Kindy stoush upsets hundreds of families in Perth’s south-east

Hundreds of families on the waitlist for a kindergarten in one of Perth’s fastest-growing areas have been upset by its owners abandoning the venture as the City of Armadale refuses to budge on a planning requirement.

Erin Erceg owns and runs 11 Acre Farm and the popular Cubby Cafe on Nicholson Road in Forrestdale, which drove interest in her family business’ Little Grots kindergarten venture, amassing a huge waitlist of 500 even without advertising.

Erin Erceg’s Little Grots kindy was going to mesh learning with the onsite farm.Credit: Ross Swanborough

But in late December, she threw in the towel following a four-year development battle with the City of Armadale, as the city wouldn’t grant approval unless a slip lane and other traffic treatments were built on the busy road in front of the business at Erceg’s expense.

“Our hands are completely tied. We do not currently know when we will be able to complete the roadworks, how much it will cost, or when we can finally open the centre,” Erceg wrote in an email to waitlist families.

Traffic studies commissioned by 11 Acre Farm suggested the request was inconsistent with the size of the venture and pointed out that stretch of Nicholson Road would likely have to be duplicated within a few years, so any work paid for by the business would be ripped up.

The city was resolute that the matter was a safety issue, with chief executive Joanne Abbiss pointing to the heavy vehicles, including B-Double trucks, which drove along Nicholson Road every day.

After a State Administrative Tribunal ruling, Erceg agreed to pay $700,000 to upgrade the road – on top of the $100,000 already spent on lawyers and reports – in the hope they could open the centre and begin recouping costs with extra cashflow.

However, as work began contractors found the Serpentine Trunk main water pipe was closer to the surface than anticipated.

That required further reporting to be provided to Water Corp and more delays, which Erceg said were the straw that broke the camel’s back for her small business.

She told WAtoday they had attempted to create a unique kindergarten by meshing learning with the property’s working farm and food forest, but the hurdles had become too high.

Little Grots is ready to accept children, but the project has been abandoned due to the requirement to upgrade the road out the front of the business.Credit: Ross Swanborough

“Our message [to the City of Armadale] is simple: be reasonable and flexible – as a small family business, we are trying to bring something valuable to the community, and the city’s rigid approach is jeopardising that,” she said.

“We’re asking for common sense – the road treatment is not proportionate to the scale of our business, and the costs are unsustainable for us as a family-run operation.”

Erceg said the city refused offers to trade at a reduced capacity with staggered session times, and pointed out that a kindergarten-to-year 12 school 1.5 kilometres up the road had been open for at least six months before work began on road treatments.

Nearby Piara Waters is one of Perth’s fastest-growing suburbs, and Erceg said the upset from waitlist families demonstrated how much the area needed childcare facilities.

“The volume of interest from the community has far surpassed what we expected, highlighting the urgent need for quality childcare options and further validating the importance of this project,” she said.

Abbiss said a slip lane and other treatments were fair and necessary for the safety of customers, staff, children and other road users.

She said the 80km/h Nicholson Road was a part of the heavy vehicle road network that carried more than 8500 vehicles per day, including B-Double trucks.

“The proposed operation of a childcare centre with hundreds of children getting dropped off/picked up, with large numbers of queuing cars on a single-lane road that carries thousands of cars and oversize trucks travelling at high speed, means that these works are essential for the safety of all road users,” she said.

Little Grots’ development application was for a maximum of 75 children.

Waitlist parent Stacey Harris said she had been excited about her twin boys joining the kindy for the farming, animals and education.

“What a great memory to start their schooling life with,” she said. “I hope the City of Armadale can reconsider in helping this project come to life – and in the immediate future, before my boys are too old and miss out on something that could be truly amazing.”

Abbiss said the city had spent considerable time and effort assisting 11 Acre Farm with its development applications, including the Cubby Cafe application.

She said two schools south of 11 Acre Farm had successfully negotiated with Water Corp to get works under way, and the city had offered to help the business liaise with Water Corp.

A Water Corp spokesman said 11 Acre Farm needed to provide a common vibration report to them to demonstrate the impact heavy machinery would have on the pipeline, and there was no requirement to relocate the trunk main.

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