No council support for Karrinyup West

A redesign of the Karrinyup West apartments did little to sway Stirling councillors who stood firm in their opposition to the $390 million development.

West Perth-based developer Blackburne and AMP Capital plan to build apartments on the western side of Karrinyup Shopping Centre, as part of the centre's $800 million redevelopment.

The responsible authority report listed the estimated value of the Karrinyup West development as $170 million but Paul Blackburne estimated the project's end value at $390 million, making it his biggest project to date.

In September, the Metro Inner-North Joint Development Assessment Panel approved a proposal for three apartment towers of nine, 15 and 24 storeys, comprising 270 dwellings on the Karrinyup West site.

A revised plan for a two-tower project of 14 and 23 storeys, comprising 253 apartments, was lodged as a new application to the JDAP.

However, City of Stirling councillors were still opposed to the new application at their meeting on Tuesday night.

The council voted for Mayor Mark Irwin to present at an upcoming JDAP meeting, recommending the JDAP refuse the application.

The Karrinyup West project has been contentious for many years, with residents and council concerned about the potential increase in traffic, parking issues and the building’s height, bulk and scale.

The project was approved by the JDAP in September after a four-hour meeting, with Mr Irwin calling the result “disappointing” and a “terrible planning decision”.

Blackburne director of developments Matthew Chau said the new version would remove a number of retail parking bays and a petrol station, which would generate a high number of vehicle movements.

Mr Chau said the new proposal would have one less building, 17 fewer apartments, a 4000 square metres reduction in floor area, greater setbacks to Burroughs Road, three times the amount of public space and more than twice the amount of deep soil area compared to last year’s approved plan.

“In context of all of that, if this application is refused – the applicant is going to commence development of the existing approval which seems to be universally accepted as a much poorer planning outcome,” he said.

Mr Irwin said the new proposal would be assessed on its own merit and in regards to the city’s relevant planning framework.

“While everyone would acknowledge it is a better outcome than the previous one, it’s not assessed in comparison to the previous one,” he said.

Planning Solutions director Ben Doyle said the redesign received a higher percentage of positive submissions during the public consultation period compared to the previous three-tower design.

The city’s development services manager Amanda Sheers acknowledged the higher proportion of support for the redesign but said it was “inconclusive” whether the new proposal was preferred.

“It is also noted this application attracted 236 submissions compared 748 submissions of the previous proposal,” she said.

“The previous proposal has also been approved by JDAP and that decision potentially has affected the level of community input to the current proposal.”

The JDAP will consider the item on August 25.

The project is adjacent to Blackburne's $75 million East Village apartment, which is due to finish early next year.