The owner of Evolution Bikes has vowed to take the City of Vincent to the State Administrative Tribunal after its council made a decision to not approve two roller shutters protecting his business from break-ins.
Anthony Hart opened his business at 334-336 Beaufort Street in 2017 and found two windows on-site fronting the strip already boarded up with wood panelling, while a roller shutter at the entrance was installed before 2007.
The City of Vincent claims it has “no record” of approving the wood panelling on the windows or the roller shutter on the doorway.
Mr Hart removed the panelling as soon as he took occupancy of the site but it wasn’t until the end of 2021 that he decided to spend $5000 installing two black roller shutters after his business had been broken into five times, losing thousands of dollars in stock as well as having to repair shattered windows.
Mr Hart said asking the council for approval was the “last thing on his mind”.
He was forced by the City of Vincent to submit a development application on October 21 last year for installing the two roller shutters – as well as the third roller shutter even though it was already in place – after a compliance investigation was undertaken.
Vincent staff had recommended the council instruct Mr Hart on Tuesday to remove the roller shutters within 28 days, stating the shutters were “incompatible” with the design of other shopfronts in the area and their appearance “adversely impacts” the local area and set an “undesirable precedence”.
Cr Ashley Wallace said he believed the staff recommendation had gone too far and he was supportive of a “reasonable compromise”.
“Consistency in decision making in planning is very important – discretion exercised in one location can quickly be exploited by others,” he said.
“Streetscape and interface are really important and having vibrant and interactive faces can be a crime reduction measure but having said that, I do think the proposal (officer recommendation) written goes a little too far.”
The council decided to instead meet Mr Hart half-way in a move that’s left him feeling anything but victorious.
The council agreed to approve the roller shutter on the doorway but Mr Hart must take down the two roller shutters on the windows within six months.
“I find it interesting that they won’t approve the roller shutters to 5 per cent of the building but they will approve a roller shutter to 1 per cent of the building,” Mr Hart told PerthNow after the meeting.
A city report said the window roller shutters were “incompatible with the design of facades within the streetscape.
“This is as a result of the window roller shutters providing for reduced activation to the street frontage,” the report said.
“Doors, windows and adjacent floor areas fronting Beaufort Street shall maintain an active and interactive relationship with the street.”
Since 2019, the city has refused three development applications from businesses to install roller shutters while one was withdrawn, with all located near the Beaufort Street site between Bulwer and Newcastle streets.
“All of those roller shutters were removed where they were retrospective,” the city’s acting development and design manager Karsen Reynolds said.
Ms Reynolds said it was in 2001 that the council approval was given for installation of a roller shutter at a business along Edwards Street in Perth with a condition the shutters be closed outside of operating hours.
“They were considered in the local context as it’s a light industrial area and a sensitive land use on a local road so in that instance it was considered appropriate but we don’t have any other records for approved roller shutters in the city,” she said.
Mayor Emma Cole said it was “tough” as she understood Evolution Bikes’ issue around raising security but she didn’t believe the council could treat one business differently to the way it had treated others in similar circumstances.
Evolution Bikes manager Michael Hernan told the council on Tuesday the building had helped the business build a customer base over the last four years in excess of 18,000 extending from Busselton to Joondalup.
“Currently our building complies with the built form policy during business hours, seven days a week, in which we intend to stay open for in the foreseeable future,” he said.
“Outside of those times, the level of visual amenity lost by having roller shutters on the windows is completely negated by the security they provide themselves.”
Mr Hart will now spend ”significant additional investment of time and effort” taking his matter to the State Administrative Tribunal for review.
”Thus far I’ve spent maybe a couple of 100 hours on this process,” he said.
“Public safety is a primary concern, there’s a high level of vandalism in this area, and so the only solution they’re proposing on those two windows is to put security grills internal to the glazing, which means the glazing will get broken… it’s not the appropriate solution,” Mr Hart said
The council also agreed on Tuesday that the roller shutter on the doorway be removed if Mr Hart’s business ever moves out of the building or if the existing entrance door was modified. They also agreed the roller shutter must remain open during business hours.