But at the last minute the government sent out a letter to all the bidders to tell them they’d been unsuccessful. It also informed the City of Fremantle it was taking back the land being used as a car park for a multi-story police building on South Terrace that would cost $53 million.
It was only when the WA Police submitted its plans to the City of Fremantle, replete with images of the slick Cox Architecture-designed building that will loom large on the Cappuccino Strip, that alarm bells were set off. The $100 million cost also raised eyebrows.
The alarm bell ringer-in-chief is City Ward counsellor Adin Lang, who has been campaigning against the South Terrace site ever since the state government snatched back the piece of land that was an integral part of the city’s plans to redevelop Fremantle Oval.
“I’ve been a passionate supporter for a new police station in Fremantle for a long-time, but this is not the appropriate location,” Lang tells me over coffee in The Old Synagogue, the beautifully restored heritage-listed building over which the new police station will cast a giant shadow.
“If the government had proceeded with the Woolstores proposal it would have underwritten that development and helped activate the East End, which badly needs it,” argues Lang.
City of Fremantle counsellor Adin Lang wants a new station but not on South Terrace.Credit: Mark Naglazas
“It would also cost a lot less than the $100 million proposed for the South Terrace site, and the money could be better spent on list of other projects in Fremantle that are desperate for money,” he says.
The skyrocketing cost of the Fremantle cops’ lavish new digs also caught the eye of former mayor and now Green member for South Metropolitan Brad Pettitt, who as member of the parliamentary estimates committee pressed WA Police executive Frank Pasquale to explain why the cost had doubled.
Pasquale admitted that there were “multiple” problems with the site, not the least its size. It means that they are going to have to include a basement to accommodate police vehicles.
“Of course there are complications because it is the wrong location,” Pettitt says.
“The site is within the buffer zone of the World Heritage-listed Fremantle Prison, so there are all sorts of constraints. They are also going to have to tear down a convict-built wall,” he says.
“The great frustration is the only thing Fremantle is getting money spent on it are for things nobody wants, such as the High Street roundabout and the terrible Fremantle Bridge project. The government is spending money on projects that are truly awful.”
Councillor Lang is equally worried about a sizeable police building on this section of South Terrace negatively impacting on one of the most traversed stretches of a tourist and lifestyle mecca.
“You put a police station next to the hospital and you de-activate the walk from the Cappuccino strip to Wray Avenue, one of the Fremantle’s most cherished shopping precincts,” Lang says.
Critics of the Fremantle’s proposed police station say that it will create a dead zone between the Cappuccino Strip and Wray Avenue.
“You want any development to draw you along South Terrace to Wray Avenue and beyond. It’s already a dead zone with the hospital sitting there. Do we really want a police station sitting next to it and making it even more unattractive for the thousands of tourists who come to Fremantle, let alone those people who live here?”
Lang is equally worried that in taking back land on which sat an aged care facility known as the Stan Reilly Centre is jeopardising the city’s long-harboured plans for the redevelopment of the iconic Fremantle Oval.
“The plan was to open up Fremantle Oval and make it an area in which it can be accessed by residents from all angles and allow them to walk through into the city. Putting a four-storey building up against the oval will mean that the city’s vision for Fremantle Oval will have to be rethought.”
What also concerns Lang is the government’s lack of consultation with the people who will live near the new police station.
“There has been no opportunity for residents to comment on the project,” Lang says.
The budget for the new cop shop has doubled because of the difficulty of squeezing the building into the space, argues former Freo mayor Brad Pettitt.
“Compare this to the new police station being built in Baldivis. They had a round table session in which residents were invited to participate and followed up with a flyer inviting those who live nearby to discuss the proposal with a member of the project team.
“In Fremantle the process has been completely different. It is being rushed through. Input was restricted to a select group of people. As a consequence very few people are aware of the size of this building and the impact on this cherished part of Fremantle.”
