‘Stairway to nowhere’: Vincent council approves 20m North Perth viewing platform for use as ‘sales strategy’

North Perth locals have slammed a 20m viewing platform to be used as a “sales and marketing strategy” to sell apartments as an “invasion of privacy”. The Vincent City council unanimously gave development approval for a temporary viewing platform at 367-369 Fitzgerald Street, North Perth, at a meeting on September 17. It comes almost a year after the Metro Inner-North Joint DAP approved a mixed use development by Celsius at the same site. The nine-storey development — approved last November — will include over 100 apartments, shops, restaurants and cafes, offices and car parking. The 20.2m open viewing platform — equivalent to the height of a six-storey building — was erected in June and will be used as a “sales and marketing strategy” for the new development. The platform is currently fenced off and will remain on-site until June 2025. Prospective buyers will be able to climb the tower to see the view from the height of their apartment before making a purchase. Two buyers and one staff member will be permitted on the structure at any given time. “The viewing platform is an important component of the sales and marketing as it enables prospective buyers the chance to see what views would be like from the first six levels in the building,” a report from Planning Solutions, acting on behalf of Celsius, said. “With a value of more than $100 million, this project is the largest mixed-use project to be undertaken in North Perth in the last 20 years. “Once the sales and marketing officially launch, the viewing platform would assist in closing sales, allowing construction to commence as soon as possible. “The proposal for the viewing platform to remain on-site until June 2025 would align with the current timeline for the above sales and the indicative commencement of construction.” But North Perth resident Stephanie Elson said almost 90 per cent of submissions opposed the viewing platform. “I wanted to really clarify that there were 24 submissions and 21 people were against this,” she said. “This stairway to nowhere is looking over our homes, it’s a massive invasion of privacy into my backyard (because) people on the tower can look directly into my dining room and into my children’s bedrooms. “What percentage does it need to be of residents that don’t need this and don’t want this over their homes before a decision is not made in favour of developers?” North Perth resident Neil Stacey said he had seen people “smoking cones” and “having picnics” on the platform and asked the council to listen to its residents. He said 87.5 per cent of people voted against the tower. “People are really questioning why they go through this process of submissions to not be listened to,” he said. “This is an opportunity for councillors to actually do the right thing by the community ... and we’ve already had enough.” But Vincent City development and design acting manager Karsen Reynolds said the viewing platform was “lawfully constructed in accordance with planning and building legislation”. “The viewing tower is set back 46-ish metres from the nearest residential property,” she said. “Given the purpose of the structure and those large setbacks, we considered in short that there would be no adverse overlooking impacts to those surrounding properties, particularly as people using the platform would also be using it for short periods of time and looking at the views associated with the sale of apartments.” Cr Alex Castle sympathised with the residents but said the council would not “re-prosecute the original application”. “We have to look at what is before us, know that there is already an approval in place to build the development on the site,” she said. “Given that it is not inappropriate for the applicant to want to seek a way to ensure that their development is viable, this is a mechanism that is quite widely used. “While I am very sympathetic to the concerns of the community, I understand that this tower and the development that will come will have a major impact on their lives and their homes.”