Council Minutes - Town of Cambridge

COUNCIL MINUTES
TUESDAY 20 DECEMBER 2011
Car parking
Use Requirement Required
Office Office: 1 bay/30m 2 NFA 1074m 2 = 36 bays
Café Restaurant: 1 bay/4.5m 2
seating area
Total required
Total provided
Shortfall
98m 2 = 22 bays
58 bays
19 bays
39 bays
The applicant is proposing a 67% reduction in the total number of car bays required under
Policy 5.1: Off-street Parking of the Town Planning Scheme Policy Manual. While the proposal
does not meet the statutory requirements, it can be considered compatible with desired
planning outcomes for the following reasons:-
The requirement for 22 bays for the café is not considered critical. This is due to the
supposition that patrons to these tenancies will largely come from the offices above and
or will walk from other commercial and residential properties in the vicinity of the subject
site. The potential for patrons who drive in specifically to visit the café is considered
minimal. Further, from an urban design viewpoint, these sorts of uses at pedestrian level
are encouraged. A more appropriate calculation for this land use may be the office
requirement of 1 bay/30m 2 NFA.
State Planning Policy 4.2 'Activity Centres for Perth and Peel' (August 2010) provides, as
a guide, a requirement of 1 bay per 50m 2 for offices and notes that there should be
flexibility for developers to provide less or no parking on-site and contribute cash-in-lieu
towards facilities and services for common-use parking, public transport and alternative
modes.
For the recent development assessment for Nos. 3-5 Loftus Street and the WALGA
development, a 20% discount on the number of car bays required was applied, due to the
significant exposure the site has to public transport. The same can be applied to this site
at No. 156 Railway Parade. The site is in close proximity to the City West Train Station
and is also within walking distance from Leederville and West Leederville Train Stations.
In addition bus routes run along Loftus Street and Railway Parade, with six routes also
present on the nearby Cambridge Street. The considerable exposure to public transport
presents an excellent opportunity to encourage alternative means of transport in line with
the sustainability principles pursued by State Government strategies.
The applicant has also provided a wall mounted bike rack in the ground floor car park,
and end of trip facilities such as showers, change rooms and lockers on the first and
second floors to encourage this method of sustainable transport. Provision of bicycle
parking and end-of-trip facilities is considered a desirable planning outcome, which,
together with the availability of public transport in the vicinity, could justify a reduction of
20% of the number of car bays required under the Scheme.
Discounts for proximity to public transport and provision for alternative transport are often
provided for in car parking policies under Town Planning Schemes. There is a large
move for metropolitan local governments to reduce car parking requirements with some
Councils introducing maximum car parking requirements rather than minimums. In
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