Eternally grateful
to SAT BY DAVID COHEN
Marion Gorman* had to fight tooth and nail for her dream of running a daycare centre to pamper Perth pooches and puppies. The 37-year-old mining engineer from Ireland took an old disused scout hall in West Perth that was being used as a squat and transformed it into Madame Ma’s Doggy Daycare - a modern, bright boutique business that identified a gap in the market.
city wanted to impose could also be waived by the Tribunal staff added. In June 2019 Commissioners again refused, citing noise as an outstanding issue.
But not everyone was impressed or shared her vision.
Having already spent tens of thousands fitting out the premises and on an acoustics report, Marion turned to the tribunal which held a two day hearing into the matter - which saw expert witnesses brought in to support the Commissioners refusal - in October 2019.
Residents in nearby flats and office workers were worried about smells and noise from the doggie daycare and that its proximity would affect property prices.
Twelve months after she first applied to the council for planning approval for the business, Marion got permission to go ahead, from SAT member Delaney Quinlan, in December 2019.
There were 14 objectors and a deputation from the strata company for the office block fronted a Perth City Council meeting to make the case for why they didn’t want the pooch palace near their building.
“Reasons for the Tribunal to refuse approval, in particular the amenity concerns of noise and odour, have either already been satisfactorily addressed by the applicant in consultation with the city’s officers prior to the hearing or will be sufficiently ameliorated by the imposition of the conditions,” Mrs Quinlan said in her ruling.
Despite an assessment by the city’s own planning staff that the canine company’s plans ticked all the boxes and could be approved, Commissioners - installed to run the council on a professional basis after the council had been suspended in March 2018 - refused her plans in April last year. Marion appealed their decision to the State Administrative Tribunal, which ordered the council to review its decision. City planners again recommended the application should be approved. A second refusal would likely not stand up in the tribunal and expose the council to legal costs, planners warned, citing a legal precedent for a similar situation in Belmont where the dog centre won. Strict conditions the
“Secondly, the Tribunal also finds that the proposed use of the subject site is appropriate and compatible with other uses in the commercial use area of the West Perth Precinct. Therefore, in the exercise of the Tribunal’s discretion to make the correct and preferable decision upon review, the Tribunals finds and concludes that it should set aside the refusal and approve the proposed development subject to conditions.” With the approval in place she gave up her resources job to focus on the new business. “We’ve put in new
THE IRISH SCENE | 48
