Deputy mayor Mitchell Nadin is hoping to get support for his motion that would see council start work on planning for greater pedestrian activity in Merimbula's Market Street.
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"I have spoken with a number of landlords, 15 to 20 businesses in town, accommodation providers and residents and not a single person has been negative.
"Everyone wants the priority to be pedestrians in our town," Cr Nadin said.
In 2014 council produced landscape plans for Eden, Merimbula, Bega and Bermagui.
"The plans were to illustrate proposed landscape changes to each of the towns, primarily for beautification purposes (i.e. pavement treatment, vegetation plans, street furniture) but also to address challenges towns had with pedestrian access and amenity, traffic management and public open space," Cr Nadin said.
Council currently has an active grant application for $11.2m with the state government under the Growing Local Economies Fund State program. It's understood the application is still pending.
"It's important to recognise the current Masterplan is a high-level, low detail document, which is meant to be mostly indicative of the potential of the site, and carries with it the weight of community endorsement," Cr Nadin said.
It means council can plan the project and its impact on the budget more accurately, especially if we are only in receipt of part funding.
- Cr Mitchell Nadin
"The next step for council is producing detailed designs that can be costed, endorsed by the community and ultimately tendered for. Something the Masterplan does not currently include, is any substantial change to the movement of traffic in the Merimbula CBD. Traffic calming and the prospect of turning some of Market Street into a pedestrian "mall" with one-way street with additional curb side parking is something I believe should be explored by a consultant," he said.
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Cr Nadin wants to see a detailed plan, with results of potential traffic impacts before returning to the community for consultation.
"We need a detailed plan, designed to be done in stages and we need to work out the priorities," he said.
He believes Market Street rather than Beach Street is the priority.
Planning now will enable the project to be shovel ready should funding be available and it also means that 100 per cent of the funding gets spent on the project rather than some going to consultants for the planning stages, Cr Nadin explained.
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"It means council can plan the project and its impact on the budget more accurately, especially if we are only in receipt of part funding."
He also hopes to get some money allocated for the project from the sale of the old squash courts site to Aldi.
Cr Nadin will speak at the chamber meeting on Thursday, August 29.
