Council disappointed with JDAP decision

The City of Stirling Council is extremely disappointed with the decision of the Metro Inner-North Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) to approve the Karrinyup West Residential development.
 
Mayor Mark Irwin said today’s terrible planning decision wasn’t just about the Karrinyup development, but rather was about the role that local government plays in the planning system.
 
“Last week I spoke up to protect the role of planners and their treatment by some members of the community. Today I want to speak up about the contempt of the so called ‘expert’ panel towards the people of Karrinyup,” he said.
 
“The most disappointing part of the proceedings was hearing this panel acknowledge how detailed the RAR was, how excellent the City's work was, and how important the community deputations were, but in the very next breath choose to ignore it and exercise ‘discretion’.
 
“How does the community get ignored, detailed planning assessments by local government get ignored, local government decision makers get ignored. How does the whole power of planning come down to three people with no skin in the game or local knowledge?
 
“What does it say about the future of our system when three people have more power than the entire planning staff and community combined?
 
“Councillors Migdale and Farrelly – representing the City – put it well when they asked the panel to think about whether there is still a role for local government in planning? And if not, is it really their position that there is no role for the community in planning? Our purpose is to be a conduit for locals to shape their City, so if we have no role neither does the community.
 
“To rub salt into the wound, the panel chose to then lecture the City and the community on how they will have to rezone all of Karrinyup around the shopping centre, to ensure that the excessive scale of this development is in context with the panel’s ‘Future Karrinyup’.”
 
Director Planning and Development Stevan Rodic said the height, bulk and scale of the development was not compatible with its setting and would have a significant negative impact on the amenity of the locality.
 
“The City of Stirling is not anti-development; indeed, the City rejects only 0.05 per cent of development applications. However, we do not support the overdevelopment of this site,” he said.
 
“It is over a year since this application was first lodged in July 2020, and along the way we have heard vehement community opposition to this development at almost every Council meeting.
 
“The City recognises the need for sustainable development, but we are disappointed with the decision today, which did not represent orderly and proper planning, has eroded the trust of local residents in the system, and further highlighted that the community is being left behind on major developments that will have a lasting impact on their local area.
 
“JDAP has approved this development despite the fact there was no sound basis provided for the significant conflicts the development has with the planning framework. The amount of discretion sought by this proposal was over and above what the City’s planning team, the Council and the Community would expect.
 
“Today was a perfect example of where the JDAP misuses its power to make what is effectively a policy decision. The JDAP’s role is to determine the acceptability of development taking into consideration the applicable planning framework, not to make policy.”
 
Councillor Karen Caddy made a deputation request on behalf of the Council at today’s JDAP meeting to reiterate Council’s position directly.
 
“The reality is that we are being asked to approve 24 storeys simply because this is the number that suits the developer - without any thought about what is best for the locality or wider community; that’s not the way planning is meant to work,” she said.
 
“To say this is an ‘inappropriate response to the local context’ is a gross understatement; this development is going to stick out like the proverbial and will forever change the character of the Karrinyup area.”

For more background on the development, visit the City's website.

JDAP Agenda

23 Sep 2021 - Agenda - No 108 - City of Stirling