I think if the people of Freo can come up with a fairly tight architectural vision, that includes 5 or 6 storey limits on building heights in certain areas, then people might feel a bit more relaxed about developera coking in.
*edit: ‘developers coming in.’
Unfortunately developers give themselves a shit name by building the same cookie cutter buildings as cheaply as legally required. Then they get butthurt when people aren’t interested in their tired vision to make their suburb look exactly like every single other suburb in this monotonous town.
It feels like Freo and most suburbs are stuck between a rock and a hard place. We desperately need more places to live in, and NIMBYs are usually blamed for opposing this. But when you look at the absolute shite that developers are building for people to live in, I find it hard not to empathise with them somewhat. Once heritage is destroyed and replaced by a concrete jungle, that cannot be undone.
I couldn’t agree more with your sentiment.
I usually come down feeling its the LGA’s failure to have an ongoing coherent neighbourhood plan that developers are held to. Of course the argument bback is always one of cost, and apparently thats the end of the conversation for most people. We’re never gona have our Gaudi moment with that attitude though.