Although the state government has voiced its support for foreshore development, the controversial issue of coastal development seems to have died down after the government introduced a height policy earlier this year.
As a consequence of controversial coastal development proposals, particularly in the areas of Scarborough and Cottesloe, Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan announced its ‘better beaches policy’, which caps coastal development at five storeys with an exception of eight storeys allowed where there is widespread community support.
The well-documented battles over the Cottesloe Hotel site and the Ocean Beach Hotel site, and those involving several landowners in Scarborough, remain unresolved and in mediation.
Private developer Cape Bouvard owns a significant site on the Scarborough beachfront, where it was proposing to build a 16-storey structure before the state govern-ment policy came into effect.
A representative from Cape Bouvard told WA Business News the company was preparing to lodge a new development approval that complied with the better beaches policy.
Whereas in Scarborough the local council was vocally supportive of proposed develop-ments and scathing of the state government for not allowing them to proceed, the Cottesloe council is not supportive of development.
Multiplex owns the Cottesloe Hotel site and general manager Martin Steens said the company’s development proposal was going through a mediation process at the State Administrative Tribunal.
“Height remains part of the mediation, and our proposal one year ago had six levels; we are talking to council and we need them to come back to us with further advice and guidelines about what they want,” Mr Steens said.
Just a short stroll up the road from the Cottesloe Hotel site, Perth businessman Stan Quinlivan recently put his Ocean Beach Hotel on the market for a reported $70 million after years of knock-backs with his redevelopment proposals for the prime site, citing frustrations with the planning process.
