RUNNING WITH THIEVES FOR SOUTH FREMANTLE

 

The City of Fremantle Planning Committee last night unanimously approved the long overdue development of the vacant Sealanes buildings between South Terrace and Marine Terrace in South Fremantle.

The 300 patron venue is proposed to operate as a high quality ‘gastro tavern’ incorporating a working boutique micro-brewery and micro-distillery offering patrons a mix of high quality beverage and dining and ‘cellar door’ in a casual, friendly atmosphere. It will be operated by Running With Thieves.

Alterations to the Marine Terrace and South Terrace frontages, including the provision of new doors, metal balustrades, alfresco bench seating, and new shop front windows will allow views across to South Beach.

Roel Loopers

FUN SOUTH FREMANTLE PAVEMENT PARTY

 

The second South Fremantle PAVEMENT PARTY will be held tomorrow, Thursday May 9 on the corner of South Terrace and Little Lefroy Road from 5.30-7.30pm.

Come along with board games, instruments, couches, beanbags, kids, dogs, etc. and meet your fellow South Freo community members.

The Pavement Party had a fantastic ambience last years, so join us all!

Roel Loopers

THE SOUTH FREO POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK

 

 

A picture says a thousand words. Spotted this in South Fremantle an hour ago. It is a typical pot calling the kettle black situation as the tiny piece of land does not actually looks well cared for.

Pick up after your dog? What a pooper.

Roel Loopers

HAMPTON ROAD TRAFFIC ‘IMPROVEMENTS’ COUNCIL COMMENTS

 

Fremantle Councillors have been commenting on Facebook about the article I published yesterday on Freo’s View about the traffic ‘improvements’ at the South Fremantle Hampton Road/Scott Street intersection.

It is rather strange that Councillors don’t want to comment on my blog but do respond to my blog posts on FB rather than at the source.Only a few readers of Freo’s View connect with me on Facebook so they are missing out on the conversation, so I decided to copy and paste the FB comments and publish them here.

It is clear that there must be an understanding at the City of Fremantle that they want to control what is being said in the media and social media, but it makes little sense to me that they engage on Facebook but not on this Fremantle blog.

Hannah Fitzhardinge Roel the residents who live along the southbound side of Hampton Rd were finding it almost impossible to get safely in and out of their driveways when there was a right turn there. Tricky to make everyone happy!

Pip Sawyer Hannah Fitzhardinge well youve made a lot of people mad
I stopped using that shopping centre completely in late March. And thats sad because the IGA had put in a lot of improvements

Hannah Fitzhardinge Pip Sawyer it was a tough call but it didn’t seem right (to the majority of Councillors) to make people’s access to their homes so dangerous. I still use those shops…

Roel Loopers People who live along main roads often have huge difficulties exiting their drive way. The question is if the comfort of a few is more important than the safety of many.

Sam Wainwright Hannah Fitzhardinge and Roel Loopers

The main safety problem with “Option 1” was that retention of right turns from Hampton Rd into Scott St causes drivers who want to continue south to suddenly pull into the bus lane to get around vehicles waiting to turn right.

This certainly poses a hazard for people people pulling in and out of their driveways in the vicinity. However the *main* problem is the danger it creates for people at the adjacent pedestrian crossing. The cars queuing to turn into Scott obscure vision of crossing pedestrians for motorist that try to pass them by lurching into the bus lane. Similarly the pedestrian on seeing a stopped car in the centre lane can’t be expected to anticipate another vehicle travelling at 60 km/h to suddenly appear in the bus lane when they looked and saw no bus coming. This visibility problem is even more of an issue with children.

In their report the officers proposed proposed Option 1 not because they thought it was superior, but because they didn’t think council would have an appetite for blocking right the turn into Scott. They confirmed in discussion that they actually preferred Option 2 (as pictured in your blog post).

The road treatment we went with is not perfect. Inevitably it will deflect some vehicle movements down other streets making them busier, plus it has its own inconvenience. You have to play that balancing act whenever you block a street or put in traffic calming somewhere. Conversely it will make it safer and easier for people on bicycles to cross Hampton at Scott.

I would actually prefer that Scott and Hampton be signalised thus allowing motorists to turn right and giving pedestrians priority when crossing. However there were two issues with this. Main Roads won’t fund a crossing guardian for kids if it’s signalised and they did not want to help pay for traffic lights at this location anyway. From memory the design we opted for will make it easier and cheaper to signalise the intersection sometime in the future.

In that context I remain firmly of the view that Option 2 was the right decision. I put pedestrian safety over the inconvenience of motorists having to travel a bit further down to Lloyd St.

Hannah Fitzhardinge Sam Wainwright well said!

At least now Freo’s View readers can also see what Councillors Fitzhardinge and Wainwright have to say about it. Democracy at work.

Roel Loopers

SOUTH FREMANTLE ROAD ‘IMPROVEMENTS’ NO ONE WANTED

 

 

Traffic ‘improvements’ no one wanted have started in South Fremantle at the Hampton Road and Scott Street intersection. Right-hand turns are now permanently disallowed there.

The right-turn ban out of the shopping centre car park at Scott Street remains and that is also nonsensical because it means all cars going north need to exit at Lloyd Street where most of the issues are, but the exit there will somehow be improved as part of this expensive and useless exercise by the City of Fremantle.

Improving the crosswalk for students and parents of the Beaconsfield Primary School and local users was the aim of the extensive community consultation, but a handful of Councillors decided they knew better than the locals, their own staff and Mainroads experts and decided to do it their way.

I use the intersection several times a day on foot and in the car, so I am very familiar with the issues.

