Approval has been given for a $3 million tavern in Baldivis right next to a Spudshed.

The Metro Outer Development Assessment Panel unanimously approved the proposal at its September 10 meeting.

The single-storey tavern will be built on the undeveloped corner of McDonald Road and Sierra Parade, on a site owned by Antonino Galati and Pasqualino Vincenzo Galati.

The application was lodged by Planning Solutions.

The site already contains a Spudshed, shops, offices, a service station and a fast-food outlet.

Plans for the tavern include a restaurant, beer garden and children’s playground.

It will be open from 11am to 10pm Mondays to Thursdays and from 11am to 11.30pm Fridays to Sundays and public holidays.

Delivery vehicles and forklifts will be restricted to between 7am and 7pm from Monday to Saturday and 9am to 7pm on Sundays and public holidays.

Planning Solutions representative Alexia Yacoubian told the panel the tavern would revitalise the vacant part of the site and complement the area.

“The project has been designed to provide a distinct focal point for socialising, dining and entertainment to both the established and emerging community both in the immediate precinct and surrounding suburbs,” she said.

“The tavern will deliver substantial community benefit through the provision of local entertainment opportunities, as well as the generation of local employment.”

But the proposal faced a significant parking shortfall, with no new bays included in the application.

A planning report to the panel said the overall site was already 116 bays short of the amount required under City of Rockingham planning rules.

The Spudshed was required to have 412 bays but has 347, while the service station was required to have 26 but has 17.

Another nine bays were removed during construction of the service station.

The tavern itself is required to provide 219 bays but the application proposed none.

Instead, customers will use existing parking across the site.

A traffic impact assessment commissioned by the applicants found there were an average of at least 191 vacant bays, including on-street parking, during peak operating periods.

A review by the City of Rockingham agreed there would be enough parking to cater for the tavern.

Rockingham mayor Lorna Buchan said the tavern would be a positive contribution to the town centre.

Cr Mark Jones said the development had been designed to minimise its impact on surrounding residential areas and would fit in with the commercial centre.

“For car parking, it can be shared across the site and if there is issues, I guess then they’ll need to address that as well, but based on that parking utilisation survey, I’m satisfied that there’s sufficient parking,” he said.

Presiding member Francesca Lefante said it was great to see a development bringing a “significant social dining local entertainment facility” to the town centre.

“It is something that pretty much all traditional town centres have and it’s great to see that this is being included and complementing the other activities that are there,” she said.

“These types of developments sometimes can have very fragmented parking areas and some of those areas can be either very underutilised or sitting vacant for many times of the day and it’s good to see this combined use of the parking area.”

The panel’s approval is valid for four years from September 10, 2026.

The proposal received six submissions during public advertising, with none objecting to the development.