Perth Voice Interactive

NEW powers granted to unelected state government planning bureaucrats have elected councils up in arms.

Councils say the changes — quietly introduced by the Barnett government in November — mean they no longer have any control over the density of new developments.

That authority has been handed to unelected bureaucrats in the WA planning commission, who are unaccountable to the affected communities.

“The ability for local governments to determine whether a structure plan is in the best interests of the community is now non-existent,” is how Cockburn council planning boss Daniel Arndt bluntly described the impact.

“Whereas the city previously could impose a pre-requisite test to determine whether a structure plan complied with orderly and proper planning prior to advertising, the new process means the city has little input into the quality or appropriateness of structure plans.

“The local government’s role has been reduced to simply a referral agency.”

Residents who could previously call their local ward councillor to object to neighbouring subdivisions must now try to navigate their way to an unelected and faceless bureaucrat in the WAPC’s Perth city headquarters.

The new rules were implemented in November and their impact is already being felt.

Last August, Cockburn council rejected an application by a developer to amend a structure plan at the Port Coogee marin by rezoning a parcel from R25 to R40. Following the November change, the developer has resubmitted the same plan—which will now be determined by the WAPC, not the council.

Fremantle council also objected to the new rules but says the WAPC has always had some power in determining structure plans.

“In submissions made by the City of Fremantle when local governments were consulted on the new regulations in their draft form in early 2015, the city expressed some concern that certain aspects … could erode the ability of local governments to take account of distinctive local character and patterns of development…,” said strategic planning manager Paul Garbett.

by STEVE GRANT

AFTER five months the TV is finally fixed for residents at Ray Healy towers in East Perth.

For months the reception’s been on the fritz at the Goderich Street housing department complex, with glitchy pictures starting to plague them around the time of last year’s AFL grand final.

The department had told residents “the matter is quite complex” and it was taking time to get it back up. Under its own guidelines it has 28 days to resolve routine maintenance issues but that blew out massively.

The Voice was told in January a new antenna and booster would be installed “in the coming days” but the problems stretched on another two months.

Next-door neighbour Terry Maller is friendly with a lot of the residents and after some frustrating conversations with the department, got onto his old pal Eleni Evangel, the local Liberal MP for Perth.

Now, finally, after Ms Evangel’s been contacting them urging a quick remedy, the department’s had yet another expert out to attempt to finally fix it all.

“Sometimes it takes a personal touch,” Ms Evangel says, adding that for many of the elderly people in the complex the TV was their “lifeline” to the outside world and the delays weren’t good enough.

For now the telly’s back up and running, just in time for residents to catch the My Kitchen Rules finale.

by DAVID BELL

INGLEWOOD residents are being asked what they’d like to see replace the suburb’s former IGA supermarket.

“This valuable block should not be allowed to languish as vacant for too long,” says Maylands Labor MP Lisa Baker.

“The position makes it an ideal location for mixed use residential and commercial.”

Previous plans for an upmarket estate of apartments evaporated when the local property market cooled.

There’s now talk of new IGA, or even  an ALDI.

“Some community members have called for shared business space like That Space in Bayswater, others want green, public open space, others hope to see an new IGA,” Ms Baker says. “This is a great opportunity to reinvent Tenth and Beaufort.”

ALDI says it has “no immediate plans to expand business into the Bayswater region”.

by MARTA PASCUAL JUANOLA

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LOCALS who’ve long lived in the shadows of the Stirling Towers building say they’re now in the dark about the empty complex’s future.

For years the WA housing department has been talking about knocking down the eyesore. It’s been a hive of villainy, prostitution, drugs, and earned the moniker “Suicide Towers”.

On the weekend, street artist Mel McVee led a team of locals to brighten up hoarding around the building, leading at least one Voice reader Jessica Topping to wonder what’s happening with the place long-term.

“While I support any attempt to distract from this abandoned eyesore, the letter [from Housing about the art project] says nothing of what is to become of the towers or any timeframe for future decisions, plans or actions,” Ms Topping wrote.

Another reader told us they’d heard insider scuttlebutt the replacement building would be the same 12-storey height.

We got onto the department: commercial operations general manager Nigel Hindmarsh says it’s still working on “initial design concepts”.

We asked if a 12-storey tower was possible: “It would be premature to release design concepts and building heights that are still under discussion,” he replied.

“Housing will be in a better position to determine timeframes for demolition and redevelopment of the Stirling Towers site once feedback regarding its proposed concepts has been received from the City of Vincent.”

He confirmed that any replacement won’t all be public housing: “Any proposed development on the site will include a mixture of housing types and tenure including affordable shared equity sales, full owner-occupied sales as well as a reduced proportion of public housing.”

Vincent mayor John Carey is yet to see designs but he’s writing to Housing urging it to consult early before plans are set in stone.

“It is the wrong way to simply come out with a proposal and surprise the community,” he says.

“It’ll create a conflict environment and people will be unhappy about it. They’ve been warned by the [Vincent] planning team: show basic respect and engage the community early.”

Ms Topping is also concerned the tower will end up home to squatters if left empty too long. The Voice’s easy entry to take photos confirms it isn’t exactly secure. Mr Hindmarsh says Housing will keep locals in the loop.

by DAVID BELL

SIX trees have been poisoned at Maylands’ Brearly Lake and councillors believe a local resident wanting better city views is responsible.

