Underground public parking and new clubrooms for tennis and lawn bowls clubs could be built on Fremantle Park under a $5 million plan.

Mayor Brad Pettitt says the council is working with the clubs to develop a joint proposal for upgrading the Ellen Street site opposite CBC Fremantle.

“These are rundown facilities dating back to the 1960s,” he says. “[The clubs] have been wanting to upgrade the site into a joint facility.”

He says the proposal involves building new tennis courts to replace some along Parry Street, which could make way for public parking. The new club HQ would be located near the lawn bowls area.

He says the workers’ club is also considering shifting from Henry Street to the redeveloped site.

Tennis club president Cathy Roads says existing courts would provide 80 bays of parking, to be used predominantly by members. They would be replaced by two new hard courts.

She says she has no problem with council providing an additional 80 bays by going underground and offering them to the public.

Also crucial in the proposal is the workers’ club move: “It will make a huge difference in getting us over the line,” she says.

Ms Roads says a formal submission will be made to the WA sports and recreation department by next October, asking it to contribute one-third of the cost, with the council paying one-third and the clubs the remainder.

She has also flagged asking for a little of the adjoining Fremantle Park’s turf for extra bowls greens, which she acknowledges might be a controversial move.

“The only item to Fremantle council so far has been around some funding to work up the joint proposal in more detail,” Dr Pettitt says.

“We are also planning a bus tour in the near future to look at other joint facilities.”

He says there are no plans for a multi-storey car park on Parry Street to replace the tennis club, although such an option could be both attractive and cost-effective as it sits with the council’s strategic aim of providing more peripheral CBD parking around the Parry Street ring road.

CEO Graeme Mackenzie has previously told the Herald the council is under pressure to find peripheral parking sites to replace car parks which are being lost through developments. These include Point Street and Bannister Streets, while parking at Queensgate is likely to become tighter for the public if Sirona Capital is successful in attracting a government department to the old Myer building, as its employees will require reserved bays.

by CARMELO AMALFI