William St apartments get tick, Dan Murphy's rejected

UPDATE:An apartment project in Mount Lawley has been given the go-ahead after being knocked back for planning approval earlier this year, while a Dan Murphy’s bottle shop plan in Como has been rejected, with ALH Group forced back to the drawing board to progress its proposal.

In Mount Lawley, ABN Group subsidiary ABN Development’s plan for a 48-dwelling apartment building at 570-574 William Street was originally recommended to be refused for planning approval by the City of Vincent, after the metropolitan west development assessment panel deferred the project in January.

But at the DAP meeting on Thursday, the panel decided the project would be appropriate for the area.

The five-storey building, comprising 27 one-bedroom apartments and 21 two-bedroom dwellings with a base construction cost of $11.9 million, was initially knocked back by the DAP in early January.

The City of Vincent’s town planning scheme only allows for four-storey buildings in that particular area, to limit impacts on surrounding properties, although a neighbouring site has a six storey apartment building.

Meanwhile, the metropolitan central DAP has refused ALH Group’s application to demolish the existing BWS bottle shop at the Como Hotel and replace it with a much larger Dan Murphy’s outlet.

The plan, which had a base construction cost of $6 million, also included an internal and external refurbishment of the Como Hotel.

However, the proposal was initially refused in August last year over traffic and car parking concerns and a non-compliant building design.

An artist's impression of the Como Hotel Dan Murphy's plan.

ALH group subsequently appealed to the State Administrative Tribunal over the decision and revised plans were lodged in December.

However those plans were also deemed to be inappropriate for the area by the DAP, despite being a “substantial improvement” from the original application.

“The proposed Dan Murphy’s building component of the development is observed to require improvements to its external appearance to better relate to the surrounding locality,” DAP documents said.

“This bulding’s operation is still likely to pose adverse amenity impacts to surrounding properties and road network.

“Additionally, a majority of the local community and the council of the City of South Perth remain opposed to this development.”

The DAP said the refurbishments to the Como Hotel could be supported as a standalone proposal, but the development as a whole did not meet South Perth town planning requirements.