Perth Voice Interactive

RUBBISH charges are set to rise in Bayswater, with the domestic service charge increasing from $284.70 to $307.30 from July 1.

Locals could be slugged around 4.5 per cent rates rise on top of that.

At the time of going to press, the council was set to approve the draft budget which also sets aside $1 million for merger costs.

Major capital works programs include the Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary restoration ($3.2m), roads infrastructure ($2.45m) and sporting field upgrades ($780,000).

Mayor Sylvan Albert describes the budget as prudent.

“The city is poised for change as we prepare for local government reform,” he says.  “Council has worked hard to keep any rates increase to a minimum while we also ensure we can maintain all of the services expected by our community. So the city is looking to set a prudent budget for 2014-15.”

Bayswater City Residents’ Association president Tony Green notes the rate rise is well above the current consumer price index, the official measure for inflation.

“Why, when the suburban in-fill program has resulted in a massive increased in rateable dwellings, has the city seen fit to lift the rates to a figure that is well above the current cost of living index?” he asks.

The Voice understands neighbouring Stirling city council is set to raise rates by under 3.5 per cent.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

AN Inglewood couple has collected more than 200 signatures opposing their suburb becoming part of Bayswater in council mergers.

After whipping up community support, Lorene and Brian Clohesy will hold an anti-merger rally at Bob Daniels Community Centre on Saturday.

The couple live at the corner of Carrington and Kennedy Streets—just on the Stirling border—and want to stay in Stirling because of its heritage protection zone and its stance against multiple dwellings in suburbia coded under R60.

“We all thought our area was zoned R40 and had no idea the Barnett government bundled through R60 zoning in the metro area last year,” Mr Clohesy says.

“This stealthy plan was designed to infill along main routes and train lines, but now it’s even affecting quiet suburban streets.

“Stirling are making a stand and are trying to amend their town planning scheme to stop the government infilling our suburbs.”

The Clohesys are also protesting the moves of a developer who’s knocking down a 1940s cottage across the road from their house and building a two-storey building in its place.

The development site is flanked by homes built between 1912 and 1936: “It would be very unlikely that this property would be in jeopardy if it was in Menora or Inglewood, in Stirling’s HPA.”

The application will go before a local development assessment panel next month. Speakers at the rally on Saturday will include representatives from the Mt Lawley Society and Stirling councillor Terry Tyzack.

It will start at 11.30am.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

FOOTBALL chiefs say matches being planned for Good Friday, possibly as early as next year, won’t clash with traditional 3pm religious services.

Perth Catholic archbishop Timothy Costelloe high-tackled the AFL over its plans to play games on the day—the holiest in the Christian calendar—but says at the very least it should ensure games and televising don’t interfere with church.

“I had hoped the AFL would appreciate the importance of Good Friday as a day of profound reverence and reflection,” he said.

“[Night games] would enable people to attend religious services, which often take place at three o’clock on Good Friday, and still enjoy watching their team play in the evening.

“We can be good Australians who love our football, and good Christians who love our God, at the same time.”

AFL media man Patrick Keane says games will most likely start at dusk, well after the pews have emptied: “We are well aware that the primary time for Good Friday services is at 3pm and we have no intention of scheduling any match at that time,” he said. “A likely time slot would either be a twilight match or a night match but I would repeat we have no decision yet.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

PARKING restrictions are to be introduced around Bayswater train station to thwart commuters who clog up local streets.

Bayswater city council has green-lit restrictions for Winifred Road, Whatley Crescent and Drake and Hamilton Streets.

Restrictions include a mix of no-verge parking, one- and three-hour parking limits and no parking.

Residents in affected streets will be issued with permits.

For years the suburbs surrounding Bayswater and Maylands stations have been plagued by city workers who illegally park on verges, median strips and driveways before hopping on a train.

Cr Barry McKenna says illegal parking will worsen when the WA government introduces a mandatory $2 fee at station carparks from next month.

“Some people will balk at paying $10 a week for parking,” he says.

“It will throw cars onto our streets and make the parking situation even worse.”

Cr John Rifici says the days of two-car households are over.

“Children can’t afford to buy their own place and are staying at home for a lot longer,” he says.

“Some houses have four cars and require on-road parking—permits are a necessity for residents.”

Cr Michelle Sutherland says parts of Bayswater are now akin to an inner-city suburb and permits are appropriate.

“I know permits are widely used in Vincent,” she says.

“The demographics of Bayswater are changing and we need to adapt.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

PEOPLE who bought one of 578 blocks in a precinct of Vincent thinking they could subdivide them into tiny lots have a rude shock in store: the council is changing the rules.

A balls-up by WA planners had caused a precinct around Cleaver and Hyde Park precincts to be re-classified as R80, meaning 240sqm blocks could be carved up even smaller (with owners potentially making a motzah). Given many of the blocks include charming old homes, the council balked at the prospect.

Cr Josh Topelberg’s warning that developers had started circling, drawn by the scent of potential profits, spurred it into action.

The council asked locals for their opinions and 58 approved reverting to the old zoning but 51 liked the new zoning.

“Rezoning will devalue my property,” one said, a sentiment echoed by many.

“I just paid $1.4million for this property because of the R80 zoning,” another complained. “The change will devalue my property. Just apply the R50 zoning to heritage properties if that is what you want to keep.”

The council’s defending its decision to revert back to R50, saying the change should never have been made in the first place: “The idea that people are being deprived of something they never had, I don’t buy that,” Cr Topelberg said.

“It’s restoring the status quo… no-one bought a 330sqm block of land thinking they could subdivide.”

by DAVID BELL

MOTORISTS looking for a cheap parking spot at Perth Oval are out of luck, with Vincent council nearly doubling the fee from $9.40 to $16.50 a day.

Mayor John Carey says parkers have been getting a free kick and it’s time to bring the area into line with carparks nearby.

Across the border, Perth charges go up from $12 to $20 a day the closer you get to the CBD. If you park at Mr Wilson’s pleasure you can pay as much as $50 a day in the inner CBD.

“Even at $16.50 I think [Perth Oval] will still be getting parked out by city commuters,” Cr Ros Harley says.

Following two years of freezes the hourly rate at other places across the city are up 10 cents and the daily is up 50 cents.

by DAVID BELL

A 28-METRE crash barrier has been installed outside Inglewood pre-primary following two road accidents in seven months.

In April an accident occurred near the Hamer Parade school just before closing time. Last year a car ended up against the boundary fence.

Stirling Cr Terry Tyzack says the driver of the car who ended up against the school fence supported the council’s $7000 barrier.

“Originally the barrier was going to be installed in the school grounds, but we have managed to get it installed outside and readjusted the position of the fence,” he says.

“When children’s safety is at stake we don’t want to take any chances.”

Local Liberal MLC Donna Faragher tabled a 400-signature petition to the WA parliament last year calling for the school to receive priority in the Barnett government’s rollout of flashing 40kph speed signs.

The school is still waiting for the signs, but Main Roads installed high visibility caps above existing signs for this school year, and Ms Faragher says new WA transport minister Dean Nalder has given the school high priority in the 2014/15 rollout.

“The transport minister has advised me that he is supportive of the school’s request to have the signs installed to further improve safety at the pre-primary site.

“These signs are highly visible reminders to drivers that they are entering a school zone and that they need to monitor their speed.

“There is nothing more important than the safety of our children and I certainly hope that these new measures will significantly improve safety for some of our youngest students attending Inglewood pre-primary school.”

Meanwhile, Inglewood primary school on Robinson Street is also set to to get flashing 40kph speed signs.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

ALANNAH MacTIERNAN is unhappy about a $16 million redevelopment just metres from her electorate office on Beaufort Street.

This week the local development assessment panel approved plans to demolish the Inglewood IGA at the corner of Tenth Avenue, and replace it with a three-to-five storey building with 82 dwellings, an office, shop and restaurant.

The federal Perth Labor MP and former WA planning minister says the mixed-use site has too much concrete.

“Bar a few plants it’s extremely lacking in any greenery—not enough mature trees or the like,” she says.

“If you’re going to have that level of density, with limited parking, you need to be close to high quality, frequent public transport, or have a scheme with pooled electric cars.

“The city of Stirling has been a bit slow of the mark with its vision for Beaufort Street—it needs to be more proactive.”

Earlier this year, the DAP refused the application 5-0—saying it didn’t want the adjacent Lawry Lane to become one way, and that multiple dwellings on the ground floor facing the street are not permitted in a mixed use zone. The applicants reapplied with an amended plan and they’ve sailed through.

Former Stirling councillor Paul Collins, whose family business owns commercial property in Inglewood town centre, also opposed the development, arguing it was overly intrusive on the existing streetscape, out of scale and proportion to existing heritage and character, and granted a 50 per cent plot ratio increase and 60 per cent height increase above the allowed maximum.

“We feel sorry for our tenants and the other small businesses and residents in the area with parking pressures only going to increase,” he says.

“Unfortunately, the streetscape of Tenth Ave has also been destroyed by an access ramp and services that should have been put to the rear laneway.

“This state government’s unelected development assessment panels are chaired and majority controlled by representatives of professions serving the property development industry—the community is powerless under this state government.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

THE circa 1894 shops at the corner of Newcastle and Charles are to be heritage listed without the consent of the owner, who wants to develop the site.

Vincent council staff had recommended the historic building be left off the list “given that consent by the owner was not provided” but councillors voted to list it as “category B” which provides some protection against demolition.

Marie Slyth from the Cleaver Precinct Group has long fought to protect the area’s remaining old buildings. She warned councillors this building “represents the last vestige of our cultural history in that area”.

She’s led heritage walks around the precinct (and compiled a book on them), but warns if the buildings continue to disappear there’ll be no more built heritage to appreciate.

The owner, anonymous in the submission to council, is dead against listing, saying they had “recently purchased the property as an investment with the intention of developing in the future and was not made aware by the council at the time of the possibility of the site being listed”.

They “would not have invested so heavily in the property if they were aware of heritage implications,” and is concerned the listing will “reduce the options to develop the site to its full potential in the future”. They’re reportedly happy to keep the facade.

Over the years the shops have been home to Dalliore Pharmacy, Burton’s the Butcher (run by the widowed Mrs Burton and her two sons), and Pope’s Grocery Store. Up until the 1940s Perth councillor and deputy mayor William Beadle had a newsagency there.

Coincidentally, this Friday the WA heritage council is to consider whether the building requires state listing, which makes demolition far more difficult and requires the owner to properly maintain it.

by DAVID BELL

 

HISTORICALLY Vincent council has listed buildings on category B only when the owner agrees.

Mayor John Carey has flagged he wants to change the rules so council can unilaterally list commercial buildings (but not homes).

“The loss of key commercial buildings that have significant historical value can radically change a town centre’s feel,” he says.

“I don’t share the view of some other councils that if you want to protect a building you buy it.

“I think you do have a responsibility to protect heritage,” he said, referring to Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi’s recent challenge to heritage protestors to buy the Michelides Tobacco Factory if they didn’t want to see it demolished.

While that change is still to come, on this occasion councillors chose to vary existing practise because of the age and history value of the Newcastle Street shops.

Cr Josh Topelberg said “this particular building, I actually find it extraordinary that it doesn’t qualify under category A [a more hefty protection]. This is a building that was built prior to the last century”.