Perth Voice Interactive

FOLLOWING intense public interest and a packed-out meeting over the Meltham Station Precinct Structure Plan, the deadline for public comment has been extended to March 14.

There’s been fierce debate back and forth over the merits of the plan which would bring up to six storeys to the area around the train station.

The structure plan was created by private consultancy WA Planning Solutions for its customer Bayswater JV, which owns a chunk of land in the area.

Planning Solutions’ plan states it will “promote medium to high density development which maximises the benefits of being in close proximity to a railway station”.

Along with the public transport proximity, the report says it’s a good spot for more density because it’s close to the library, senior citizens centre, post office, supermarkets, the Maylands RISE and cafes, restaurants and hotels.

The WA Planning Commission is the final arbiter, with Bayswater council only able to give its opinion.

Mr McKenna said they asked the WAPC to extend the February 28 extension due to the “high level of interest from local residents”.

Residents are already gearing up to fight the plan, forming a new group “Future Meltham”.

The brand might be similar to neighbouring group “Future Bayswater”, but their goals differ greatly: Future Bayswater members want a structure plan for their suburb to usher in more multi-storey development, while the Meltham group want only a mild increase.

A FM petition opposing the structure plan, which so far has 56 supporters, states the plan “advantages a small number of landowners in a six block area” bringing in 5000 new people and will be a burden on the current residents.

Bayswater council will consider the plan in April before  giving its opinion the WAPC.

by DAVID BELL

EVER since the state government handed approval powers to development assessment panels, architect and heritage expert Ian Molyneux says he’s been inundated by calls from people fighting huge developments popping up next door to them.

“This is happening all over the metro area,” he says, with some people claiming large towers are making their homes unsellable.

Given the mass of complaints he’s come out of retirement to join the Julie Matheson for WA Party — which wants to get rid of DAPs — and is running as their candidate for Perth.

It’s one of the areas that’s been most affected by the DAPs, which for better or worse (much worse in Mr Molyneux’s opinion) have ushered in taller and bulkier developments than the local councils would usually allow.

He says it’s a perfect electorate for him: as far back as 1991 he was developing plans for what would later be called Elizabeth Quay, and he has big visions for how to bring in more density without demolishing residential neighbourhoods.

He brought an armful of maps and plans to the Voice’s office, detailing his ideas for turning the Narrows interchange into prime density development, and telling us why he reckons the new museum will be an expensive disaster (too much light will damage the artefacts, he says, and it’d be better to put our cultural buildings in a ring around the river: if it was moved alongside the zoo in South Perth that’d get more people on our ferries and using the waterfront).

Having chaired the Heritage Council, worked as Fremantle council’s heritage architect, penned a comprehensive book on Perth architecture and consulted on various local and state government plans, he brings a bit of gravitas to a party that’s copped some flak over its unusual candidates in recent weeks.

by DAVID BELL

A BIG turnout for a small extraordinary election saw Vincent councillor Emma Cole elected mayor with 78 per cent of the vote.

Rival Malcolm Boyd upped his total from his 2015 mayoral run, scoring about 21 per cent.

Jonathan Hallett was the clear frontrunner among the six people running for the vacant South Ward spot, amassing nearly 30 per cent of the vote, with nearest rival Mai Nguyen (endorsed by outgoing mayor John Carey) getting just under 25 per cent.

It was a pretty decent turnout by local election standards (admittedly a low bar), with 6212 people casting a vote in the mayoral race (out of 23,315 total electors).

Vote of confidence

That’s a smidgen more proportion-wise than the high-profile mayoral election in 2015, when 5706 people voted (out of 21,546 electors at the time).

Ms Cole says she sees the strong win “as a vote of confidence in Vincent’s direction that we’ve been taking in recent years.”

“It’s a really positive direction: we’ve had a strong reform agenda which I want to continue, we’re not afraid to challenge the status quo in local government, and we’ve seen the need for change such as the complete overhaul of planning policy, and we’ve got our new CEO who’s driving reform of the customer service process.

