Changes to Canning Bridge Activity Centre Plan don’t do enough to protect residents, say Applecross and Mt Pleasant homeowners

PROPOSED changes to the Canning Bridge Activity Centre Plan (CBACP) do not do enough to protect those already living in the area, according to Applecross and Mt Pleasant homeowners.

Melville councillors were met by a procession of upset residents at a special meeting of council to discuss the potential amendments, which include more rigorous parking requirements and tweaks to building height limits and setbacks.

Applecross resident Geoff Kirk called for staged development, beginning with mixed use zones nearest to Canning Bridge and radiating out into the transitional zones only if required.

He said developments like the apartment blocks approved for Macrae and Kishorn roads in the transitional H4 zones would “rip up the fabric” of the surrounding community.

“A lot of time has been spent debating the technical and practical aspects of this plan but far too little thinking about the human toll,” Mr Kirk said.

“The impact of a couple of tall, high-density developments on our street would mean my son can’t walk down the road to see his mates because we no longer know all our neighbours.

“My three-year-old daughter can’t play naked in the sprinkler because suddenly 20 people are overlooking our back yard.”

“One thing that sits really uncomfortably with me is that we are rushing to approve the building of large, densely populated apartment blocks on family lots ahead of development of the core zone.”

Fellow Applecross resident Michal Burns said a developer who bought on his northern boundary had plans for a development three times the height of his house.

“The developer stated in writing the impact on (my home) would be to reduce resale value to that of a low-rent rental,” Mr Burns said. “I have no right of objection because there is no requirement for amenity impact statements and the CBACP says provisions of privacy, solar access and overshadowing do not apply.”

Helen Cook bought a subdivided block in one of the H4 zones in Applecross nearly two decades ago and said that current development restrictions, including minimum 3m setbacks on all sides, meant it was close to impossible to sell a single residential home to anyone besides a developer.

“The vast majority of houses in the H4 area have gone through a subdivision process; 76 of 92 properties in Applecross,” Ms Cook said. “Under the new regulations, essentially all of these become stranded assets with no access to their land value unless amalgamated with neighbouring lots.

“If you were told in a residential area all rights to privacy and overshadowing would be abolished, residents would be prevented from building a house to their own design, or that you could build 21 units on a quarter acre block, I’m pretty sure that would not pass the pub test.”

City staff are now working on the wording for formal amendments to the CBACP which will be presented to Melville councillors for approval.

Canning Bridge Activity Centre Plan potential amendments

Building height

• Increase setbacks for roof structures and introduce a roof structure height limit. However, roof structures will continue to be excluded from the calculation of overall building height.
• Provide additional clarity on the type, scale and appearance of mezzanine levels that that may be supported.
• Within the H4 (transition) areas, restrict four-storey development to sites with a minimum 25-metre frontage.
• Require all single-dwelling development within the CBACP area to be a minimum two-storey height, and introduce requirement for applicants to demonstrate ability to convert dwellings to more intensive development at a later date.

Parking

• Change parking requirements so that there is at least one on-site bay for each single bedroom dwelling, 1.5 on-site bays for two or three bedroom dwellings and two on-site bays for any larger dwelling. Developments in the Kintail and Ogilvie Quarters will be required to provide on-site visitor parking in line with the rest of the City of Melville.

Privacy and setbacks

• Introduce privacy controls for development within the H4 (transition) areas of the CBACP. Chief executive Shayne Silcox will brief councillors on the possibility of requiring multi-unit development applications of four storeys or higher to include amenity impact statements for neighbouring single-dwellings.
• Require developments on sites adjoining land outside of the CBACP to setback portions of building over two storeys a minimum of eight metres from the applicable boundaries.

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