CITY of Melville councillors have endorsed a plan which could get the ball rolling on a new apartment and liquor store development at the Winthrop Village Shopping Centre site.
About 40 apartments, which would be built within a development four to five storeys high, are being considered for the north-east portion of the site bounded by Somerville Boulevard, Jackson Avenue and Hatherley Parade.
The liquor store would be on the south east portion and replace the one already in the main shopping centre.
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READ NOWMelville councillors backed a local development plan (LDP), with amendments, at the City’s November council meeting.
One change put forward by councillor Guy Wieland was for the number of on-site parking bays required under the R-Codes to be reduced by 15 per cent, and not the 25 per cent asked for in the LDP.
“I viewed the LDP plan and visited the site twice,” he said.
“The current inclusion of the 25 per cent parking reduction is too excessive based on the internal planning of residential development.”
Melville’s statutory planning manager Peter Prendergast said it simply meant the developer would need to supply more on-site parking.
He said the actual number of bays needed would be known when a planning application is put forward outlining the number of units proposed.
“This is just a (local) development plan,” he said.
Cr Katy Mair spoke in favour of the amendment, even if she had hoped the reduction would be scrapped altogether.
“Whilst there may be extra bays in the shopping centre we shouldn’t be relying on shopping centre parking bays or street parking or verge parking,” she said.
“More should be provided on site and I think there’s a great concern in the City that too much parking from new developments is spilling out on the streets and I think this goes some way to addressing this issue.”
The second amendment clarified that any verge parking included as part of the development would be subject to approval from the City.Councillors voted 12-1 in favour of the plan.
The Winthrop Village site currently features about 4500sq m of retail space anchored by an IGA.
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