Queen Street to Oxford Street

The Omnibus One which has resulted in proposed amendment one to the City of Busselton Local Planning Scheme No. 21 will create profitable opportunities for the local property development sector. The traditionally tightly held Busselton City Centre and Dunsborough Town Centre should shortly enjoy a change of zoning from 'Business Zone' to R-AC3 - opening the door to six storey mixed use development. The planning scheme amendment was endorsed by Council in May 2016 and is now before the Western Australian Planning Commission and the Hon Minister for Planning.

Should the Hon Minister for Planning approve the proposed planning scheme amendment, the streetscapes of Queen Street, Prince Street and others could enjoy a much needed refurbishment and may soon take on a character and charm of the built-up urban spaces along Oxford Street in Leederville or possibly even Oxford Street in Paddington and Darlinghurst! The R-AC3 Mixed Use Zoning will open the door to dynamic City spaces with offices adjacent to retail and multi-residential. The Mixed Use Zoning could mean exciting streetscapes as seen in Leederville; with busy cafes and supermarkets adjacent to bars, cosmopolitan restaurants and quirky retail specialty stores. Most Perth residents have a favourite cafe along the Oxford Street strip and soon City of Busselton residents could be enjoying a similar vibrant urban streetscape that exhibits twenty-four hour activity.

Farfetched you say? The South West Development Commission anticipates the south-west population to grow from 174,000 to 500,000 by the year 2050 . In 2016, Australia's 5.5 million baby-boomers who are now between 52 and 70 years of age and will soon entering retirement - a large portion are seeking a sea change. A portion of Perth western suburbs baby boomers already own a south-west holiday house, and the baby boomers who don't already have a foot in the south-west, may not be able to resist the urge to sell their over-priced Perth residential property and make that sea change to Cowaramup Bay, Eagle Bay or Geographe Bay. Should increased baby boomer migration from Australian capital cities to large regional centres become a reality; there will be an increased aggregate demand for services in regional centres. Busselton enjoys a similar Mediterranean climate to Perth (labelled as Climate Zone 5 in the National Construction Code) so is an obvious choice for baby boomers to settle in retirement - if the Busselton City Centre and Dunsborough Town Centre can accommodate the increased demand for services?

The zoning change from Business Zone to Mixed Use Zone R-AC3 will deliver such exciting development opportunities that current Busselton City Centre and Dunsborough Town Centre property owners may abandon their 'buy and hold' asset strategies and embrace the more advantageous option of mixed use multi storey development. One and two storey developments along Prince and Queen Street will be relegated to the past. The City of Busselton planning scheme amendment one, contained in Omnibus One, includes incentives of up to three (3) plot ratio, 18m building heights and combined with cash-in-lieu car parking provisions currently being offered by the City of Busselton - property developers may now abandon previous real estate growth markets of Perth and other state capital cities.

Threadgold Architecture, www.threadgoldarchitecture.com.au, is the south-west architect specialist in mixed use development, with mixed use expertise from 2000. The practice offers obligation free appointments to Busselton City Centre and Dunsborough Town Centre property owners who would like to consider the development opportunities now made available to them under the proposed R-AC3 mixed use zoning.

Main image: Project Architect: Stuart Threadgold, Design Architect: Neil Cownie (Overman and Zuideveld Pty Ltd)