South Australian developers are calling for more time to digest and debate the State Government’s largest reform of planning laws  in decades.

Urban Development Institute of Australia SA executive director Pat Gerace told InDaily the proposed reforms remained a “major concern” and more time was needed to absorb the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Bill.

“The [UDIA] is concerned about the lack of detail from government regarding planning reforms, which could affect the way South Australians live for decades to come,” Gerace said.

“We only saw [the bill] for the first time last Tuesday.

“Planning laws are complicated matters and it needs to be thoroughly looked at by the experts and developers.”

The bill was introduced to Parliament on 9 September following a two-year public engagement process with thousands of stakeholders, and the creation of an expert panel which made 22 key recommendations for reform.

At the time, Planning Minister John Rau said the “recommendations of the final report of the Expert Panel on Planning Reform are radical”.

A spokeswoman for Rau told InDaily the bill was yet to be debated in the lower house.

“It’s not really possible to tell how long that will take, or when the upper house will bring it on for debate and how long that would take,” she said.

Speaking at yesterday’s UDIA’s annual general meeting, Gerace applauded the “ambitious reform”, adding change was needed but not at the expense of a thorough review.

“While we are supportive of a number of the reforms like independent assessment panels and statewide standard planning rules to make the planning process faster and more certain, there is still a lot of detail that is missing which will determine what the reforms actually mean for the sector and consumers when the rubber hits the road,” Gerace said.

Members will have an opportunity to put their views about the proposed planning changes to Rau personally when he is guest speaker at a UDIA event on 25 September.

“We want our members to hear from the minister,” Gerace said.

“We need more time for our committee to consider [the bill] and respond.

“The UDIA continues to oppose a legislated urban growth boundary and doesn’t support any moves that will ultimately result in less choice for homebuyers.”

Gerace also raised concerns of cost shifting, with the bill including a mechanism to transfer infrastructure charges traditionally supported by government to property owners.

“We have also long sought a fairer and more transparent mechanism to fund costs of development, but we’re cautious of anything that could lead to homebuyers funding what has traditionally been the responsibility of government.”

The Government began the planning reform in 2013 to ease delays, uncertainties and inconsistencies in the planning process to accommodate future growth.

“Anyone needing to use the planning system in South Australia, whether it is because they are seeking to extend their home, convert a disused office building for their retail business, or build a multipurpose facility, must presently navigate up to 23,000 pages of planning rules, across 500 residential zones, and some 2,500 combinations of zones, overlays and spatial layers,” the government’s response to the expert panel report stated.

Gerace said the planning reforms risked achieving the opposite outcomes desired by the government if the approval authority process changed.

He said if the planning decisions were to go through both houses of parliament instead of the minister and department the process would be slower, rather than faster.

Stimson re-elected

Property industry figure John Stimson has been formally re-elected as SA president of the UDIA.

During the annual general meeting, Stimson spoke on the institute’s strategic and policy initiatives, including participation in the Expert Panel on Planning Reform, promoting a transparent, equitable and effective infrastructure funding framework and State Taxation Review.