So council believes we have 725 car parking spaces surplus to requirements.
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I can almost hear the howls of derision from my desk.
Given this is the subject that has now become the major talking point among chamber members, businesses and residents (not to mention the odd tourist) council can safely expect the chatter to become even louder.
There are several issues that need clarification; if these figures are based on the last 30 years, given that the town has been at a standstill for much of that time, what of the previous parking arrangements and the contributions paid by developers.
It is a subject that has driven local businessman and developer, Robert Green to arrange a meeting with member for Bega, Andrew Constance, to discuss the figures.
Based on the analysis done, council calculated that the CBD requires 1,710 parking spaces.
Property owners have advised that they provide 1,209 spaces, requiring council to provide at least a further 501 spaces. Council said it provides 404 spaces across places like the Palmer and Alice Street car parks and then said that the timed and untimed on street parking, provided a further 822 spaces in the business zones of Merimbula.
This, council said, gave Merimbula its surplus of 725 spaces, which brings me to my second question; should on street parking be counted along with section 94 contributions. Clearly they have not been provided under section 94 provisions and so why are we comparing apples with oranges?
Beyond the intricacies of section 94, however there remains some fundamental business issues.
In order to attract visitors to Merimbula and ensure they can park for several hours to dine in our restaurants and cafes, enjoy our beaches and browse our shops, we need centralised, well-signed parking.
What we don’t need is visitors driving loops around the town trying to find a parking spot.
Not only will it clog up the town, it will drive business away to areas that have more accessible parking.
So now is the time for some serious planning.
While a set of maps might be nice, we need town planners to come to the fore with serious long-term designs for the town, something a little longer than a year or two ahead.
