As you know, I submitted my planning permit application into the council on Monday. Thankfully, I received a ‘receipt of application’ on Wednesday. The receipt also had the details of the ‘planner’ that will be assessing my application.
If deemed necessary by the planner, I will need to advertise my application to ‘surrounding’ residents and owners by mail. ‘Surrounding’ isn’t defined and I found out that this process could cost thousands of dollars as there are heaps of apartments in the Prahran area.
So, I contacted my planner to ask them if I could manage the ‘advertising’ process. This is the email trail…
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Good Morning,
Thank you for your receipt of my application.
If my application needs to be advertised to neighbours, may I be given the opportunity to conduct the printing, enveloping, and mailing of the notice so that I may best control my costs associated with this exercise?
Thank you,
Charles.
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Hi Charles,
Please see below.
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Hiya
as they have requested this within the appropriate timeframe – we will have to allow it. we normally still charge the administration fee for preparing the letters & list etc as that is done on our letterhead but the mailing costs etc would be bourne by the applicant and they need to provide us with evidence of the postage ie receipt from Australia Post showing the number of letters etc. Also they would still pay us for the sign, if required.
minimum costs (incl GST) for this service would be
$82.50 – no sign
$110.00 – incl sign
thanks
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One of the primary reasons that I keep this blog is to document my journey, and my progress. I hope that it provides some sort of insight and/or entertainment; and hope that some of the lessons I learn here can be used by others who are starting their own businesses.
The simple lesson that I have learned from the above is that the planning application process is as much as about revenue for the council as anything else. If you’re working with councils, ask as many questions as you can and do everything you can to control your costs!