Heritage home in Spearwood to be demolished and replaced with apartments

The Metropolitan South West Joint Development Assessment Panel handed down its decision during a meeting on Wednesday morning.

It was close but the vote went 3-2 in favour of the development.

It means the building, known as Sumich House and constructed in 1912, will be demolished to make way for 14 two-bedroom dwellings, five one-bedroom dwellings and 26 car parking bays.

Of the original structure only the tower on the south west corner will be retained. It will be used as a sunroom.

It was a decision the local community had worked hard to avoid.

Edeline Street resident Debra Salahuddeen said she was gutted by the decision which effectively ended any hope residents had of retaining the Category C rated Local Government Inventory item.

‘I’m really disappointed with the outcome,’ she said.

‘I have no problem with developments on large blocks (the Edeline Street block is 1879sq m in size). Urban infill is important to slowing urban sprawl.

‘But I think we need to retain our links to the past. This building is part of the migrant community.’

A proposal for full demolition had been refused by the Cockburn Council in October 2013, with subsequent mediation failing to prove fruitful with the City refusing a second planning application in August.

It looked like the matter was headed for a full State Administrative Tribunal hearing. However, the application for review was withdrawn, with it instead falling to the MSWJDAP.

Cockburn planning and development director Daniel Arndt said Cockburn’s two representatives on the panel, Deputy Mayor Carol Reeve-Fowkes and councillor Bart Houwen, had voted against the application.

He said timing of the demolition would depend on the specifics of the demolition license.

Cockburn councillor Lyndsey Wetton said she hoped materials from the home such as the limestone, jarrah floorboards and skirtings could be recycled.