Perth Voice Interactive

THE developers call it the future face of Inglewood but locals reckon seven storeys is too high for their Beaufort Street strip.

Doepel Marsh Architects and Planners say their design for a mix of 66 apartments, shops, consulting rooms and a restaurant on the corner of Beaufort and Eighth Avenue ”responds appropriately” to Stirling council’s local development plan for the area.

Doepel March says the development will “provide a high amenity built form, sympathetic to the local heritage character, creating a new focal point and community engagement hub, by revitalising the two state heritage registered buildings with new uses so they can be enjoyed again into the future”.

The original plans were deferred by the metro north-west JDAP, but following mediation in the state administrative tribunal, the developers have come back with a new plan that increases setback and lops off a storey facing Inglewood Lane, moves parking, ditches a car-stacker and alters the architectural style. Doepel Marsh says all the modifications will benefit residents along the lane.

The development includes the retention of the heritage-listed Bayswater police station and quarters, which will become a restaurant and medical consulting rooms following the demolition of some external walls and renovations.

But locals tell the Voice they’re still not happy with the latest plan and have mail-dropped a flyer through much of the neighbourhood urging people to speak out during the consultation period.

Nearby resident Roger Hill says the neighbours “would welcome a well-designed mixed use development” on that spot, but “this proposal falls considerably short of the ideal, being of a height and scale that is incompatible with its location”. The surrounding area is mostly one or two storeys.

Jo Francesca agrees: “The key issue with this development right from the beginning has been the height of the building.” She says residents have raised this with owners Anthony and Giuseppa Lembo and their family holding company Avanti Enterprises several times through three rounds of consultation but it’s still a whopper.

“It will tower over two heritage-protected buildings, the old Inglewood police station and residence,” Ms Francesca says.

Dominique Beral likewise calls it “a massive overdevelopment of a size and bulk vastly out of scale, and dwarfing, the surrounding streetscapes, and … hugely detrimental to the lane residents”.

The final round of consultation through Stirling city council’s website closes this Friday December 9. The final decision rests with the development assessment panel which is made up of two Stirling councillors and three government-appointed experts. The DAP already deferred the plans back in April, but following mediation with the applicant in front of the State Administrative Tribunal they’ll be taking a second look at it at an impending DAP meeting.

by DAVID BELL

SOME councillors have been offering to support mayoral candidates in exchange for well-paid roles, says Bayswater councillor Catherine Ehrhardt.

Cr Ehrhardt says she hadn’t been aware of the backroom deals at councils where mayors are voted in by their colleagues, prior to her election in 2015, and says they should be stamped out by putting the election of the mayor directly in the hands of ratepayers.

After speaking to the Voice, Cr Ehrhardt backed her comments by putting forward a motion suggesting ratepayers be asked if they wanted a direct vote for mayor, as is done at Perth and Vincent.

“I really hope that my fellow councillors give the opportunity to ratepayers to have their voice heard,” Cr Ehrhardt said, but with only Brent Fleeton and Dan Bull supporting her the motion was lost.

Cr Ehrhardt said she’d checked with the council’s admin after learning about the deal-making and was surprised to discover it wasn’t outlawed by the local government act.

Vincent council acknowledged the issue in its Raising the Bar discussion paper released in April this year, when it said directly electing mayors was more transparent and democratic, and made the mayor more accountable to ratepayers. It also curtailed factionalism.

Deal-making

“I don’t think the wider community is aware of the amount of deal-making that goes into someone becoming mayor,” says Cr Ehrhardt.

“It’s not ‘who’s going to be the best mayor,’ it’s people negotiating for paid roles.”

One commonly touted downside of a popularly elected mayor is the added expense of running a campaign, since candidates have to canvas the whole city for votes instead of a single ward.

The argument is that it could favour political party members who have large war chests behind them.

“It could become a political thing, but quite honestly politics is already well and truly in the race for local council,” says Cr Ehrhardt. More than half Bayswater’s elected members are paid-up party members.

by DAVID BELL

LAKE STREET resident Mai Nguyen is the first candidate to put her hand up for the by-election to replace outgoing Vincent councillor Laine McDonald.

Ms Nguyen has the backing of former mayor Alannah MacTiernan, though she’s not a Labor party member. The two crossed paths when Ms Nguyen was in the Vietnamese Community Association and working on a monument to refugees on the Wade Street reserve.

Anti-communist

Ms Nyugen grew up in Saigon, but the Vietnamese government branded her parents anti-communist and in 1982 the six year old was bundled into a boat as the family fled the country.

“They left so I would have a future,” she says.

After leaving Saigon, the family became lost at sea and had to get directions from oil rig workers who pointed them to Malaysia. There they stayed in a refugee camp until their refugee status was approved a couple of months later and they were flown to Perth, arriving on Valentines Day.

“We got off the plane, got into the airport, and young people were greeting us with flowers and chocolates. These were Australian people, greeting us refugee boat people,” Ms Nguyen recalls.

Ms MacTiernan says Ms Nguyen’s “exactly the kind of person that has both business and community experience” and she’d bring good problem solving and diversity to council.

Ms Nguyen says helping small business is a big focus for her if she gets elected. She has a law degree and works for a migration and education consultancy but in the past has owned the restaurant Nahm Thai on Bulwer Street.

Her mother had also started a restaurant after raising the funds selling spring rolls at her school.

Ms Nguyen joined the operation as a youngster: “When I was 11 years old, waitressing all through high school and university. I was working until 10pm and doing my TEE the next day, so I know the hardships involved in operating a small business”.

by DAVID BELL

WITH Fremantle axing its Australia Day fireworks as “culturally insensitive” to indigenous people, councillor Brent Fleeton reckons Bayswater should step up and hold its own show.

Freo is planning to hold a culturally inclusive celebration on January 28 after the council consulted with elders who supported the move. Herbert Bropho told Freo councillors the crack of fireworks was like an echo of the musket shots that cut down his ancestors after British ships showed up on January 26, 1788.

Brent Fleeton, a Liberal party member who previously worked for MP Peter Katsambanis, says Baysie should take up the fireworks.

‘I love Australia’

“I love Australia,” he said in a post on his councillor Facebook page.

“I love what we have achieved together over a relatively short period of time. I think we are the luckiest, greatest and most generous country in the world.

“But I am sick of being made to feel guilty for wanting to celebrate Australia on the anniversary of the first British settlement. Not everyone likes the day for various reasons, I understand that, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us should be shamed into wearing black arm bands and apologise for being here.

“I think this is an exciting idea worth exploring. It will provide locals with a new choice; rather than the hassle of getting in and out of the CBD/South Perth, people from the eastern suburbs can come down to the river and enjoy the day locally.”

Debate on his page was polarised: Some called it “a great idea”. Others reckoned it was “divisive” and worse. Several pointed out neighbouring Bassendean already has fireworks visible from many parts of Bayswater.

Cr Fleeton plans to introduce the motion at the first council meeting next year, to see if they can get fireworks along the Swan River up and running by January 26, 2018.

by DAVID BELL

THIS Friday December 9 the WA Planning Commission will decide whether to purchase the privately-owned Carter wetland in Bayswater to prevent further clearing on the site.

Bayswater councillors have agreed to spend up to $1.5million on the purchase of the site, contingent on the state government funding the balance. The total purchase price is confidential.

The WAPC collects a “metropolitan region improvement tax” from all land valued at more than $300,000. This is used to purchase “roads, open spaces, parks and similar public facilities”.

Bayswater councillor Chris Cornish, a financial advisor in his daily life, checked the commission’s 2015/16 annual report and found the MRIT collected about $98m that year. The current kitty sits at what Cr Cornish calls “a healthy $292,777,000”.

The fund’s previously been used to buy back parts of the Swan River foreshore, the face of the Darling Scarp, along with patches of bushland.

Cr Cornish roughly calculates Bayswater citizens pay about $3.2million a year into the fund. He’s hopeful the WAPC will splash a little cash around come Friday’s decision as he couldn’t find any instances where decisions had benefitted locals, although the Voice spotted the WAPC bragging about buying up privately-owned foreshore in Maylands in 2006 to connect people to the river.

by DAVID BELL

THE newly upgraded Supreme Court Gardens have officially reopened. “Another great example of the City of Perth and the state government combining expertise and resources, which has resulted in a complete makeover and has reinvigorated the Supreme Court Gardens,” says lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing, with the Barnett government unhappy with a council delay in November 2015 to fiddle with the plan. Scheduled to wrap up in April this year, the $3.1million state-funded project has seen formal garden entrances installed, a new pedestrian path, a dunny upgrade and the memorials, sundial and heritage gates have been restored.