If so, that desire will be thwarted, with the council set to erect a three-metre high sign where the trees were, while 12 replacements grow.

“These people are going to have a big ugly sign in front of their house for many years,” says Cr Catherine Ehrhardt.

She and Cr Chris Cornish say several holes were drilled into trunks and poison poured in.

“Rapid death of the trees would indicate Round-up or similar substance has been used,” Cr Ehrhardt told the Voice.

The councillors believe a resident killed the trees to get a better view of the city skyline, and perhaps major events like the Australia Day fireworks. The poisoning follows tree-rage in Claughton and Berringa reserves that’s included poisoning, breakage and uprooting.

“This wanton vandalism will not go unanswered,” Cr Cornish told the Voice.

“We will install a 3x3m sign in the area and will be planting two trees for every poisoned one. We are in the process of installing the one at Claughton, which will be ready Friday this week.”

The Voice knocked on the door of a home with direct views of the trees: the person who answered said they’d not seen any vandalism and hadn’t noticed the trees dying.

by MARTA PASCUAL JUANOLA

BAYSWATER council has given itself a pat on the back for being the first in WA to apply transparency rules for overseas and interstate ratepayer-funded staff travel.

The new regulations will require councillors to report on their trip, with detailed lists of expenses in accommodation, food, cocktails and transport.

Councillor Brent Fleeton, the instigator of the motion, wants to make councillors think twice before engaging on a trip.

“I don’t think councillors should be traveling whatsoever. Our job is here,” he says. “But at present anyone can go on a trip at anytime,” Cr Fleeton told the Voice.

Bayswater council allocates $15,000 to each councillor every two years, double for mayor Barry McKenna, to travel to conferences, meetings and talks.

However, till now there has been no report or list available where ratepayers can check what the money’s being spent on.

From April 1, detailed information will be put online within 10 days, and any traveling councillor will have to give a verbal report on the reason for their trip at the next scheduled council meeting.

“I think I scared a lot of people!” laughs Cr Fleeton.

by EMMIE DOWLING and  MARTA PASCUAL JUANOLA

BACK in 2014 the Maylands Church of Christ was on the brink of closing, with the congregation having dwindled to just five people.

Pastor Ronnie Fung, who’d come out from New York to work at a church in Subi, was offered the job to crank it up.

When he was first offered the church’s version of an internship in Australia he hadn’t even heard of Perth.

“I said ‘is that near Sydney, or Melbourne?” he chuckles. “They told me it was on the other side of the country.”

Intending to stay for a year he stayed for good after taking up an offer to work in a Subiaco church full-time. He found Perth to be a good place to raise a young family and, after eight years at Subiaco, he decided he was up for taking on the Maylands challenge.

Even before they officially launch he quietly built up regular attendance to about 30 or 40. But he’s humble about his efforts and says it’s all built on the work of the previous congregation.

The church is one of the few streetfront churches in Perth: rather than being surrounded by wrought iron fences and neatly manicured grounds it’s more like the Big Apple churches he’s familiar with: the front steps are right on the Eighth Avenue footpath, between a couple of cafes.

Mr Fung wants to use that proximity to make the church more than just a Sunday operation, “to be the church that God wants us to be, we need to be serving in the community”.

“We want to be a team player and not just be an insular church, but in that we have our mission statement to know Christ, to be love, to bring life.

“When people are willing we do very respectfully tell them about Christ and our faith.”

He has a few plans in mind to open up the front area for community activities and already opens up the church for a toddler jam every Wednesday. He says there’s plenty of young families in the area and parents like a chance to chat with other adults while the kids play.

He says, “we’re in a world where the church has lost quite a bit of credibility” but he’s keen to rebuild connections on the local level.

“We do it without an agenda,” he says.

“We want to get to know people, relate to people… being a part of the community is a big deal for us.”

Having kept it under wraps while building things back up, the church officially relaunched March 6 and is now open to new attendees for Sunday 10am services.

by DAVID BELL

STIRLING council has voted overwhelmingly not to introduce a register that records meetings between elected members and major developers.

Eight of 10 councillors decided the register — based on Vincent council’s model — would be too onerous and unnecessary, especially as most major developments in the city are now handled by the local development assessment panel (DAP).

Vincent mayor John Carey accuses Stirlng of running out “excuses”: “I am sick and tired of lame and poor excuses by councils that use red tape. It’s a basic principle of good governance.”

by MARTA PASCUAL JUANOLA

NOT enough public transport or conservation parks are some of the issues Stirling council has with the WA government’s draft plan for population growth over the next 34 years.

Stirling will send a seven-page critique of the state’s draft “Perth and Peel green growth plan for 3.5 million”.

A draft copy of the letter, tabled at last week’s planning and development committee meeting, states the  government “fails” to acknowledge the need to increase green space as urban infill intensifies.

The letter also says the state government hasn’t got a “clear plan” to provide urban areas with suitable transport facilities necessary to support the 47 per cent population growth, including a light rail.

There’s also not enough social infrastructures such as schools, hospitals and police stations.

Under the plan, the entire suburb of Osborne Park will be zoned for industrial use, clashing with the council’s plans to create an activity centre that would include a skate park and several other facilities.

by EMMIE DOWLING and MARTA PASCUAL JUANOLA