High Street Upgrade and the impact of the project on trees

There has been some recent debate around the High Street Upgrade project and the impact of the project on trees in the area. This Mainroads pdate has some useful info:

 

In May 2019, the High Street Upgrade project received environmental approval following an extensive assessment process, which included the following milestones:

• December 2018: We advised key stakeholders and residents about the Environmental Review Document (ERD) being released for public review.
• March 2019: The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) found the proposal environmentally acceptable, provided conditions to reduce noise levels, retain identified mature trees and minimise the impact on black cockatoos were met.
• May 2019: On 23 May 2019, the project was approved to proceed by the Minister for Environment subject to the above conditions.

Since Commonwealth and State funding was received in May 2017, we have been working in partnership with the City of Fremantle to develop a concept plan that meets the key objective of improving safety on High Street, while minimising impacts to the surrounding environment – particularly established trees. These measures include:

Overall clearing footprint

• There are 245 large trees in the project area between Carrington Street and Stirling Highway.
• While earlier versions of this project would have required significant clearing, our final concept design retains at least 178 (or 72%) of these trees. 67 (28%) will be cleared.

Nesting hollows

• No current or potential nesting hollows for black cockatoos or other species are impacted by the project.

Future potential breeding trees

• 64 (of 245) trees within the project area are considered to be future potential breeding trees (there is no current evidence of breeding).
• The project will retain at least 48 (75%) of these trees. 16 (25%) will be cleared.

Tuart trees

• 31 trees within the project area are tuarts. We’ve changed our design to save at least 13 of these tuarts. This includes specimens close to the Fremantle Netball Centre estimated to be between 40 and 50 years old.

Design changes

• The project will provide a tree-lined median between the eastbound and westbound carriageways. While providing an attractive gateway into the city, this measure allows 28 trees to be preserved.

Landscaping and Urban Design

• We have developed a Landscape and Urban Design Framework and specified a high standard of urban design for the project through consultation with local stakeholders including the City of Fremantle and the local community. The detailed development of the urban design will involve a coordinated team of urban designers, landscape architects, a public artist and public arts coordinator, and will include further consultation with local stakeholders. The detailed landscaping plan comprises soft landscaping, involving extensive planting and revegetation with species appropriate to the local area. The planting work will be done by a specialist contractor in the first winter following construction completion.

One Day in Fremantle wins National Reconciliation Award

The City of Fremantle’s One Day in Fremantle event has been recognised with an Australian Local Government award for promoting Indigenous recognition and reconciliation.

One Day in Fremantle took out the Promoting Indigenous Recognition category at the 2019 National Awards for Local Government in Canberra today.

Fremantle’s Aboriginal Engagement Officer Brendan Moore and I were presented with the award by the Federal Minister for Local Government Mark Coulton today.

I am thrilled the City’s efforts to establish the One Day event had received national recognition. Our intention with One Day was to create an inclusive, family-friendly event where all members of the community felt comfortable to celebrate what’s great about being Australian.

I said after the first One Day concert that it was the best event I had ever been involved with. The spirit among the crowd and the sense of belonging and community was a beautiful experience.

It was never about being anti-Australian or divisive. It was about encouraging people to come out and enjoy Australia’s diversity, bringing people together and promoting reconciliation – which is why I’m so pleased the event has received this award.

The City of Fremantle first staged the One Day in Fremantle event in January 2017.

The event starts with a traditional smoking ceremony and other Aboriginal cultural activities at Bathers Beach before the focus shifts to the One Day concert at the Esplanade Reserve.

In its first three years the event has featured major Australian artists like Dan Sultan, John Bulter, Kate Miller-Heidke, Montaigne and Kevin Parker from Tame Impala.

It has also showcased emerging Aboriginal artists like Baker Boy, Adrian Eagle and Emily Warramara.

To watch the promo video for this year’s One Day in Fremantle click here.

 

 

Aboriginal Engagement Officer Brendan Moore and I with the Promoting Indigenous Recognition award at the 2019 National Awards for Local Government in Canberra.

