Fremantle’s seasonal and temporary trading policy could be renewed to revive vacant public spaces
The City of Fremantle could trial pop-up businesses under a draft plan to extend seasonal and temporary trading rules.
The community will now have its say on the draft policy, which aims to revitalize empty storefronts and create a more vibrant and flexible urban environment for short-term business activities on disused public beaches, waterfront areas and parklands.
Some councilors have raised concerns about how the plan will affect existing ‘brick-and-mortar’ stores and it is now open to community feedback.
Proposed revisions to the policy aim to improve businesses’ ability to respond to community demand by expanding coverage to mobile food vendors and allowing occasional trading at vacant locations in the city outside designated time periods.
It will also mean traders will be able to trial new locations for up to 12 months, allowing the council to test whether the site is suitable before making it a permanently approved trading location.
“The idea of additional temporary or seasonal trading spaces is always exciting and sounds very Fremantle to me, but every time we do this it raises the usual question: Will this impact physical retail?” Council member Andrew Sullivan said at the council’s April 22 meeting:
“Most of these seasonal and temporary business activities are simply trying to seize opportunities to grab the cream of the activity, but not pay the bricks and mortar costs of permanent activity.
“I know we don’t really like empty shop fronts, but the reality is you could never do something like this in front of an empty shop on the High Street without having an unintended negative consequence on other traders in that area.”
Business owner Cr Melanie Clark said the revised policy was exciting but she shared similar concerns.
“What this could offer is an incubation opportunity for the retailer for people who want to try it… I feel like we’ve been missing that for a long time in this city with so many closing down,” he said.
“But don’t do this by placing a container in front of an empty shop in two parking spaces that surrounding businesses need for their customers to use. This is very much a balancing act; the ripple effect it will have on existing businesses must be considered.”
Cr Jemima Williamson-Wong said the potential to activate vacant sites was a positive thing for local businesses as the city could be missing out on “incredible opportunities”.
“There are many places in our CBD where there is a vacant building and it has been sitting there for months, years,” he said.
“The perfect example of this is when you get off the train and walk past Pioneer Park, which used to be Il Cibo, on one side you have offices and there’s nothing that stimulates the streetscape until you get to Wise Child Commercial and Kakulas Sister. These locations could have the advantage of being a coffee truck or a food truck or maybe a different type of commercial or retail business.”
Cr Williamson-Wong suggested a change to the renewal of the policy to make it clear that trialling locations on vacant sites was a possibility for investors.
“I think we’re going to miss out on a lot of great opportunities if we don’t make it clear to people that they can use this as an option,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean we can deliver everything, but people are saying, ‘Oh, I’d really like to have a mini bookstore near Il Brutto or Strange Company. What would that look like in a parking lot?’ It allows him to say “
Cr Sullivan agreed the option would be beneficial as long as it did not “compete” with an existing bookstore nearby.
The policy will also formalize and strengthen the guiding principles of accessibility, uniqueness, sustainability and suitability of casual traders to ensure consistent evaluation of applications.
Investors will be able to apply through a seasonal expression of interest process, which will be evaluated and, if successful, will go through an operational approval process.
Councilors voted unanimously to submit these proposed revisions to the public, with the potential for further changes to be made in the future.
City affairs director Matthew Hammond said the changes would mark a flexible approach to Fremantle’s business activation, allowing new ideas to be trialled and underutilized public spaces unlocked.
“These policy changes provide greater clarity for businesses and the community, while also ensuring we can continue to support seasonal trade from small and unique businesses as a way to activate our public spaces,” he said.
Community feedback can be provided by: My Freo Until May 22.
