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The 60 Minutes star’s battle to stop his neighbors from installing clear glass on their balconies reaches a strange compromise
- Liam Bartlett opposed the development next door with clear glass balconies
- The dispute between the owners and the council went to mediation this month
- In a rare compromise, 50cm frosted glass will be used on the ground floor.
Former 60 Minutes reporter Liam Bartlett’s fight to stop his new neighbors from installing clear glass on their balconies has resulted in an unusual compromise.
Bartlett, who walked away from the show and his radio presenting gig with Perth’s 6PR in November to join Channel Seven, previously opposed the use of clear glass on the four cluster houses being built on his street in Nedlands, in the inner south of the city.
The project was approved by the Nedlands city council on the condition that frosted glass be used instead, but the unintended buyers were unaware of the condition and petitioned the council to change it.
The seasoned journalist opposed that change when the council discussed it in August this year, saying he did not want his point of view spoiled.
Liam Bartlett (pictured) said he didn’t want to look at his neighbors’ “bikes or clothes or whatever they’re doing” on their balconies.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t like looking at people’s balconies and their bikes and their clothes or anything else they want to hang on their balcony or what they’re doing behind their balconies,” he said. he told councillors, reports West Australian.
But Geoff Nathan, who bought one of the houses and spearheaded the plan change request, said the frosted glass would ruin your view from the inside and partially block light.
The bizarre dispute reached the State Administrative Court after planning staff recommended the condition be removed, but councilors voted to keep it.
As a first step, the SAT urged mediation between the buyers of the house and the town hall, in which the owners agreed to have 50 cm of frosted glass at the bottom of the lower balcony and fully transparent glass at the upper balcony.
The owners wanted clear glass as it would look better from inside the property looking out (file image)
But the residents of the street wanted frosted glass so they did not have to look at their balconies (file image)
The staff told the council that if they rejected this compromise, there would likely be a full SAT hearing that could cost up to $50,000, so on Tuesday night the council voted in favor, green-lighting the change without even debate.
Mr Nathan said he was “very relieved” because he “didn’t want to look at the frosted glass”.
‘We didn’t have to compromise. We could have gone through the SAT and won, but we didn’t want to have to go through that,” she added.