Viral Campaign Exposes 'Tough' Council Approval Waits

A hashtag campaign has gone viral after being created to highlight the range of benefits that innovative urban developments can bring to cities, with industry professionals detailing the difficulties of the City Council development approval process.

#yimby - yes in my back yard - was developed by Wolter Consulting Group in Brisbane to bring the spotlight back onto the development debate and support Brisbane's track record of outstanding development following concerns that innovative developments were "being tarnished".

According to The Courier-Mail, the initiative originated in New York to discuss, document and promote good development, and has since spread to other US cities, Canada and through Europe.

WCG senior associate Mitchell Hendricks told The Courier-Mail that the initiative had demonstrated strong success internationally, giving the community an understanding of new development, and the good aspects that would be derived from developments.

“The lack of information and how that matches community expectations is one of the biggest areas where yimby can actually help,” he said.

Mr Hendricks said yimby was not focused on individual buildings or projects, but highlighted a great “space, place or idea," according to The Courier-Mail.

Wolter's director and planning manager, Natalie Rayment, told Property Observer that Brisbane held a strong reputation for developments through Brisbane City Council administrations, including the Gasworks precinct at Newstead, the Urban renewal precinct at New Farm and Teneriffe and Waterline at Bulimba.

[urbanRelatedPost][/urbanRelatedPost]“Development is anything but adhoc. It is driven by the City Plan, a document prepared in conjunction with the people of Brisbane,” Rayment said to Property Observer.

“Residents were given double the usual period of time to comment on the City Plan to ensure the best outcome was achieved. The City Plan sets the direction of development in Brisbane for the next decade.

“It is misinformed to say that developers get to do what they like unchecked. The fact of the matter is there is an extremely rigorous system in place that takes into account every aspect of development as well as future planning."

Property Observer said that Ms. Rayment stated Brisbane City Council is one of the toughest to deal with for development, with anywhere from three to 12 months needed for an approval. Even a basic code assessable application involves detailed assessment against multiple land use, development and constraint codes examining anything from land use to landscaping, design to acoustics, traffic to engineering and much much more, according to Ms. Rayment.

Ms. Rayment concluded that “our aim is to generate balance in the development debate and start an intelligent, grown-up discussion on what makes a good development."