning scheme since 2011, and are scheduled to end on June 30, 2031.

They are used to pay for community infrastructure such as roads, drainage systems, community and recreation centres, sporting facilities, and libraries.

The rate has to be reviewed before the end of November each year, and consultants had recommended increasing the rate.

But city staff recommended that the lower rate be maintained as they believed it was needed to keep the district attractive for developers.

Acting director sustainable development and safety Carol Catherwood said a higher rate could deter developers and prevent the city from completing required infrastructure projects.

“The (proposed) costs are quite extraordinary and we would not see . . . new lots on the market, which I don’t think is a position we’d like to see Cockburn in,” she said.

“We’re talking about adding zeroes, quite substantial amounts of increase. It depends on what catchment you’re in and what infrastructure you have the benefit of.

“We would be changing the number at the front for some of them and we’d certainly be killing off people’s modelling of what they thought was feasible.”

Ms Catherwood said the city was about halfway through its list of planned infrastructure projects but it still needed to collect a “lot more” funds.

“We are looking at tens of millions of dollars of funding gap,” she said.

Cr Chontelle Stone said the city would be short-changing itself and be unable to complete its infrastructure program if it did not increase the contribution rate.

“We are going to be putting pressure on rates if we can’t get grants,” she said.

“It’s not like there isn’t a demand for growth. There is.

“People are looking to build and looking for land whilst this is saying that we need to give a discount to people when it’s such high demand.”

Cr Tarun Dewan said he did not understand why a higher rate was not being proposed.

“The City of Cockburn is already in demand; developers are scrambling to buy land,” he said.

“There is so much development already happening . . . all these industries will require ancillary industries to come about, so I don’t think we need to give any incentives.

“Reducing contributions from developers shifts the burden from developers to ratepayers, which is fundamentally unfair.

“This council has a duty to protect the long-term interests of the city, not short-term development margins.”

Deputy mayor Phoebe Corke said the rate applied to all development in the city.

“It’s not just developers who pay this contribution, it’s everybody. It’s mom and pop subdividing their lot, it’s every single person putting a new dwelling into these areas,” she said.