More than 60 car parking spaces have been unlocked in Merimbula and agreement reached on the extension of many two hour parking to three hours.
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It is a major win for the Merimbula Chamber of Commerce and local businesses and comes after ongoing discussions between the Bega Valley Local Traffic Committee, the chamber parking sub-committee and local landlords.
There are also changes around the loading zones close to Twyford Hall to enable building work on the new theatre.
Council agreed unanimously to endorse the changes at its meeting on Wednesday, December 11 following a report from Cr Robyn Bain who is a representative on the traffic committee.
President of the Merimbula Chamber of Commerce Nigel Ayling said it was a great win for the town and the chamber hoped to have the changes in place before Christmas,"which will be great for our visitors and our town".
The acting general manager Anthony McMahon said he expected signage changes would happen very quickly and that it was council's intention to get the changes made before Christmas.
"We are still working with council on a number of other medium and long term solutions, but we very much appreciate the fact that they have come to the rescue with these changes in the short term," Mr Ayling said.
"The new chamber committee took on parking issues as one of its top priorities when they meet in October and made a submission to council with a number of short, medium and long recommendations to address the issues," Mr Ayling said.
Included in the recommendations that were approved, was the removal of a No Stopping zone on Market St at the intersection of Merimbula Drive and the creation of six extra 30 minute parking spots in the middle of town.
"This will have a direct impact on a number of businesses by having parking available in the main street and the short time zone will create a good turn over of cars and traffic. It will also make the main street look busy again," Mr Ayling said.
Also approved were number of recommendations to the time zones to facilitate a higher turn over of cars, closer to the centre of town and longer stays further from town, allowing people to stay longer without the risk of fines.
Changes to time zones include:
Market St: From Monaro St to Merimbula Jetty, increase from one hour to two hours
Merimbula Drive: Outside Health Food and Surf shop will be decreased from two hours to one hour
Extension from two hours to three hour parking in Alice Street, Beach Street and Park Street car parks.
15 new spaces on Park Street
"The other area which will see changes is on the bypass heading up Park St, on both sides of the road. Changes to signage and the addition of line marking here will open up more than 15, three hour parking spaces," Mr Ayling said.
He has worked directly with the new owner of the old Woolworths building, Bruce Marshall, to unlock part of the underground parking as well.
The parking area has been closed since the sale of the building and is subject to upgrades as part of the Development Application in place, so further work is required before it is open entirely, but in a last minute deal between chamber and Mr Marshall, half of the car park will be opened over the holiday period which will provide 40 extra parking spaces.
Rankin Builders who are managing the building will complete the necessary modifications before Christmas so it can be utilised.
"Whilst the parking will be open to anyone, the chamber is encouraging business owners to use it, so it frees up other street parking for visitors," Mr Ayling said.
With the start of building work on the theatre at Twyford Hall due to start early in the New Year the builders have asked for the loading zone in Beach St to be temporarily relocated and the traffic committee has agreed to relocate it to Alice St in the area where there is currently a No Stopping zone.
Speaking at the council meeting traffic committee representative Cr Robyn Bain said that there could be 54 days when Beach St is closed for all or part of the day during next year due to the building work.
"There will be some adjustment for the community during these times. It will be a little bit of inconvenience for some long-term gain," Cr Bain said.
Cr Mitchell Nadin said although some of the changes to parking were small they meant a lot to the businesses and he hoped they would have a positive impact.