PERTH City Councillor Bert Tudori is appealing to Planning Minister Graham Kierath because he believes hatred and factionalism in council is behind the refusal of his plan to develop land he owns in Northbridge.
It is likely Mr Kierath will uphold the appeal because the application complies with council’s Town Planning Scheme.
Mr Tudori wants to put an office block with car parking on 8 Parker Street, Northbridge, once the site of the Tudori family home.
Council refused his proposal at its November 28 meeting because it included street level parking.
Lord Mayor Peter Nattrass used his casting vote to stop the development.
Dr Nattrass said council should refuse any applications that created ground-level car parks and called the proposal a veiled attempt to get around this.
“If we approve this, what’s to stop people in West Perth bulldozing their houses to create street level car parks, especially if those houses have been listed on our draft Municipal Heritage Inventory,” he said.
Dr Nattrass said Mr Tudori had earlier applied to win approval for a car park without an office on the site.
He claimed the latest application differed only in the inclusion of a “token” 50 square metre office building as disguise.
But Mr Tudori, who declared a financial interest in the matter and left the chamber during the vote on the matter, said the office was to be used for his wife’s legal practice and the parking to be used for clients.
Councillor Laurance Goodman said the development refusal flew in the face of the council’s own position as the largest owner of ground level car parking in the Perth.
He said he believed councillors should not be given any special favours but should not be penalised either.
