minutes - City of Stirling

MINUTES OF THE ORDINARY MEETING OF COUNCIL
18 SEPTEMBER 2012
Comment
Mirrabooka Town Square is a pivotal element to the revitalisation of the Mirrabooka Regional
Centre and was designed to accommodate events such as markets with the necessary
services including communications, power and water. Markets could play a significant role
in activating the Mirrabooka Regional Centre and creating a sense of place.
A report was produced by consultants Creating Communities Pty Ltd (as attached) in May
2005 to determine the feasibility of establishing markets in Mirrabooka. This report
highlighted the need to support the establishment of markets and estimated the cost to the
City to be approximately $54,000. Markets did not proceed at the time due to objections from
local retailers.
The City has received interest from two (2) local community groups; the Rotary Club of
Morley and Nollamara RSL; both expressed their willingness to establish weekend markets,
demonstrating that the opportunity to seek expressions of interests is feasible.
The following report will outline the options and resource requirements for the establishment
of a community market in Mirrabooka for Council’s consideration.
Site Options
Officers have undertaken a preliminary review of potential sites for a weekend community
market in Mirrabooka. This considered criteria including appropriate land use zoning, current
ownership status, car parking capacity, size requirements and ‘fit-for-purpose’ measure. The
results of this initial review are as follows.
Option 1 - Mirrabooka Town Square - Lot 15, 16 Sudbury Road, Mirrabooka
The Town Square (area marked by a dashed line in Aerial Photograph 1 below) was
originally designed as part of the Mirrabooka Regional Centre Improvement Strategy to be
used for markets with connections for power and water. It provides the best space for
‘activating’ the centre and could further attract commuters from the Mirrabooka Bus Station
and be accessible to drivers with the Mirrabooka Library and retail car parking nearby.
Further, the Mirrabooka Square Shopping Centre specified their preference for a site centred
around the Town Square site if markets were to be held on Friday evening as this would
provide flow-on benefits to the major shopping stores open after hours (Big W, Kmart, Coles
and Woolworths). They also indicated that Centre Management may consider the use of a
portion of the car park for market activity if a proposal were presented to them that did not
adversely impact their retailers.
It should be noted that a Development Application has been submitted by the Mirrabooka
Square Shopping Centre to create car park space backing up to the Town Square and on
the old Town Square site which would prohibit the establishment of markets on this site until
these works are complete.
Under Local Planning Scheme No.3 the site is currently zoned ‘Civic’ which specifically
prohibits markets as a use on this site. Officers recognise the important role that weekend
community markets could contribute to the sense of place and community vibrancy in a local
area and that the Town Square was created to cater for such activities. Therefore to resolve
this issue so that markets may be an approved use on this site in the future, a proposal has
been included in the Omnibus Amendment to Local Planning Scheme No.3 to provide for
‘Market’ uses as a discretionary (‘D’) use able to be considered in the Civic Zone.
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