President of the Merimbula Chamber of Commerce Leigh Louey-Gong said that several business owners had expressed concerns with the change becoming permanent and so a sunset clause had been added for after the Easter school holidays.

“This will allow for an investigation into the impact this change has had on businesses and whether or not it should be adopted moving forward,” Mr Louey-Gong said.

Chamber members had called for three-hour parking around town and members Fraser Buchanan and David Jesson both presented to the council meeting on the subject saying that the views of the chamber should be taken into account.

However the mayor Kristy McBain told the meeting that council had “not received a formal letter from the Merimbula Chamber of Commerce as to their meeting”.

Cr McBain said though council was “still working with the developer on short-term parking plans”.

“But council is looking at long-term solutions and will continue a dialogue with the Merimbula Chamber of Commerce. For the benefit of the town we will try to come up with solutions,” Cr McBain said.

However it is unlikely that council will spend any money to resolve short-term parking issues, Cr McBain said.

In changes related to the Merimbula bypass council has approved the extension of the existing ‘no stopping’ zone for a distance of 28.0m south (from the former Seahorse garden bed) south of the Monaro Street intersection, across the driveway of the unnamed laneway, to the existing 1P Zone, (to comply with RMS requirements for the new intersection).

It has also approved the installation of a 24 hour bus zone located within the two bus bays in Park Street and the installation of a ‘no right turn’ sign at the exit of the unnamed laneway onto Market Street.

In better news for drivers, the bus zones on Sapphire Coast Drive will be replaced with curbside parking and site offices will be removed from the old library site by December 15.

Councillor Sharon Tapscott asked the traffic committee to consider three-hour car parking for Main Street west of Market Street, Merimbula Drive west of Market Street and the east side of Sapphire Coast Drive from Main Street to Merimbula Drive, for a period until completion of the Woolworths construction in Main Street.

Following discussions between Mr Louey-Gong and council, ideas that still need to be investigated include a Berrambool parking facility expansion, angled parking at Spencer Park, off-street parking on two empty blocks on Beach Street and remarking of the boat ramp parking area in an effort to ease summer parking.