Paul (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} fremantlebiz) wrote,@ 2008-05-30 08:00:00 |
|
Bold 'Northport Quay' proposal gets up steam
Well the cat is well and truly out of the bag with the proposed 'Northport Quay' ocean infill project which I mentioned yesterday. The state Labor premier Mr Carpenter has come out on the side of the MP for Fremantle Mr McGinty and said he doesn't like it either.
This doesn't seem to have fazed the proponents. The implication is they can rustle up ten billion dollars and that most people will see the benefits when they better understand what is proposed. Apparently there is an information package to be disseminated. I look forward to receiving one.
Yesterday I visited the North Mole to grab some photos of the area where the huge project is proposed. The developers want to create an enormous subdivided sand island on the seaward side of the breakwater shown in the following photo:
To give an idea of the scale of the project, you can identify this same curved breakwater wall in the artist's concept which is being promoted in local newspapers.
It can be seen in the drawing that the existing Rouse Head lagoon on the landward side of the breakwater remains. This was created by another ocean infill project in the latter part of the twentieth century. All the businesses on the perimeter are constructed on ocean infill. I made a panorama image of the lagoon yesterday. Click here to see it.
So I think it's evident that the much larger 'Northport Quay' project is technically possible. But how large is large? For that there is another artists's concept which is on the loose. Interestingly in all of the artist concepts I've seen to date, the watercraft are all "stinkboats." Not a single yacht in sight. One of the major pushes by the developers so far has been that their dream city will be state of the art with its techo-environmental footprint. Apparently they've allowed for 2,200 mooring pens in their design. They intend to gift these to the state government to maintain. Some people experienced with marinas might interpret that sort of gift as an economic trojan horse.
Judging by the size of the multi-story buildings, we should be able to see them from here. We can already see the container-handling cranes on North Wharf. The outer breakwater is intended to be 3.5km long, with lots of places for amateur anglers to catch any fish that manage to get past the hoards of stinkboats.
It's early days yet. The developers seem confident they can overcome all the problems relating to essential infrastructure - sewerage, potable water, energy, transport, environmental considerations and the like, but there's plenty of people who'll be scrutinising them. Overcoming public criticism will be their biggest hurdle.
I think there's another major consideration and that's the eventual fate of the Fremantle Harbour infrastructure. To a casual observer, the north wharf shipping container handling area beyond the Rouse Head lagoon already seems to be verging on the chaotic. Thousands of huge trucks queue for long periods every day to collect their loads, and then they have to negotiate their journey beyond the port via inadequate road routes.
The Fremantle Port Authority fears public pressure. Probably thousands of people living in the vicinity of the port hate the heavy-haulage traffic and would also like to see certain types of dangerous or offensive cargo banned. If the 'Northport Quay' project eventually gets the nod there will more public pressure on the FPA over what it can and can't do. The inevitable result would be to force it to shift most of its cargo handling operations to the more industrialised area further south in Cockburn Sound.
© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.
Click here to visit 'dogandcatwatcher', my YouTube website.
Original still photographs are stored online in a cache at my Panoramio website or my Picasa site. Most of them have a brief description and a link back to a relevant essay. Images on Panoramio can usually be enlarged several times by clicking them.
About the writer
Click here to see our backyard.
Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!
Well the cat is well and truly out of the bag with the proposed 'Northport Quay' ocean infill project which I mentioned yesterday. The state Labor premier Mr Carpenter has come out on the side of the MP for Fremantle Mr McGinty and said he doesn't like it either.
This doesn't seem to have fazed the proponents. The implication is they can rustle up ten billion dollars and that most people will see the benefits when they better understand what is proposed. Apparently there is an information package to be disseminated. I look forward to receiving one.
Yesterday I visited the North Mole to grab some photos of the area where the huge project is proposed. The developers want to create an enormous subdivided sand island on the seaward side of the breakwater shown in the following photo:
To give an idea of the scale of the project, you can identify this same curved breakwater wall in the artist's concept which is being promoted in local newspapers.
It can be seen in the drawing that the existing Rouse Head lagoon on the landward side of the breakwater remains. This was created by another ocean infill project in the latter part of the twentieth century. All the businesses on the perimeter are constructed on ocean infill. I made a panorama image of the lagoon yesterday. Click here to see it.
So I think it's evident that the much larger 'Northport Quay' project is technically possible. But how large is large? For that there is another artists's concept which is on the loose. Interestingly in all of the artist concepts I've seen to date, the watercraft are all "stinkboats." Not a single yacht in sight. One of the major pushes by the developers so far has been that their dream city will be state of the art with its techo-environmental footprint. Apparently they've allowed for 2,200 mooring pens in their design. They intend to gift these to the state government to maintain. Some people experienced with marinas might interpret that sort of gift as an economic trojan horse.
Judging by the size of the multi-story buildings, we should be able to see them from here. We can already see the container-handling cranes on North Wharf. The outer breakwater is intended to be 3.5km long, with lots of places for amateur anglers to catch any fish that manage to get past the hoards of stinkboats.
It's early days yet. The developers seem confident they can overcome all the problems relating to essential infrastructure - sewerage, potable water, energy, transport, environmental considerations and the like, but there's plenty of people who'll be scrutinising them. Overcoming public criticism will be their biggest hurdle.
I think there's another major consideration and that's the eventual fate of the Fremantle Harbour infrastructure. To a casual observer, the north wharf shipping container handling area beyond the Rouse Head lagoon already seems to be verging on the chaotic. Thousands of huge trucks queue for long periods every day to collect their loads, and then they have to negotiate their journey beyond the port via inadequate road routes.
The Fremantle Port Authority fears public pressure. Probably thousands of people living in the vicinity of the port hate the heavy-haulage traffic and would also like to see certain types of dangerous or offensive cargo banned. If the 'Northport Quay' project eventually gets the nod there will more public pressure on the FPA over what it can and can't do. The inevitable result would be to force it to shift most of its cargo handling operations to the more industrialised area further south in Cockburn Sound.
© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.
Click here to visit 'dogandcatwatcher', my YouTube website.
Original still photographs are stored online in a cache at my Panoramio website or my Picasa site. Most of them have a brief description and a link back to a relevant essay. Images on Panoramio can usually be enlarged several times by clicking them.
About the writer
Click here to see our backyard.
Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!
