DEVELOPERS have convinced Fremantle council to water down key components of its city revitalisation scheme.
Changes to the already controversial amendment 49 will include adding the Fremantle Malls into the development zone, and slashing the amount of space to be set aside for affordable housing, offices and carparks. A change in wording will allow a couple of developers to slip in an extra storey or two, albeit within heights already proscribed.
Eight city blocks from Elder Street in the west to Henderson Street in the east—including the Target site—fall into the relaxed boundary.
The changes follow “industry feedback” and slow sales of sites earmarked to herald a new dawn for the east end.
Former council advisor Linley Lutton, who resigned two weeks ago from the council’s design advisory committee, doubts the council’s ambitions will be realised.
“Around 10,000sqm of retail and 30,000sqm of office space are proposed for redevelopment on the Point Street, Myer, Queensgate and Spicer sites,” he says.
“At the same time the port is considering a major redevelopment on Victoria Quay, which could include another 30,000sqm of offices and yet more retail floor space.
“Attempting to bring on stream simultaneously 60,000sqm of office space and more than 10,000sqm of retail will be very difficult to achieve in a small city like Fremantle which has struggled to attract major development for decades.”
Dr Lutton will host a FICRA-organised community forum at Notre Dame University on February 18 about the issues surrounding inner-city development in Fremantle.
He says the port faces formidable opposition from Booragoon’s ever-growing Garden City and a revitalised Claremont.
“A large government department could act as an anchor tenant underpinning development in either the city centre or on Victoria Quay, but not both,” he says.
“Changing planning regulations and offering building height increases to entice developers is easy. Converting the current flurry of development approvals into good buildings with quality, long-term tenants is another thing altogether.”
Mayor Brad Pettitt concedes developers aren’t knocking down the council’s door to redevelop the east end, despite hard-fought concessions of recent years that caused him considerable political pain to deliver.
“We have had a lot of development applications for residential developments and hotels,” he says. “Most of these have had ground floor retail and office but there has only been one or two large stand-alone office applications except for what the city of Fremantle is proposing on Kings Square and Fremantle Ports is planning for on Victoria Quay.
“If we don’t want Fremantle to be a dormitory suburb then we need to make sure we get a good mix of office and retail in addition to residential and hotels.”
He defends the affordable housing target reducing from 15 per cent to 10 by saying some is better than none. “This is why the city of Fremantle needs to ensure that, in addition to the 10 per cent on private sites, the properties we own and control deliver a real mix of diverse and affordable housing. I am confident that we will see this unfold on sites like the Pakenham/ Bannister carpark and the Stan Reilly site in addition to collaborations with the department of housing like Burt Street.”
by BRENDAN FOSTER