 

Artwalk Freo this weekend

 

Artwalk Freo is on this weekend from 10am to 4pm both Saturday and Sunday.

This is a great event in which you can check out the studios and art of Ian de Souza, Megan Salmon, Michael Knight and Pippin Drysdale.

Fremantle celebrates One Planet Living with event this Thursday Evening (13 June)

The City of Fremantle is celebrating One Planet Living Week by offering free pizza and an update on the City’s One Planet initiatives at a community event this Thursday.

One Planet Living is an initiative of London-based organisation Bioregional with the goal of creating a future where it is easy, attractive and affordable for people to lead happy and healthy lives within a fair share of earth’s resources.

The City of Fremantle launched its One Planet Fremantle Strategy in 2014 and was awarded international accreditation as a One Planet Council in 2015.

The City has committed to a suite of corporate and community targets based on ten One Planet principles and has developed a detailed action plan to guide progress towards meeting these targets.

Senior Sustainability Officer Annabelle McGuiness said the free community presentation at Stackwood on Thursday night was a great opportunity for people to hear the latest news about the City’s One Planet Living projects.

“I’ll be starting off by talking about some of our Zero Carbon initiatives, like the progress with the South Fremantle solar farm, community solar and our new electric vehicle charging stations,” Dr McGuiness said.

“I’ll also give an update on our Zero Waste projects like the Recycling Centre, Reuse Store, Garage Sale Trail, the new FOGO three-bin system and our new Sustainable Events Policy.

“One of our planning officers will give a presentation on the Freo Alternative infill housing policy, and there’ll also be a chance to talk about our revised Bike Plan which has just been released for public comment.

“We’ll finish with some information about our verge garden policy and how the community can get involved with tree planting and revegetation programs, and then it will be pizza time!”

The One Planet Fremantle event starts at 6:30pm this Thursday at Stackwood, 10 Stack Street in Fremantle. To register click here.

For more information about One Planet Living visit the One Planet page on the City of Fremantle website, or watch this video.

 

 

Port Beach clean-up underway following weekend storms

The City of Fremantle has started the clean-up at Port Beach after severe storms over the weekend cause significant erosion.

While the Coast restaurant and café and other facilities at the beach are open, Port Beach itself remains closed, including Sandtrax beach.

It is important for people to abide by the warnings, stay out of the water and keep clear of the areas that have been barricaded off.

There are poles, posts and other debris protruding from the sand and hidden under the water that could pose a serious risk to swimmers.

There are also sheer faces of sand where the dunes have been eroded away that have the potential to collapse, especially as they start to dry out, so I urge people not to climb in the dunes or sit in front of them.

The bituminised area in front of the change rooms and parts of the car park have also been undermined and are unsafe, so again I urge people to stay out of the areas that have been fenced off.

Port Beach was assessed earlier this morning by City of Fremantle staff, expert coastal engineers and representatives from the Department of Transport.

City staff have already commenced the clean-up and removed some of the debris.

This week, possibly as early as tomorrow, the City will start taking sand from further up the beach and use it to provide temporary protection in front of the Coast restaurant, change rooms and the surf club annes.

We’re also looking into the possibility of building some temporary rock walls to provide more protection to the facilities at the beach in the event of further storms.

Port Beach has been the subject of a number of erosion events in recent years.

During 2016 and 2017 the City of Fremantle – in partnership with the Town of Mosman Park and the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage – undertook a Coastal Hazard Risk Management and Adaptation Planning (CHRMAP) process to assess the vulnerability of the coastline along Port, Leighton and Mosman beaches.

The CHRMAP process identified the Port Beach area, including Sandtrax Beach, was vulnerable to immediate and future coastal change.

The City and Fremantle Ports are currently investigating a range of erosion adaptation options using funding from a state government Coastal Adaptation and Protection grant.

A draft report providing long-term options to manage the erosion risk at Port Beach is expected to be released for public comment later next month.

Fremantle History Centre leaves its mark on new Freo.Social venue

A historical photo from Fremantle History Centre’s collection has taken pride of place on a wall inside popular new music venue Freo.Social.

