‘Unable to agree on terms’: City of Bayswater deal to convert vacant site into carpark knocked back

An eastern suburbs council has failed to secure a deal which would have transformed a vacant block of land just 250m from Maylands train station into a much-needed carpark.

City of Bayswater staff spoke with representatives of 45 Ninth Avenue last week but were “unable to agree on terms” to acquire the property and convert it into a 17-bay carpark.

It comes just weeks after the City of Bayswater council knocked back a proposal — which was raised by deputy mayor Elli Petersen-Pik — to convert the 592sqm site into a public carpark.

But last month, the council came back and voted for the city’s CEO to meet the site’s representatives to “negotiate a purchase price” for the Ninth Avenue site.

“Council considered the matter but was unable to agree on terms for the acquisition of the property with the seller,” city CEO Jeremy Edwards told PerthNow.

According to Cr Petersen-Pik, the negotiations were subject to “agreed and confidential terms” within a price range.

“I was proposing the purchase of the lot for additional car parking to help offset the likely larger loss of parking bays in the foreseeable future as a result of the State Government’s revitalisation project for Maylands,” he said.

“I am disappointed that we were unable to come to an agreement with the lot’s owner.”

The site — which currently has development approval for a three-storey residential building — is directly across the road from another 17-bay carpark.

It would have cost upwards of $65,000 to transform the site into a carpark.

Whatley Crescent’s Maylands Wellness Centre owner Rebecca Hall said there was a large number of locals — including her own customers — who still relied on cars.

“We understand that future planning moves towards a reduction of people driving a car and wanting to increase and encourage the use of public transport ... unfortunately we’re not there yet,” Ms Hall said at last month’s agenda briefing.

“There’s still a low number of people in Perth who’ve actually considered using alternative methods of transport, so there’s still a large number of people who want to use a car to get around.

“We do still really need to make sure we’re allocating space for parking for most people until there’s a mindset change in our community ... we regularly have customers comment on the availability of parking.”

Cr Petersen-Pik said he was not aware of any other plans to develop other sites into public carparks.