Perth Voice Interactive

HOMEOWNERS who paid for underground power years ago have lost a bid to stop Vincent council double-dipping by forcing them to contribute to rolling it out across the rest of the city.

In June 2022 councillors voted to add an extra 2.1 per cent to rates bills to help fund the planning of a Vincent-wide undergrounding. It amounted to an average of a bit over $100 extra per residence that year.

But several residents from around Highgate East fronted Vincent’s February electors’ AGM to complain they were effectively being made to pay twice, since they’d already contributed about $3,000 for their power lines to be buried  in 2006.

Perth resident Ante Simic said the original payment to have his power lines sunk was “onerous” and he didn’t believe he should pay for other people’s undergrounding via an extra 2.1 per cent in rates.

Nik Karakashov put in a written objection: “As the owner of two properties within the Town of Vincent which all currently have underground power, I believe this will be an unfair and unreasonable burden to my finances and the finances of my family.

“I clearly remember the expense incurred 15 years ago – thousands of dollars at that time… I have already paid my contribution towards it.”

Highgate’s Ana Marinova wrote from the same template, edited to add more houses: “As the owner of three properties within the Town of Vincent which all currently have underground power, I believe this will be an unfair and unreasonable burden,” she said. 

While the Highgate East residents who already got underground power did pay around $3,000 in infrastructure costs, mayor Emma Cole pointed out other ratepayers also subsidised that program: The council took out a large 

$3.7 million loan at the time so affected residents had an option to pay in instalments over a longer period, with about half taking up that option. The interest on that loan was effectively absorbed by all ratepayers, even if they didn’t get underground power.

And homeowners getting their power sunk under the new plan will still have to make individual contributions, in the order of thousands of dollars, dwarfing the $100 extra per year on the average rates bill that everyone is paying.

“Rating is a collective pursuit,” Ms Cole said at the March council meeting, where the majority of councillors voted not to refund the rate increase. 

“We rate in the City of Vincent against a number of services projects outcomes that are holistically of benefit to the whole council, but it might not be that individuals use all aspects.

“I would be quite taken aback if someone had come to council and said we’d like to have a refund on the rates component that’s gone towards the library because I haven’t borrowed a book for 10 years.”

by DAVID BELL

AFTER 23 years calling Halverson Hall home, Robertson Park Artists Studio has relocated to the North Perth Community Centre and redubbed themselves “The Farmer Street Studio”.

Vincent council had been leasing them Halverson Hall in Robertson Park but the building’s in need of repairs and upgrades to make it universally accessible, so they’ve moved into a renovated space on Farmer Street.

Studio artist Graham Hay tells us: “when they offered us this place up here, we thought ‘yes, this is in much better condition, and it’s a good fit with the community groups.’” 

Those groups lease nearby buildings.

“Already we’re starting to have discussions with the men’s shed, the community gardens, and the tennis club about a number of projects.”

Artist Chris McClelland said in a media release: “The artists have a close relationship with both Robertson Park and Halvorsen Hall, so there is some sadness about leaving the studio and the park.

“We see the new studio as a continuation of this, rather than a completely new venture.

“The refurbishment has meant that we have a functional, light-filled, spacious and more aesthetically pleasing studio as a place of work.

“We are also looking forward to connecting with the many community groups in the immediate area and seeing how we can work together for our mutual benefit, as well as the community’s.”

The studio has five professional artists and about 100 community artist students, and three of the five have been around since the group’s inception in 1993.

Mr Hay, who joined a year after the group’s founding, recalls that they’ve only moved once in their 30-year history, having first started in an old plumbing building on Wellman Street.

They moved to Robertson Park in 2000, just in the nick of time: on February 13 the plumbing building burnt down.

by DAVID BELL

REVISED plans for a locally loathed petrol station on Angove Street haven’t convinced the “Stop the Station” community group to drop their campaign.

Nearby residents and Angove Street cafe strip users are chiefly concerned about the negative health effects of petrol emissions being so close to homes and alfresco areas (Voice, November 19, 2022).

Vincent council is moving to ban new petrol stations from town centres, but the application by South Australia-based petroleum company On the Run slipped in before the rules take effect.

The changed plans include a one-metre setback from the rear laneway to move the station slightly further away from homes, and a few other small changes. OTR has also added an “Emissions Impact Assessment”, after  its first application was criticised for glossing over health concerns.

The report says the station will be able to keep pollution emissions like benzene at a safe level by using an advanced “vapour recovery” system at the bowsers that stops fuel leaking when customers are filling their tanks. 

Vapour recovery

In WA, it’s mandatory to have vapour recovery systems for underground petrol storage tanks, but systems at the bowsers are optional. 

The report doesn’t make clear whether the station would use the system at the bowser, instead just saying they could “potentially” be installed.

Co-convener of the Stop the Station group, Don Barba, says of the revised plans: “The major issues haven’t been addressed.

“There’s still going to be an effect on the locals… the businesses, the houses there.

“The other major thing we’re concerned about is they’re going to use the laneway as an ingress/egress [point], and that laneway is 20 metres from the school.

“The area is not in fitting with the concept of a service station… it will destroy the current feel, that ambience, of that North Perth strip.”

The re-submitted plans are open for comment until April 6, and then the state government’s Joint Development Assessment Panel gets to decide whether the station is allowed.

by DAVID BELL

AFTER a three-year hiaitus due to unluckily timed Covid lockdowns, Leederville’s St Patrick’s Day Parade came back with a bumper turnout for 2023.

St Patrick’s Day WA committee chair Olan Healy tells us the crowds were so massive it made them tricky to count, but the estimate was “probably between 5,000 and 6,500”.

Turnout in a usual year is somewhere in the 3000s. “We about doubled it this year, it was fantastic,” Mr Olan says, adding he’s keen to stick around for the 2024 parade. 

Photos by Rift Photography

FREMANTLE’S iconic Spare Parts Puppet Theatre is sending its finest marionettes to take over Forrest Place.

The puppets are having their big day out this April 12, and Spare Parts’ artistic director Philip Mitchell says Puppets in the City is an exciting ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ that has something for everyone: “You can go on a puppet treasure hunt, make your own puppet, or marvel at, or be one of, the special puppeteers that brings our giant puppet Leor to life.”

The majestic Leor stands 4.5m tall and transforms his sparkly body into a starry galaxy at night. Puppets in the City was state government funded as part of the $12 million CBD post-Covid revitalisation program.