CAUGHT between a hopeful home builder and a street of North Perth neighbours opposing the house plans, Vincent councillors have deferred their decision and called for a more neighbour-friendly re-design.
Emotions ran high in the council chamber both this week and last, with distress evident both from the Barbas family who want to build their two-storey Auckland Street house, and from neighbours who oppose its bulk and how close it’ll be built to their properties and the street front (“’Dream home’ nightmare,” Voice, June 17, 2023).
Such passionate disputes over new builds have been common in Vincent in recent years as its legacy big blocks are subdivided and bulkier houses replace old cottages.
The Auckland Street home doesn’t follow the usual guidelines about being set back far enough from the streetline or from neighbouring properties.
Council planning staff say the plans are reasonable because the block is so awkwardly shaped that the usual guidelines would make the land very difficult to build on.
One cause of conflict is that subdivisions are approved from afar by the WA Planning Commission, but then local councils are left to decide which houses to approve on these oddly shaped blocks.
With three re-designs already done at a mounting cost to the Barbas family, councillors voted to send them back for a another rejig and are hoping for one that’ll be more amenable to the neighbours.
“These processes can be incredibly hard,” mayor Emma Cole said, adding she’d faced a similar situation.
“When my neighbour built their home, and I faced a one-and-a-half storey stairwell window overlooking my home and garden… I felt quite distressed by that.
“But my neighbour and I are now on good terms and we’ve moved forward, and I think you can overcome these things.
“I’d just like to encourage perseverance.”
by DAVID BELL
Perth Voice Interactive 
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