City of Melville closer to height restrictions near Canning Bridge

THE City of Melville has moved a step closer to restricting heights in sections of the Canning Bridge Activity Centre.

The council on Tuesday approved a draft local planning policy for advertising, which would see developments restricted to 15 storeys in the M10 zone and 25 storeys in the M15 zone.

There has been community concern about proposed developments in the two areas, where extra height is allowed if developers can demonstrate their building has community benefits.

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The Metro Central Joint Development Assessment Panel recently turned down a 20-storey development at the corner of Kishorn and Forbes Roads, following concern about how to assess the level of benefit needed to gain extra height.

The bonus building height provisions policy proposes to introduce performance criteria to expand upon elements 21 and 22 of the Canning Bridge Activity Centre Plan, which lists requirements that need to be met for extra height allowances.

Proposed developments will also need to meet or exceed a six-star green star design rating, which is more than the current five-star rating required as part of element 21.

Councillor Nicholas Pazolli wanted to defer Tuesday’s vote on the draft planning policy during the meeting, because it had been listed as a late item and that people had not been given adequate opportunity to review it. His deferral motion was narrowly defeated six votes to seven.

Cr Pazolli then moved an amendment that would limit heights in the M10 area to 12-storeys and 18-storeys in the M15 area. This vote was tied at six a piece and required Deputy Mayor Tim Barling to use his casting vote, which he did to scuttle the amendment.

Mayor Russell Aubrey did not vote as he has declared a conflict of interest and left the council chamber.

A motion to go behind closed doors and review legal advice that the City of Melville had received about limiting heights was also lost five votes to seven.

The officer’s recommendation that the policy be adopted for the purposes of public consultation was approved nine votes to three.

Review of H4 area

Earlier in the meeting, the council ticked off changes to the H4 area of the CBACP, which allows for developments up to four storeys.

The changes include amending the definition of height and adding a definition of a mezzanine.

Cr Pazolli raised questions in November when the City received 87 submissions, 21 of which were near identical to one form and 32 were near identical to another form.

The H4 matter was deferred in December because councillors wanted more information about the impact on property values.

Cr Pazolli moved an amendment at the December meeting so four storey and 16m high buildings within the Q1 and Q2 sections of the H4 zone would be restricted to sites that achieved a minimum 25m and a lot size of 1200sqm.

The council heard a deputation on Tuesday from three residents in the H4 zone who asked the council not to support Cr Pazolli’s motion, which was voted down unanimously apart from a request for applying plot ratio, open space and other multi-unit code controls to be considered for inclusion in a CBACP scheme amendment review.

The officers’ recommendation was then carried unanimously.