The old City Planning Scheme is likely to be replaced with City Planning Scheme 2 early next year.
For a Crawley site zoned R60, developers are allowed to build up to a height of 39 metres under the old scheme and have a plot ratio of 1:1.
Under council’s draft City Planning Scheme Number 2, that building height is reduced to 30 metres and the plot ratio falls to 0.77:1.
The height requirements of CPS2 are graded to ensure no “monoliths” are built facing the river and blocking the views from buildings further up the Kings Park escarpment.
Council is required to apply CPS2 to development applicat-ions. However, if it refuses an application that complies with CPS1, there is a good chance it will be overturned on appeal.
Councillor Laurance Good-man said councils risked a rush of development applic-ations on the eve of a zoning change.
On September 26, council baulked at deferring a decision on a six-apartment building planned for 24 Mounts Bay Road, Crawley, until a decision on an appeal relating to the development of 6-8 Mounts Bay Road, Crawley.