Mayoral Memo | What Dubbo Regional Council looks at when a development application is lodged

So that obviously means that if a certain type of business wanted to open its doors in Dubbo, a business that had an orange logo, I would immediately reject that application! A store that sold Fanta, for example. Both Harley-Davidson and KTM Motor Cycles. Shell Oil.

Dunkin' Donuts. Definitely the mobile carrier, Orange. If it has the colour orange in the logo, I don't want it seen on the streets of Dubbo.

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That all seems fair enough. I am the Mayor and I don't like the colour orange so we just reject that from our business landscape!

I am sure you can work out that the Council in Dubbo works nothing like that.

Apart from the fact that a Mayor, any Mayor, does not have the power to outright reject or allow any specific Development Application (DA) there are certain things that a Council looks for when reviewing a lodged DA.

The components to be addressed are typically technical in nature. Is the type of business being proposed allowed in the zoning at that particular location? I have heard some people argue against zoning of land and believe it should be, a bit like the Goodies, anything, anywhere, anytime. The argument against that is that it would allow a business that had a 24-hour operation with shift workers and loud machinery to be located next to your house.

So assume the zoning is correct. Then the traffic flow needs to be analysed. The building setback from the boundaries. The actual construction of the building. The trading hours.

State laws and local Development Control Plans need to be considered. Professional staff with years of training and experience are tasked to undertake all of this assessment.

At no stage during the assessment will the staff consider the financial viability of this particular business. Neither will it consider that the community already has enough of this type of business. And the colour of the logo is also not something to be considered.

If the DA is over $5 million or the staff recommendation is to reject the DA or one of several other conditions are met, it will come to Council for Councillors to consider with a recommendation from our staff. The vast majority of applications don't meet the specific thresholds and are approved by our staff without Councillors (including the Mayor) ever considering the DA.

Keep in mind that, except in rare circumstances, Council does not choose the type of business that will open and, despite the best encouragement for specific businesses, ultimately a business will lodge a DA when that business decides the time is right for them to open in a certain community.

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