What a shame their is no higher authority to go to to get this stupidity overruled.

This and other matters will be discussed tomorrow, Tuesday April 23 at the South Fremantle Precinct meeting at The Local from 6.30pm.

Roel Loopers

SOUTH FREMANTLE TAVERN RAISES CONCERNS

 

There are serious concerns in the South Fremantle community about a proposed tavern, brewery and distillery on the former Sealanes site at 176-238 Marine Terrace.

Locals believe there is already ample supply of alcohol-related outlets in the area and that parking issues will escalate even more. They are also worried about noise, smells and anti social behaviour in the adjoining residential streets.

The proposal by the Running with Thieves brewery is for a micro-brewery that would be able to produce 1 million litres of beer, plus a distillery that would make gin, vodka, rum and whiskey.

There would also be a bar, restaurant and retail outlet, so unless substantial parking bays will be provided on site it would severely affect parking for locals and people visiting South Beach and the sunset markets, and those who commute on the CAT bus to the train station.

Submissions for the proposal closed on February 15, but many locals complain they had not been made aware of it and are scrambling to voice their opposition to the plans.

Although the official submission period is over there is still plenty of time to contact Fremantle Councillors. You can reach them all together here: members@fremantle.wa.gov.au

Roel Loopers

 

TYRES SLASHED IN SOUTH FREMANTLE

 

 

Dozens of tyres were slashed last night in Kings William and Attfield Streets in South Fremantle.

Many cars did have two tyres slashed which required a mobile tyre repair company to attend this morning.

A lot of people are now hundreds of dollars out of pockets because of some brain dead idiot(s) who believe it is funny to vandalise other people’s cars.

This happened about two years ago as well in the same area with even more cars damaged, and I also had two tyres on my car punctured.

These vandals are fools and criminals, so I hope the police will catch them!!

Roel Loopers

SOUTH FREO CARPARK PRIORITY OVER PEDESTRIAN CROSSING

 

 

The FPOL Committee of Fremantle Council will on Wednesday evening debate minor changes to the Lloyd Street/Hampton Road intersection and the exit from the Peaches/IGA shopping centre car park.

Council in its incredible wisdom decided last year that these pretty irrelevant adjustments were more important than a safe pedestrian and school crossing on Hampton Road between Lloyd and Scott streets.

Councillors decides that they knew much better what is needed and ignored the advise of traffic experts, City staff, and the community survey of local people, who actually use these roads and the school pedestrian crossing daily, as I do.

Now the City wants to spend a lot of money on minor changes which will make very little difference because the awkwardness of the car park exit will remain, no matter what they do, because it is too close to Hampton Road and that can’t be changed.

The frustration there is sometimes and mostly the incompetence of drivers who block two lanes when they turn left out of the Lloyd Street car park exit to either turn north or south onto Hampton Road. Making the two lanes more legible will not make an iota of a difference to those motorists who can’t turn a corner properly and hold up traffic.

So instead of spending some $ 300,000 of State Government money on getting a proper pedestrian crossing on Hampton Road and re-opening the Scott Street intersection the City will be wasting all that money on basically nothing at Lloyd Street. Yes Minister!

Roel Loopers

 

CAR BAYS OR STREET BEAUTIFICATION IN SOUTH FREO?

 

 

The alfresco area of Calogero’s in South Fremantle is in doubt with the Officers’ Recommendation for this Wednesday’s Ordinary Council meeting for the retrospective application to be refused due to lack of parking and the removal of previous car bays on the site.

I personally like the little hub from Little Lefroy Road to Jenkin Street with the cafes and restaurants, but there is no doubt that lack of parking is an issue in the area, but will the addition of two car bays really make a significant difference and is it enough to demand the removal of the large alfresco area?

That stretch of South Terrace is due for more traffic calming and making the area look more residential, so that motorists are encouraged to slow down, so a large alfresco area helps to achieve that, probably more than adding two car bays.

It will be interesting to observe if Fremantle Councillors agree with the officers or if they are more interested in the visual appeal of the Little Lefroy hub with street furniture, trees, bike racks or more parked cars.

Roel Loopers

LIMITED PARKING ALONG MARINE TERRACE SOUTH

 

Fremantle Council will on Wednesday debate if they should start with time limited and/or paid parking along Marine Terrace in South Fremantle and at South Beach, due to the fact that the parking bays in the area during weekdays are occupied by the cars of commuters, who hop on the CAT bus to Fremantle Station, and by the vehicles of Notre Dame university students and backpackers.

This means that local residents, shoppers and those who want to go to the beach often can’t find short-term parking, so the officers are putting the following recommendation to the elected members:

OFFICER’S RECOMMENDATION Council: 1. Implements a two hour time restriction on the east side of Marine Terrace and the west side of Mews Road with the time restriction applying from Monday to Friday between 8am to 5pm and the parking being unrestricted after these hours and on weekends. 2. Implements a four hour time restriction in the portion of South Beach Car Park 58 north of South Beach Café which faces the beach. 3. Authorise the Chief Executive Officer enter into negotiations with the Department of Transport and Fremantle Sailing Club to implement a four hour time restriction in the Dog Beach Car Park and that these time restrictions apply from Monday to Friday between 8am and 5pm with the parking being unrestricted after these hours and on weekends. 4. Authorise the Chief Executive Officer to extend the four hour time restriction to other portions of South Beach Car Park 58 and to South Beach Car Park 59 if the current time restrictions are not achieving the goal of ensuring that there is sufficient parking available to beach users. 5. Implements a $3.50 per day fee on the west side of Marine Terrace adjacent to the railway line and the east side of Mews Road south.

 

Roel Loopers