Further debate on foreshore setbacks as Albany council endorses draft Woolstores plan and modifications

Albany councillors have voted in favour of extending the public space to 30m on the foreshore of the Woolstores development site “because that’s what people love” after a debate over the size of the thoroughfare. At the Development and Infrastructure Services Committee meeting earlier this month, councillors backed the 20m setback in the draft plan despite modifications by city planning officers suggesting it be extended to 30m. The draft plan, as first proposed, included a 20m setback from the water’s edge, including 10m of public space and 10m of private land where no building would be permitted. When the item was revisited at Tuesday’s ordinary meeting, there was again debate about whether the size of the setback should be extended to 30m, by including 20m of public space. Ultimately an amendment tabled by Cr Malcolm Traill to reintroduce a suggested modification for the 30m setback was successfully passed by the council 7-4. Cr Traill said he was looking forward to the development but was concerned about the size of the smaller setback as the completed precinct would host “hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors or residents at any one time”. “From that point of view I think we need more space to move out rather than jamming ourselves up against the foreshore,” he said. He said he was happy to support an increased maximum building height to “increase the commercial viability” of a hotel on the site, but he was keen to preserve open space “because that’s what people love”. “It’s a drawcard for our city and a reason people come here,” he said. Cr Amanda Cruse said 20m would allow for a beautiful promenade capable of accommodating a “good-size crowd”. “This precinct is almost certainly going to be the last prime waterfront precinct in our city,” she said. “It should be something Albany can be proud of, not just now but also in 20, 40 or 60 years time when we’re all gone.” Cr Delma Baesjou pointed towards the recommendations from government departments that meant a 30m overall setback would be required. Cr Robert Sutton argued against the amendment by saying the open space was not intended as a gathering place. “It’s not the Peace Park, it’s not an area we are going to hold concerts on, it’s a thoroughfare,” he said. Councillors Sutton, Mario Lionetti, Thomas Brough and Craig McKinley voted against the amendment. Before Cr Traill’s amendment was tabled, Cr Brough said the council had already done the work to understand the site and the draft plans, describing the site as “an industrial desert” that “was and is an abomination”. “As an undertaker, the developer has already done the work of taking away the corpse’s poisonous skeleton of asbestos, who else would do that?” he said. “This developer has skin in the game because no one else was going to do that, there was no other alternative. “... Through the developer’s private ownership of the land they are going to midwife this project and from the corpse of a concrete wasteland, they will phoenix a project that actually has what the City of Albany needs — houses to live in.” The draft Woolstores Precinct structure plan will now be passed on to the WA Planning Commission, along with a list of suggested modifications, for its approval.