Farmer and City Of Wanneroo
[2006] WASAT 170
•20 JUNE 2006
JURISDICTION : STATE ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
STREAM: DEVELOPMENT & RESOURCES
ACT: PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ACT 2005 (WA)
CITATION: FARMER and CITY OF WANNEROO [2006] WASAT 170
MEMBER: MS M CONNOR (MEMBER)
HEARD: 20 JUNE 2006
DELIVERED : Edited reasons delivered extemporaneously on 20 JUNE 2006
FILE NO/S: DR 133 of 2006
BETWEEN: ROD FARMER
Applicant
AND
CITY OF WANNEROO
Respondent
Catchwords:
Town Planning Review of a condition of approval Child care centre Number of car parking spaces to be provided onsite Agreed Structure Plan Subject land located within transit precinct Calculation of car parking spaces Number of bays required to adequately meet the anticipated demand
Legislation:
City of Wanneroo District Planning Scheme No 2, cl 3.14.3, cl 4.12, cl 4.14, cl 5.6.1, cl 9.8, Pt 9, Table 2
Metropolitan Region Scheme
Planning and Development Act 2005 (WA), s 252
Town Planning and Development Act 1928 (WA), s 26(1)(a)(ii)
Result:
The application of review is allowed
Condition 2 of the decision under review is modified
Category: B
Representation:
Counsel:
Applicant: Mr S Allerding (Agent)
Respondent: Mr C Penheiro (Agent)
Solicitors:
Applicant: N/A
Respondent: N/A
Case(s) referred to in decision(s):
Nil
Case(s) also cited:
Nil
REASONS FOR DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL:
Summary of the Tribunal's decision
Mr Farmer applied to the City of Wanneroo for approval to construct a child care centre on No 34 Landera Drive, Clarkson. The City of Wanneroo granted approval to the proposed development on 4 April 2006, subject to 10 conditions.
Mr Farmer sought review of condition 2 of the Shire of Wanneroo's approval, which required the provision of 24 car parking spaces onsite.
An Agreed Structure Plan, referred to as Structure Plan 33 Clarkson (Lot 16 Connolly Drive), had been prepared and adopted in accordance with Pt 9 of the City of Wanneroo District Planning Scheme No 2. Amongst other things, the Agreed Structure Plan set out the criteria for calculating car parking spaces within this area. The parties' experts agreed that 16 pick up/drop off bays would adequately meet the anticipated parking demand of the proposed development.
The Tribunal gave oral reasons for decision, which appear below. The Tribunal found that discretion was available to reduce the car parking requirements of the City of Wanneroo District Planning Scheme No 2, particularly in light of the provisions of the Agreed Structure Plan. Furthermore, the Tribunal accepted the evidence of the expert witnesses that 16 car parking spaces onsite, together with the available onstreet parking was sufficient to adequately meet the anticipated parking demand of the proposed development and was satisfied that the objectives of the Agreed Structure Plan and the City of Wanneroo District Planning Scheme No 2 would be achieved by the provision of 16 car parking spaces onsite. The application for review was allowed and condition 2 modified accordingly.
Introduction
Mr Rod Farmer (applicant) made application to the City of Wanneroo (respondent) for approval to construct a child care centre on Lot 1195 (No 34) Ladera Drive, corner Pavonia Link/Orenco Loop, Clarkson (the subject land).
The application proposed a child care centre comprising a building with four activity rooms for age groups up to 12 years old, two outdoor play areas, 12 car parking spaces and associated landscaping on a 2000 square metre lot. The centre also proposes standard amenities such as a kitchen, toilets, laundry, staff room, an administration room, an outdoor bin enclosure and drying facilities.
The centre is proposed to accommodate up to 75 children at any one time, together with 15 staff. Operating hours are proposed from 7 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday.
The development application was considered by the respondent at its ordinary council meeting of 4 April 2006. Approval was granted to the development application subject to 10 conditions.
The applicant, on 21 April 2006, made application to have condition 2 reviewed. The Tribunal notes that the application for review was made under s 26(1)(a)(ii) of the Town Planning and Development Act 1928 (WA). The Tribunal recognises that the application should have been made under s 252 of the Planning and Development Act 2005 (WA) and proceeds on that basis.
Condition 2 reads as follows:
"The total number of car parking bays provided on-site being increased to 24 to the satisfaction of the Manager, Planning Services."
Site context
The subject land is located on the south-east corner of the fourway intersection between Ladera Drive and Pavonia Link. It is bordered to the west by Ladera Drive, to the north by Paviona Link, to the south by a rightofway, and to the east by Orenco Loop.
The subject land is located immediately to the west of the Clarkson train station and bus interchange. The northern train station car park is located immediately to the north of the proposed child care centre. The site therefore has excellent access to a high standard of public transport facilities.
Vehicle access to the site is proposed via a 6.0 metre rightofway (ROW) along the southern boundary of the lot. The ROW has a single connection to Ladera Drive.
Planning framework
The subject land is zoned "Urban" in the Metropolitan Region Scheme (MRS) and "Urban Development" in the City of Wanneroo District Planning Scheme No 2 (DPS 2 or Scheme).
Clause 3.14.3 prevents subdivision and development within the "Urban Development" zone until an Agreed Structure Plan (ASP) has been prepared and adopted under the provisions of Pt 9 of the Scheme.
