Sorrento school seeks changes to conditions when hiring out facilities

SACRED Heart College is seeking changes to conditions imposed when it hires its facilities to community groups.

Last September the City of Joondalup refused an application from the Sorrento school to allow it to hire out its performing arts building and recently-constructed gym to non-college community groups.

This was in response to residents’ concerns and the school being in breach of conditions that did not allow the school to hire these facilities without prior approval, but it had been.

The school then appealed the council’s refusal through the State Administrative Tribunal and submitted a modified proposal, adding its old gym, chapel and oval to the facilities it can hire, which the council conditionally approved in April.

According to the City’s website, the college “is concerned with a number of the conditions” and has prepared a further modified proposal for consideration.

These changes to the event management plan include an additional tier of events and restricting the number of Tier 1 events that may take place per year, increasing the maximum number of event participants to better reflect the total number of people associated with an event including audience members, performers and support staff, and reducing the size of an incidental or Tier 3 event from up to 150 people to up to 100 people and excluding them from the overall cap of events.

It also proposes to amend the finishing time for events (including pack up and vacating the building) from 9.30pm to 10pm but with events on Sundays and public holidays still to finish at 5pm, and amend the definition of ‘normal school hours’ from 8am to 4pm to 7.30am to 4pm.

The school has also submitted a revised traffic assessment to consider the potential impacts of increasing the maximum number of event participants.

The City is seeking feedback on the proposal until July 25 via info@joondalup.wa.gov.au, or PO Box 21, Joondalup WA 6919.