YOUR VIEWS
Craig Shepherd - City of Nedlands - 08 May, 2008
Subject:Heights - Response to P Lovi
Paola, The answers to the previous questions are below :
a) re heights, does TPS2 exclude car parking as a storey? Could you get 2 levels of car parking plus 2 storeys above that under the current scheme? (i.e., all measured from natural ground level) OR do the wall elevation and other restrictions mean you couldn't?
Non-residential developments are permitted under the Scheme (Clause 5.11 i)) to have 3 storeys however must still meet the 10m overall height limit and the 8.5m wall height limit. Given this, 2 levels of car parking and then an additional 2 levels of office would not fit under these restrictions due to BCA min ceiling height requirements.
1 level of car parking on ground (or any level for that matter) and 2 of office/commercial could be allowed currently as long as they meet height requirements.
Underground car parking is not calculated in the heights and so you may have multiple levels without impinging on the activity of the street and levels above.b) re offices, if 'offices' as defined under the Model Scheme Text were NOT permitted as a use, what 'local office' definition could be used to allow in offices that only service the local community such as travel and real estate agents, banks etc? Is this a good way to go about warding off a West Perth office type development? Would you support something like this?
Under the current TPS No. 2, travel agents, real estate agents, banks are all covered under the Office Service definition. Typically speaking the Office Service and Office Professional carry the same permissibility (allowances). If you wished to limit only the above 'local' businesses, then Office Service would be the only allowed Office use. This could have implications when something like a local accountant or stock broker or even consulting doctor wishes to set up in the area. The best way to stop a 'west perth' from occurring would be to impose mixed use requirements for all developments within required area - that way 3 storey office could not occur. In terms of considering the limitation for Office Service only - the City would need to list the other Office uses as 'AA' - requiring Council's approval for that use - we cannot list them as 'X' uses. MST does not break Office into these categories and therefore the only way to limit West Perth would by restrictions on the size of office space allowed - and that is achieved by Built Form Guidelines. As also mentioned in our meeting, the Council could propose to change the definition of Office under the guidelines to reflect a more office-service style product, however ultimately, the WAPC would need to agree to this.
Your other Questions:
a) is it correct that under TPS2 the commercial heights are limited to a total of 10m?
Yes - Clause 5.11 of Scheme - all 3 sub-clauses of this read in unison.b) if the height limit was changed to 12m what would the wall elevation limit be changed to and could you get a scenario of 4 full storeys in that including the scenario of 2 levels of car park plus 2 storeys on top of that?
The wall elevation would need to be worked out - based on other guideline area, typically 10.5m would be the wall height when an overall height of 12m is allowed. 4 full storeys would only be allowed if they all meet the requirements of the BCA - we have not done the calculations for such a scenario as yet, however we will aim to have some varying scenarios ready for the meeting on Thursday.I hope this helps.
Craig.If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards,Craig Shepherd
Strategic Planning Officer - Development Services
City of Nedlands