An ASP for this locality has been prepared and adopted in accordance with Pt 9 of DPS 2 and is referred to as Structure Plan 33 Clarkson (Lot 16 Connolly Drive). Clause 9.8 of the Scheme provides, amongst other things, that a provision, standard or requirement of a structure plan approved under Pt 9 of the Scheme shall be given the same force and effect as if it was a provision, standard or requirement of the Scheme.
The subject land is located within the transit precinct of the ASP. The purpose of the transit precinct is to provide a flexible approach to the planning, design and implementation of land uses. It is intended that the precinct accommodates a mixture of land uses including residential, office, retail, entertainment and civic. The subject land is currently vacant and is identified as "Mixed Use" under the ASP. A child care centre is a discretionary use within this zone, and approval has been granted by the respondent for the construction of a child care centre on the subject land.
The dispute in relation to this matter is in regards to the number of car parking spaces to be provided onsite. Clause 5.6.1 of the ASP sets out the criteria for car parking, which is as follows:
"(a)Car parking is to be provided on-site at the rate prescribed in the Scheme for the use proposed, with consideration for the following provisions.
(b)Onstreet parking immediately abutting a lot may be included in the calculation for onsite parking. Council also has discretion to approve the allocation of onstreet parking not abutting a lot if the parking bays are within 200 m of the subject lot and are not considered to be required by any other nonresidential use.
(c)A reduction of 15% is permitted for the provision of parking for each lot, as a result of the close proximity to the transit station and associated parking stations."
The starting point for the calculation of car parking space for land is the rate prescribed by the Scheme, followed by an assessment of availability of onstreet parking in the immediate vicinity of the subject land, less the reduction rate of 15%.
Table 2 Car Parking Standards and cl 4.14 of the Scheme establish the onsite parking standards for specific developments. For child care centres, Table 2 specifies the number of onsite car parking spaces as per the local planning policy "Child Care Centres" but not less than five. On this basis, the requirement would be 24 car parking spaces, which is comprised of 15 staff car parking spaces (one space for each staff member) and 9 spaces for pick up/drop off purposes (one space per 8 children).
The application of a 15% reduction as specified in subclause (c) of the criteria under cl 5.6.1 of the ASP would reduce the number of car parking spaces to be provided on site to 20.4 bays.
According to the evidence, two on-street car parking spaces exist immediately facing the entrance to the child care centre on Ladera Drive. A further six onstreet spaces exist on the opposite side of Ladera Drive, adjacent to the centre. It was generally agreed by the parties that these car parking spaces would be available for use by the child care centre. If these bays were taken into consideration, the required number of car parking spaces would be reduced to 12 bays.
Planning issue
The only issue before the Tribunal in relation to this matter is the number of car parking spaces to be provided onsite to support the proposed development. It was agreed between the parties that the aim of the transit precinct was to promote public transport usage and walkability, and that by providing tighter car parking controls, this would assist in achieving this aim.
A car parking and pedestrian access assessment was prepared by Transcore Pty Ltd (Transcore) for the applicant. This study addressed the issues associated with the proposed car parking supply in the context of existing council and State Government policies, as well as "best practice" in relation to transitoriented development (TOD) and detailed surveys of other existing child care centres within the Perth metropolitan area. The Transcore assessment concluded that 16 pick up/drop off bays would adequately meet the anticipated parking demand of the proposed development.
Miss Claire Smith, a transport engineer with WorleyParsons Services Pty Ltd, was retained by the respondent to give evidence in respect to the report prepared by Transcore. Miss Smith concurred with the findings of the Transcore report and considered that 16 on-site car parking spaces would be adequate to service the proposed use. She was also of the opinion that the site was capable of safely and efficiently accommodating 16 car parking spaces onsite.
Mr Casimir Penheiro, the Coordinator Development Assessment with the City of Wanneroo, accepted the findings of the Transcore report and concurred with the evidence given by Miss Smith. He considered that the provision of 16 onsite car parking spaces would be adequate for the development, given the potential availability of onstreet car parking spaces and potential for partial sharing of public car parking areas (up to 911 car bays) within the car parking area adjacent to or near the development site.
No evidence was produced by the respondent supporting the contention that 24 car parking spaces were required onsite to meet the anticipated demand generated by the proposed development.
The Tribunal finds that discretion is available to reduce the car parking requirements of DPS 2, particularly in light of the provisions of the ASP. The Tribunal accepts the evidence of the expert witnesses that 16 car parking spaces onsite, together with the available onstreet parking is sufficient to adequately meet the anticipated parking demand of the proposed development, and is satisfied that the objectives of the ASP and the Scheme will be achieved by the provision of 16 car parking spaces onsite.
The Tribunal notes that an application for cost was raised during the morning's proceedings, but was not pressed. The Tribunal does not therefore deal with this application.
For the above reasons, the following orders are made:
1.The application for review is allowed.
2.Condition 2 of the decision under review is modified as follows:
(i)Condition 2 is replaced with the following:
The total number of car parking spaces provided onsite being increased to 16 bays. The car parking spaces are to be designed in accordance with Australian Standard 2890.1 and configured as shown in Type 2 parking layout of City of Wanneroo Child Care Centre Policy.
I certify that this and the preceding [30] paragraphs comprise the reasons for decision of the State Administrative Tribunal.
___________________________________
MS M CONNOR, MEMBER
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