Common property – repair v improvement?

I am in a 1960s strata block of 9 – it is usual for only 3-6 of the owners to attend strata meetings. Our common property (stairwell and unit) timber windows are in a state of disrepair. Some are in a dangerous state and others less so but need painting. We proposed total window replacement with powder coated aluminium windows as they look like the existing timber windows but are cheaper than replacement with timber considering the new windows won't require painting and will last longer. The strata manager put forward the motion at AGM as one requiring a special resolution because it was for common property “improvement” rather than “reasonable repair”. 3 owners voted against the motion and being more than 25% this has defeated the motion. It seems ludicrous that we would have to get quotes for timber windows to fall under the “reasonable repair” category. We have the numbers to achieve an ordinary resolution. Have you come across this situation?