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LONDON: Boomers are being drawn to a proposed multigenerational housing and arts precinct approved for a beachside enclave.

A huge new affordable housing and arts precinct opposite Fremantle’s John Curtin College of the Arts is a step closer to construction after winning development approval.

The Department of Communities will develop the precinct, with 268 apartments spread across four apartment buildings, as well as nine three-bedroom townhouses, all just 2km from the port city’s main attractions.

It also has approval for a community arts hub, artist studios, two cafes and a gym as well as hundreds of parking bays and requirement for 120 bicycle bays.

Approved on Friday by the Metro Inner-South Joint Development Assessment Panel, the precinct could become a home to hundreds and an attraction to many more.

Panel member and City of Fremantle councillor Andrew Sullivan praised the affordable housing and arts hub plan but laid out his concerns that visitor street parking could become a sizeable issue in the future.

“Rarely as a councillor or as a DAP member do you come across developments that are of this level of quality,” Cr Sullivan said.

“I really appreciate the amazing work that the applicants have put in, there are some incredibly surprising and amazing elements of it.

“When the council was first working with the Department of Housing to look at the site to come up with an overall planning document to guide development, I don’t think in our wildest dreams we imagined it could be potentially as good as it is.

“Things like Finnerty Lane and the arts muse running through the developments and the location of the coffee shops … it’s quite exceptional.

“The main planning issues for me — sadly, I hate when it comes down to parking because this development is so much better than talking about parking — but the reality is that precinct is almost beyond full in terms of street parking.

“The single most important thing to get resolved is that.”

City of Fremantle statutory planning co-ordinator Justin Lawrence echoed Cr Sullivan’s visitor parking worries and said the fact that the visitor parking would be located in the basement of the buildings could push people to park on nearby streets, which are already “heavily under siege”.

“We have put forward an option where the city is willing to entertain street parking … but the city is wanting to look for more of a long-term approach rather than a short-term interim measure, which won’t deliver a great outcome because of the locality in the long run,” Mr Lawrence said.