THE developer of the Woolstores shopping centre wants a public art requirement dropped because Fremantle council demands have added $250,000 to the cost.
Silverleaf Pty Ltd was granted approval for a $14 million, three-storey, mixed-use complex on the block located opposite the Fremantle Railway station at the beginning of last year.
However, as part of the approval, Silverleaf was required to assign 1 per cent of the total development cost towards a “public art contribution” totalling $140,000.
In the formal request to delete the art and heritage condition, Silverleaf claims it was “forced to adopt a higher level of design” to replicate the brick podium design of the Woolstores which has added $250,000 to the development cost.
The contribution is a requirement of the Council’s Local Planning Policy 2.19, which demands “commercial and multiple residential” developments allocate a percentage of the development towards public art or heritage works.
Silverleaf owner Gerard O’Brien said the request to delete the art and heritage condition from the approval was not “asking for an exemption from the art”, citing the effort his company had gone to to incorporate the brick podium design in lieu of art.
“It’s simply accepting the fact that it is a Woolstore, and we’re spending a lot of money on that,” Mr O’Brien said.
“We could quite easily remove that and put up your mosaic panels, but it’s not what I really want to do.”
Fremantle Society president John Dowson was critical of Silverleaf’s request to not have to pay the heritage or art contribution, disagreeing with the developer’s claim that a “pragmatic” approach to the build was necessary.
“Too many but not all of this developer’s previous developments have not added a great deal of excellence [to Fremantle],” Mr Dowson said.
“There needs to be developer contribution to the amenity of the area, not just the profit of the development itself, and for the owners.
“Anything built in the centre of this historic town should have design excellence.”
The item to delete the contribution from Silverleaf’s agreement was deferred at the council meeting on Wednesday.
It will be addressed at the next meeting on May 22.
by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER