Former Leichhardt Council mayor Darcy Byrne has proposed radical changes to the property zoning in Sydney's inner west in order to remove excessive red tape for retail stores, former factories, cafes and office blocks to become live performance venues.
The Off Broadway proposal was first created last year as part of Sydney Fringe Festival, in partnership with SFF director Kerri Glasscock, and proposes that a section of Parramatta Road become an arts and music precinct.
A number of venues and spaces in the area are already on board, including the Annandale Hotel, Bald Faced Stag and more, but the new proposal recommends that every type of property zoning, excluding residential, in the area could become a small scale arts venue without a development application.
Byrne, who is also a candidate for mayor of the Inner West Council, told The Music, "Arts and music related things are treated as dangerous which is just bullshit, they're not.
"Eliminating the need for any red tape or a development application in order for a gig or an exhibition to take place is a radical idea but it may be the last and best hope of keeping places for emerging artists in our gentrifying capital cities.
"At the moment a bookshop proprietor, warehouse owner or café manager who wants to allow a performance on their premises is forced to spend thousands of dollars on a development application for an approval they may only ever use once."
The proposal will be put in front of the Inner West Council as well as the Department Of Planning.
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