CALLS for stricter planning guidelines in Northbridge have been renewed following news of a $9.5 million development proposal for the Arcus site opposite the Post Office Night Club.
CALLS for stricter planning guidelines in Northbridge have been renewed following news of a $9.5 million development proposal for the Arcus site opposite the Post Office Night Club.
The development proposal, on one of the biggest sites within the East Perth Development Authority’s Northbridge redevelopment precinct, is for 66 residential dwellings with commercial development on the ground floor.
City of Perth councillor Vincent Tan said locating a residential development would threaten the future of entertainment venues on Aberdeen Street, including the Post Office Night Club.
EPRA chief executive officer Tony Morgan said the site was under contract to a developer (Australand).
“They have submitted plans to EPRA on which a decision hasn’t been taken,” he said.
“Part of the process is to refer them to the City for Perth as they are ultimately the authority that is responsible for the development.
“What EPRA is doing as a planning regulator and a land developer is ensuring the entertainment area prospers.
“And we provide a buffer [for residential units] of uses more compatible such as commercial and short-stay accommodation.”
Cr Tan said both EPRA and Planning Minister Alannah MacTiernan agreed that specific planing guidelines for Northbridge were a good idea.
“One of these days this land will come back to us [from EPRA]. It’s just creating a rod for our own back,” he said.
“All you need is one lady to say: ‘I came out at night and got confronted by drunken louts’. You can imagine the media will play it up and then we’ll have a big problem.”
The entertainment/residential mix can be problematic, even in carefully planned developments such as the Old Swan Brewery development.
Cr Tan said EPRA was putting memorials in place on the sales contracts for the development, warning buyers that they are buying a property within an entertainment precinct and that they need to be aware of the potential for noise.
“But they can’t extinguish people’s legal right to protest and write a petition,” he said.
“The other thing is that, after the property is sold, it’s entirely likely that the buyer won’t live in it.
“The property may then be handled by a real estate agent and that agent may not pass on all those warnings.”
Cr Tan said he had hoped that the City of Perth Council would not approve the development.
“I was hoping that the City of Perth would band together and say ‘no’ to EPRA, not that it would necessarily make any difference to EPRA but it would send a very powerful message,” he said. “You can either lie down and play dead or stand up for what you believe in.”
The development proposal highlighted differences in the planning approach employed by EPRA and the City of Perth, Cr Tan said.
“The message from the nightclub owners is that we are all looking at this as the thin edge of the wedge,” he said.
“When you start something you don’t know where it’s going to end.”
Deputy mayor Judy McEvoy said she wasn’t happy when the plans for the development on the Arcus site were presented to EPRA.
“This is the prime site in the Northbridge Redevelopment,” she said.
Cr McEvoy said the issue for the developer was that first-floor commercial space in Northbridge was very hard to lease.
Because of this only the ground floor of the development is devoted to commercial space, despite a recommendation from Cr McEvoy and Lord Mayor Peter Nattrass that any development on Aberdeen Street be restricted to commercial space.
“In saying that, the development has got 10mm window glazing, so at least residents could close the windows for noise attenuation,” Cr McEvoy said.
“We’ve worked extremely hard with EPRA and I’ve been very vocal.
“But this is a planning issue, the apartments are all one and two-bedroom apartments, so of course they’ll be rentals.
“I think Vincent Tan is right in saying the area should be a designated area for night life.”
The development proposal, on one of the biggest sites within the East Perth Development Authority’s Northbridge redevelopment precinct, is for 66 residential dwellings with commercial development on the ground floor.
City of Perth councillor Vincent Tan said locating a residential development would threaten the future of entertainment venues on Aberdeen Street, including the Post Office Night Club.
EPRA chief executive officer Tony Morgan said the site was under contract to a developer (Australand).
“They have submitted plans to EPRA on which a decision hasn’t been taken,” he said.
“Part of the process is to refer them to the City for Perth as they are ultimately the authority that is responsible for the development.
“What EPRA is doing as a planning regulator and a land developer is ensuring the entertainment area prospers.
“And we provide a buffer [for residential units] of uses more compatible such as commercial and short-stay accommodation.”
Cr Tan said both EPRA and Planning Minister Alannah MacTiernan agreed that specific planing guidelines for Northbridge were a good idea.
“One of these days this land will come back to us [from EPRA]. It’s just creating a rod for our own back,” he said.
“All you need is one lady to say: ‘I came out at night and got confronted by drunken louts’. You can imagine the media will play it up and then we’ll have a big problem.”
The entertainment/residential mix can be problematic, even in carefully planned developments such as the Old Swan Brewery development.
Cr Tan said EPRA was putting memorials in place on the sales contracts for the development, warning buyers that they are buying a property within an entertainment precinct and that they need to be aware of the potential for noise.
“But they can’t extinguish people’s legal right to protest and write a petition,” he said.
“The other thing is that, after the property is sold, it’s entirely likely that the buyer won’t live in it.
“The property may then be handled by a real estate agent and that agent may not pass on all those warnings.”
Cr Tan said he had hoped that the City of Perth Council would not approve the development.
“I was hoping that the City of Perth would band together and say ‘no’ to EPRA, not that it would necessarily make any difference to EPRA but it would send a very powerful message,” he said. “You can either lie down and play dead or stand up for what you believe in.”
The development proposal highlighted differences in the planning approach employed by EPRA and the City of Perth, Cr Tan said.
“The message from the nightclub owners is that we are all looking at this as the thin edge of the wedge,” he said.
“When you start something you don’t know where it’s going to end.”
Deputy mayor Judy McEvoy said she wasn’t happy when the plans for the development on the Arcus site were presented to EPRA.
“This is the prime site in the Northbridge Redevelopment,” she said.
Cr McEvoy said the issue for the developer was that first-floor commercial space in Northbridge was very hard to lease.
Because of this only the ground floor of the development is devoted to commercial space, despite a recommendation from Cr McEvoy and Lord Mayor Peter Nattrass that any development on Aberdeen Street be restricted to commercial space.
“In saying that, the development has got 10mm window glazing, so at least residents could close the windows for noise attenuation,” Cr McEvoy said.
“We’ve worked extremely hard with EPRA and I’ve been very vocal.
“But this is a planning issue, the apartments are all one and two-bedroom apartments, so of course they’ll be rentals.
“I think Vincent Tan is right in saying the area should be a designated area for night life.”