“It’s also really interesting to see Jonathan Hallett was elected: he had that really positive agenda and worked hard in terms of his campaigning.

Positive campaign

“He ran a positive campaign that really resonated with the community.”

While some new election candidates focus on criticising the incumbent regime, Mr Hallett said he liked the reforms at Vincent and wanted to keep the change happening.

A recent Paul Murray opinion piece in the West Australian described Vincent as being run by a “dominant Labor faction,” but Ms Cole is now the only Labor party member on council.

Since the council’s inception every mayor has been a Labor party member (Jack Marks, John Hyde, Nick Catania, Alannah MacTiernan, and Mr Carey) but all those had been involved in state or federal politics, and Ms Cole says she has no interest in carving out a political career.

by DAVID BELL

A SIX-METRE Christmas tree adorning Vincent council’s foyer in December cost ratepayers $4500.

Former councillor Dudley Maier has been quizzing council administration about who authorised the extravagant tree, which was located inside and not seen by most of the public.

Vincent CEO Len Kosova said that he “authorised this expenditure” and told the Voice “every year we have historically put on really lame attempts at Christmas decorations, and it’s quite often a bit embarrassing when during the December month in particular we have a lot of council meetings, meetings with customers and important civic functions … there was well over 1000 customers and community members coming through the door when the tree was up.

“The money spent was approximately the same as has been spent in previous years by staff going to Spotlight and Bunnings, spending approximately 20 hours (between them) installing decorations themselves, because that’s a cost to the community as well when I’ve got staff doing non-core work installing Christmas decorations on an annual basis.”

Over-consumption

Mr Maier still thought $4500 a year sounded like a massive amount, and it shouldn’t cost that much if decorations were reused.

“When I saw the tree I also thought it reflected the worst aspect of what Christmas has become: over-consumption,” he says.

Mr Kosova says he welcomed the financial scrutiny, because when he first joined council all the talk was about the former administration’s bungle that left them facing an $8 million deficit.

“In terms of progress and transparency, I think it’s great we’re having a conversation not about an $8m deficit, but $4500 on decorations, and the reason we’re having this conversation is because we’re very transparent about our expenditure whether it’s $1 or $8m,” he says.

He joked that next year they might just have a “Festivus” tree: a non-denominational Christmas decoration the Costanza family used on Seinfeld, consisting of a bare aluminium pole.

“They’re very affordable indeed,” he laughs.

Meanwhile new mayor Emma Cole flagged that councillors would look at something more visible next year, rather than a tree tucked away in the foyer.

by DAVID BELL

UNSEASONAL heavy rains and high water levels in the Swan River are making Maylands a mosquito mating capital.

Bayswater mayor Barry McKenna says they’re likely to see a “spike in numbers” after the rains and they’re rolling out the six-wheeled amphibious mozzie buster to treat hard-to-reach breeding areas.

The wee ATV cost council $30,000 in 2014, but Mr McKenna says it’s a “serious and effective piece of kit” and the six-wheeler’s flexibility “means we can treat more potential breeding sites”.

Bats

The city’s also trialling a more environmentally-friendly (and adorable) method of mosquito control—bats.

They’ve installed bat boxes at key points near the waters because the marsupials love to snack on mosquito babies.

Bassendean’s also been plagued by mozzies so Bayswater’s working with neighbouring councils.

“That’s an important part of protecting our residents,” Cr McKenna says, noting the bugs “don’t recognise local government boundaries.”

by DAVID BELL

Voice reader Chris Elieff sent us this photo of what looks like a 1950s B-movie monster attacking Beaufort Street, but this gigantic-appearing insect is just a wee grasshopper on his windshield.

He was pulling out of his new premises at Pressed for Time Ironing, on Seventh Avenue, when the bug landed on his van’s windscreen, giving him a bit of a fright, but he whipped out his camera phone in time to capture this peculiar perspective.