FREMANTLE council has progressed its new City Plan, adopting a draft this week it hopes can get around the obstacles that have stalled development.

The document outlines a vision for the city’s growth and development over the next 10–20 years, focusing on creating a diverse, liveable, and sustainable city centre.

A key initiative within the draft is the transformation of the Fremantle Port precinct, with ideas including a “significant community attraction” such as an aquatic centre at the northern end and a potential car park with museum at the southern end.

It also suggests a mixed-use development around the train station, while its forecourt would be free from rerouted buses and become instead a large pedestrian plaza.

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Fishing Boat Harbour would go from it current 15 residents to 1200 if the plan unfolds, with the stalled redevelopment of the Fremantle Italian Club and its carpark a key to that achievement.

A multi-storey carpark tucked beneath Fremantle Prison and residential development around Fremantle Oval underpin the oval and prison precinct, while the FOMO carpark could be redeveloped, wth parking “redistributed to the Parry Street ring”.

As part of the consultation process, the council offered designers a “what if” opportunity to stretch their imaginations.

Results included an underground train line allowing the city to reconnect with the Derbal Yerrigan/Swan River, a network  “garden archipelagos” across the city centre and The Condenser,  a mix of affordable housing, microeconomic commercial and retail spaces, socially equitable and accessible facilities including retail and commercial businesses, diverse apartment typologies, gallery and exhibition areas, a community kitchen and vegetable garden, multipurpose courts, and a jogging track.

The plan heads out for consultation soon.