WA council (ALMOST) admits stuffup of approval

Council admits building error
25/Aug/2009
Comments:
THE Town of Claremont was forced to admit it incorrectly approved a building application and licence for a Davies Road house in 2005 and placed a notification on the property’s title to rectify the situation.
Several councillors mistakenly bandied around the word “caveat” during last Tuesday’s meeting, despite the action calling for a notification on the title.
A caveat would declare council’s interest in the property but a notification is less restrictive to the owner and states true boundaries would need to be enforced if the property was developed.
Surveying carried out on land adjacent to the Davies Road property showed that the alfresco area and retaining wall encroached on to council land by .39m and .1m respectively.
In a report on the item, the Town admitted accepting the planning application and issuing a building licence in error. However, it was adamant action needed to be taken to protect its land.
Councillors Anita Lorenz and Jock Barker opposed the recommendation, but their proposal to refer the item back to administration for the Town to reach a mutual agreement with the owner was not supported.
Cr Lorenz said she would have supported a “caveat” if she were 100 per cent sure it would not affect the value of the property.
Cr Barker suggested the Town could enter an agreement with the owner to ensure the property boundaries were recognised if renovations or demolition were carried out in the future.
However, Cr Mary McComish said it was an unfortunate situation but the council had to retain integrity of its boundaries.
Mayor Peter Olson said there were no “sinister” intentions involved with the decision.