A report was presented to the City of Wanneroo briefing session, last Tuesday night, seeking expressions of interest from elected members to accompany the Manager of City Growth, and the Manager of Asset Management, on a study tour of what is being called ‘Best practice master planned communities,’ and to attend the annual Congress for New Urbanism in the USA in May.

The trip is to include visiting five major United States cities, San Francisco, Portland, Denver, Fort Walton Beach in Florida, and Atlanta.

The council report states: “The intention is to meet with developers, local government representative and local community, wherever possible, to ascertain what has worked well and lessons on how the process and resulting developments could have been improved.”

The Congress for New Unbanism is over four days involving a series of seminars, workshops, networking opportunities and tours to sites around Atlanta.

The trip has been estimated to cost $8,700 per person. Package deals for the four day congress costs between $795.00 and $1210.00US, per person with different social activities and extended guided tours costing between $25.00 and $649.00US per person.

The conference is being held at the Hilton Atlanta where the standard room rate is around $239.00 and $279.00US per night.