Comment on Development Application: 202139359 for 5 McLean Place, Curtin
5 McLean Place is in the Radburn residential area of Curtin. Key Radburn design principles evident in this area of Curtin include: houses face the parkland; the parkland merges with the front yards of private properties; houses and fences are kept well back from the park front property line; and with foot and cycle traffic directed through the park and garages located on the service road side of blocks, motor traffic is kept, as far as possible, separate from foot and cycle traffic. These features are not respected in this DA.
• Neither of the houses face the park and one of them has no boundary with the park. For the house which does, the design shows no gate on the park side so even residents in that house cannot directly access the park. Foot and cycle traffic is therefore via the service road which means a mingling of foot/cycle traffic with motor vehicles.
• The park side fence on the property line is high, continuous (without a gate) and solid. Lost therefore would be any sense of continuity between private and the public space. Compared with most other parts of Radburn, the parkland between Blyth and McLean is very narrow (3-4 metres). Consequently with the fence located as proposed, the park at this point would become little more than a path.
• The building set back is less than 3 metres from the park side property line, even though the general planning rules require a 4 metre set back (to open space wider than 6 metres) or 6 metres in most other cases. Taking into account the very narrow park mentioned above, even in the absence of a fence the small set back proposed would significantly compromise the parkland qualities of this area of Radburn.
There is a place for dual occupancies in this area of Curtin given its proximity to shopping, schools and other facilities and the attractions of Radburn itself, in particular its parkland, trees and footpaths. But this proposal does not take best advantage of the attractions offered by Radburn and in fact damages the very features which make this area of Curtin attractive.
For this proposal to be approved, both houses should have access to the park, the set back on the park side should be 6 metres and the park side fence should be at or behind the building line.
