Council puts lid on bar plans
A Fremantle gallery owner's two-year bid to open a small beachside bar is in doubt over a dispute about where the toilets should go.
Kidogo Art Institute director Joanna Robertson's proposed Kelp Bar has won in-principle backing from the City of Fremantle but conflicting opinions about where to build the toilets it needs mean it is unlikely to be up and running in time for summer for the second successive year.
Ms Robertson was this week all but sent back to the drawing board after councillors voted against allowing the chief executive to sign off on her development application.
Instead, having dismissed her proposal to build a toilet block to the south of the studio, the council wants her to investigate whether the toilets can go inside the building, despite concerns being raised about the risk to the building's heritage credentials.
The setback is the latest in a series that has Ms Robertson contemplating the future of the Kelp Bar, which initially appeared as a popular pop-up bar during the 2011 Sailing World Championships.
No pub and no beer: Kidogo Art Institute director Joanna Robertson.
"The message from last night's meeting is it is too high-risk to try and set up a business in Fremantle as it could take years to navigate what should be a simple and formal process," Ms Robertson said yesterday.
"For the City of Fremantle to claim '100 per cent support' for Kelp Bar and then to continue to block the first step in the process for two years is bizarre.
"What message does that send out to someone contemplating investing in starting up a business in Fremantle?
"The next step is probably to accept that the Kelp Bar concept is unachievable." Ms Robertson said she believed she should be allowed to submit her development application and have it assessed by the council planners, even if that meant they would reject it.
Additional toilets are necessary because liquor licensing laws require a certain number of toilets for the bar that are separate to the existing toilets for the gallery.
Complicating the issue is that the council is not only the local planning authority but also owns the gallery building.
Fremantle mayor Brad Pettitt said the council supported the concept of a small bar on the beach but did not support the toilet block element and had encouraged Ms Robertson to return with an alternative model.
"Everyone wants to see Kelp come back," he said.
Dr Pettitt conceded that getting toilets into the building without raising heritage concerns "will require some careful design".
Source: The West Australian, 29 November 2013
