Rockingham council recommends approving controversial development

The City of Rockingham is recommending the Metro South-West Joint Development Assessment Panel approve an application for a three-storey development on Council Avenue after new plans for the previously-rejected application were considered by council at last Tuesday’s meeting.

An original application for a development at Lot 301 (No. 2-6) Council Avenue was knocked back at the October 2018 council meeting, with councillors saying the location was a “prominent landmark site” which required a minimum three-storey development, not a “dressed up” single-storey proposal that “missed the mark”.

The proposal was then refused by the assessment panel in November 2018 and again on February 26, 2019, following mediation.

The panel’s decision to refuse the application because of the sites designation as a “prominent corner site” in a “gateway location” was later upheld at a State Administrative Tribunal hearing in April last year.

Now plans for the site have again been revived with the proponent bowing down to pressures and submitting an amended application for a three-storey development at the site.

It will include a three-storey building on the corner of Read Street and Council Avenue to accommodate a health studio and two offices, as well as a single-storey element to accommodate a restaurant and four showrooms.

Plans also include a service station on the corner of Council Avenue and Sepia Court with a single-storey shop front and a 6.1m high canopy providing cover for three bowsers.

A City report said the new proposal “sufficiently addressed” the tribunal’s reasons for refusal and that any other issues could be adequately addressed in the conditions of approval.

At last Tuesday’s council meeting, elected members voted 8-1 in support of the assessment panel approving the application and accompanying plans — subject to 24 conditions.

Cr Deb Hamblin voted against the proposal, raising concerns about vehicle access in and out of the development.