Last week the City of Armadale hosted the first of its two town hall meetings to address growing discontent about the deteriorating state of the Kelmscott town centre.
“Our much-loved town is looking very tired and run down,” Mayor Ruth Butterfield began.
The meeting touched on a few key issues: the blight of persistently vacant buildings along the highway; homelessness; and maintenance of the streetscape.
But it was clear from the outset that there were two different agendas from those in the room at the John Dunn pavilion last Wednesday.
The Mayor, Deputy Mayor and other City of Armadale representatives were hoping the event would be about “information sharing”: a chance to dispel some misplaced beliefs about who is responsible and what power the city has to act; and a way for them to listen to the community’s grievances and understand how to advocate more effectively.
But for those in the community who expected to hear solutions to these ongoing problems, they clearly left more frustrated than they arrived.
“I didn’t expect magical answers, but perhaps a little tiny bit of hope. But all I got out of it … is that council can’t do anything about anything and it’s all over,” one person vented.
Unfortunately, the city has no power to force private landowners to clean up their vacant buildings (unless they pose a safety hazard), or find new tenants. So, Sizzlers and the TAB building could continue to remain a sorry reminder of times gone by for as long as their owners desire.
“There’s no obligation on the owners to build anything on the land. A lot of these buildings have perhaps been in people’s families for a long time – they own them outright, so they’re not under mortgage or loan pressure,” Mayor Butterfield said, and, addressing the number of vacant shops in the two Kelmscott shopping centres added: “Coles and Woolies are supporting whole empty centres with their rent”.
When someone asked if the City of Armadale could take a leaf out of the City of Gosnells’ book and purchase one of these vacant sites to turn into something of use, the mayor explained that doing so would be prohibitively expensive.
“Gosnells has purchased a small piece of land as a catalyst to amalgamate land and get development moving. But it hasn’t happened, if you’ve noticed,” she said.
“It would be great if we won some sort of lottery and we could go and cherry pick sites to redevelop. But we simply can’t afford to do that.
“For the increase in rates [buying a site] would mean for everyone in the City of Armadale, I don’t think it’s worth it. I think you could turn a blind eye and drive through the area and not have your rates double.”
Another mood killer was the revelation that the City of Armadale has no power to object to a development proposal if it fits within a long list of permissible uses within the planning framework.
“If the owners of the land say ‘we have a business case that shows we can make a profit by building another service station’, then the City of Armadale has no right to knock it back,” Mayor Butterfield said. “And that’s unfortunately town planning for you.”
That point became relevant later in the evening when it was revealed that in 2023 the Western Australian Planning Commission approved a development application to build another service station on the old Coventrys site.
“And they do intend to go ahead with that. They’re currently waiting for a connection to Western Power at the level needed for the site,” Mayor Butterfield said.
Meanwhile, the scars of the old Caltex site will remain in full view for at least the next year and a half while the site is remediated. Currently, gases are being released from the underground tanks, the mayor explained.
But CEO Joanne Abbiss added that one condition the City of Armadale was able to include in the old Coventrys site approval was for some green landscaping around the perimeter of the new service station.
Likewise, the City of Armadale has ensured that Dan Murphy’s will plant out a ratio of its car park after its application to reinstate a drive-through was approved.
In fact, increasing greenery along the concrete gauntlet of the Albany Highway was a point raised multiple times during the meeting.
Unfortunately, new road safety rules prevent the council from planting tall verge trees within a 6.5 metre buffer of the Albany Highway. But Deputy Mayor John Keogh explained that the city was looking into increasing its landscaping budget for the area in the upcoming budget.
“Another thing we are looking at is purchasing or leasing back car bays to put trees in,” Mayor Butterfield said.
A glimmer of hope came from Member for Armadale Tony Buti who explained that the state government has been in “very positive discussions” with a potential tenant for the old station master’s house.
“I think you’ll be happy with the people who are moving in. But I can’t tell you more than that,” he said.
He also said that the land opposite, where the old tennis court stood, will soon enough be used to build new homes.
But the mood turned sour again when the issue of homelessness was brought up.
Deputy Mayor John Keogh explained that the state government, and the police, are primarily responsible for addressing homelessness and the related conflicts that are arising.
He explained that the city’s strategy is to be “kind and compassionate” in the first instance and put people in touch with services who might be able to assist them.
He said the city’s rangers do not have the power to forcibly move people on when there are instances of anti-social behaviour, but that the city had recently “gone through the legal route” and issued prohibition notices for some people who have been causing issues at Rushton Park.
“The issue is that no accommodation has been offered to the people at Rushton Park, because there is nowhere,” Mayor Butterfield said. “There is a dire undersupply of beds, rooms and accommodation.
“When you move someone on, then another person will take their place. It’s a revolving door at the moment.”
But this explanation only fuelled the anger of those in the room who explained they had compassion for rough sleepers, but were sick of foul language in front of children, naked people lighting bushfires, people defecating along the river, massive camps taking over huge areas of parkland, and threats and off-leash dogs directed at locals who come near.
Mayor Butterfield said all local governments were experiencing the same issues – it wasn’t isolated to the City of Armadale.
“It’s very disappointing to come here and have you have an expectation that we are going to fix everything. We’d love to be able to have that power. But the law doesn’t afford us much,” she said. “Being homeless is not a crime…If there’s no crime being committed then the police won’t come… And we can’t force people to be respectful.”
Deputy Mayor Keogh said the city was doing what it could and had met with the owners of the vacant TAB building to encourage them to move the people on from that space.
“But we can’t guarantee it will happen. It’s a very complex problem,” he said.
“But I appreciate there is a lot of resentment in the room.”
The scheduled one-hour meeting was wrapped up at the two-hour mark with a concession from those who had called on the city to meet with the community about the issues.
“I think it’s fair to say that nobody walked away with confidence that council can fix all our issues,” Chris Kirkby said. “To put it simply, this is because in most cases they can’t.
“I knew this before I went, and set my expectations prior.”
But he said he was buoyed by the number of like-minded and impassioned locals who attended and participated, was grateful that the City of Armadale and Tony Buti met with them, listened, attempted to answer all questions, and agreed to support the community as they continue the fight to revive Kelmscott.
He also said he now had a better understanding of who to target in any future campaigns.
“Sure, the council can and should do more, and I believe that would be a key takeaway for them,” he said.
“Nonetheless, I thank them for their time and effort and look forward to some exciting community campaigns in the future.”
The second (fully booked) meeting will be held this Sunday.
