At its January 15 council meeting, the Shire of Northam voted to lease the building to Jupiter Health and Medical Services.
The item was confidential and was closed to the public.
Planning approval was granted for the site, subject to all heritage approvals being granted.
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READ NOWThe site cannot be used for human habitation and storage of material and rubbish will be screened from view.
Lease negotiations will be finalised by the Shire chief executive and the lease will be for a minimum of five years.
Shire President Ste-ven Pollard said before the council decided to lease the building to a medical centre, it was leased to the Avon Valley Arts Society, which had since moved to the Northam Information Centre.
Mr Pollard said more medical centres opening in the town could be seen only as a good thing.
‘A number of doctors in town have retired or are about to retire, so it’s something that is on our minds,’ he said.
The council endorsed the proposal for the Shire to build car parking on the same lot as the medical centre and use up to $120,000 from the parking facilities construction reserve up to pay for the construction.
Rental payments from the lease of the site will then be transferred into the parking facilities construction reserve to reimburse the cost of the car park to the Shire.