The 1895 building, originally an artillery drill hall, was recently renovated in collaboration with the National Trust and features a suite of interpretation artwork. Included in the artwork series is a historical photo of the Fremantle Volunteer Rifle Band believed to date back to 1886.

City of Fremantle Local History Engagement Officer Stewart Alger said the 1886 photo was sourced from Fremantle History Centre’s collection and recreated as a large-scale, floor-to-ceiling digital print on the ‘Situation Room’ wall in the venue.

“It’s an extraordinary photo, perhaps even one of the earliest photos we have on record of local Fremantle musicians,” Mr Alger said.

“While the Fremantle History Centre is dedicated to preserving and documenting Freo’s rich past, it’s also so important to make this history accessible to community and share these hidden treasures.

“We were thrilled to collaborate with Freo.Social’s social history curator on this innovative and contemporary way for sharing Fremantle’s history.”

The Fremantle Volunteer Rifle Rifle Band photo was donated to the Fremantle History Centre by Andrew Simmonds, who’s passionate about genealogy and came across the photo while researching and tracing his ancestors.

“Donors like Mr Simmonds play an important part in sharing stories about Fremantle’s history,” Mr Alger said.

“If you do have any historical photos, letters, records or memorabilia that have been passed down through the generations, we’d love to hear from you.

“We depend on these types of contributions from residents, business and organisations to help us keep the history of Fremantle alive for today’s generation and future generations to come.”

For more information about the Fremantle History Centre, visit the City’s website.

Triple 1 Three Brand and Communications Manager Sally Tucker, City of Fremantle Local History Engagement Officer Stewart Alger and Andrew Simmonds in the Situation Room at Freo.Social.

New Freo Bike Plan out for comment

A new plan designed to encourage more people in Fremantle to ride a bike is now out for public comment.

The City of Fremantle’s draft Bike Plan 2019-2024 will set the City’s priorities for bike infrastructure projects, programs and promotional activities for the next five years.

The new plan maintains a target to double the number of people riding a bike to work in Fremantle.

Our Strategic Community Plan aims to have Fremantle recognised as a pedestrian and cycle friendly city and sets a target to double riding to work from 2.9 per cent of commuter trips to 5.8 per cent.

Over the past five years the City has undertaken a range of activities to encourage more cycling, from infrastructure projects like more on-road bike lanes, dedicated cycle paths, intersection upgrades and bike parking to free bike hire, annual bike week events and planning scheme amendments requiring end of trip facilities.

As a result we’ve seen a 13 per cent increase in people riding in a recent city centre bike count, showing we are making progress. Improvements in bike infrastructure and the growing popularity of electric bikes has led to many more people getting around Fremantle on bikes.

Cycling has so many benefits – it’s great for your health and fitness, it’s convenient because you don’t have to worry about parking and it’s better for the environment – so we’ll continue our efforts to make cycling in Fremantle as convenient, connected, safe and enjoyable as possible.”

The draft Bike Plan was informed by a community engagement process undertaken late last year in which residents were asked to share their experiences of cycling around Fremantle and identify areas where bike facilities were good or needed improvement.

The plan identifies four primary routes that connect major destinations such as the Fremantle and Perth city centres and four secondary routes connecting activity centres like shopping areas, schools and sporting facilities as priorities.

It also outlines planned infrastructure upgrades including more green bike lanes along on Parry Street and William Street, improvements to on-road bikes lanes on Marine Terrace and an upgrade to the intersection of Queen Victoria Street and Parry Street.

The City will also continue to participate in initiatives like the Department of Transport’s ‘Your Move’ program and engage with schools to encourage more cycling.

Public comment on the Bike Plan is open until 1 July 2019.

For more information and to make a submission visit the City’s My Say Freo website.

 

Fremantle bike riders are planning a night-time ride as part of BikeWeek, encouraging riders to decorate their bikes with brightly coloured lights
L-R are Rachel Pemberton, Brad Pettitt, Daniel Todd, Sam Wainwright and Janet Parker, Rob Delves, Lottie Todd (1, in carrier) and Sabina Todd
Picture: Ben Crabtree The West Australian. 07/03/2016