Applecross apartment proposal knocked back by JDAP

Boutique developer Norup + Wilson is headed to the State Administrative Tribunal to appeal the rejection of its latest proposal, a $39 million, 16-level apartment building near Canning Bridge.

The 91-apartment proposal is located at 22 Kintail Road, where the City of Melville has prescribed a 10-storey height limit under its Canning Bridge Activity Centre Plan, guidelines which have been in place since 2015.

Norup + Wilson’s application requested six storeys of additional height over those planning guidelines, in return for the provision of considerable community amenity in the form of ground floor commercial tenancies and publicly accessible landscaped space.

The project's design, by Hillam Architects, was lauded by planning officers as being "exemplary", according to JDAP documents. 

But the Metropolitan Central Joint Development Assessment Panel was not willing to use its discretionary powers to overrule the height limits, despite a recommendation for approval by City of Melville planning officers.

The rejection marks the second time that the Metro Central JDAP has knocked back the proposal, with a previous plan knocked back in July on the basis that the project did not meet the council’s requirements for community benefit.

Norup + Wilson applied for a review of the initial rejection through the SAT, and made several substantial changes to form its new proposal in mediation with the City of Melville.

Around the time that Norup + Wilson’s original plan was knocked back, the City of Melville moved to make several changes to the Canning Bridge area’s planning guidelines, including the provision of more descriptive criteria for determining community benefit and new height limits in different zones throughout the precinct.

In Canning Bridge’s M10 zone, where the Norup + Wilson site is located, the city is exploring altering the height limits to allow development of up to 15 storeys.

Norup + Wilson director Dave Wilson said the JDAP appeared to be hesitant to approve a project that will set a benchmark for the M10 area of Canning Bridge, prior to the City of Melville finalising its changes.

“We believe that that the development is proportional to other developments previously approved and will therefore seek direction from SAT,” Mr Wilson told Business News.

Mr Wilson urged the council to be thoughtful and considered when making any changes to the scheme.

“The benefit is that the legislation is very clear in terms of what is permissible and we believe that past projects set a precedent for future developments within the same planning area,” he said.

“Even though the planning framework for the Canning Bridge area is very structured, it is natural to require amendments to fix the various interpretations and loopholes which are only visible after the fact.

“While we encourage a revision to the Canning Bridge precinct plan by adding in other factors such as plot ratios or caps in heights, it all needs to be done very carefully and include extensive consultation with the local community.”

Also this week, developer Sirona Capital was knocked back in its bid to win approval for a 42-level tower in South Perth.

The Metro Central JDAP rejected the 42-level proposal after City of South Perth planning officers recommended it be refused on the basis that it was too tall, despite no height limits being prescribed under planning guidelines.