By Callum Ludwig
Yarra Ranges Council has approved a draft Parking Management Framework at the Tuesday 13 August council meeting and is calling on residents, particularly in tourism hotspots, to share their thoughts.
Feedback is open for all residents of the Yarra Ranges to provide until Sunday 8 September.
Streeton Ward Councillor Andrew Fullagar said the framework sets out the main principles to manage parking on the Council’s roads and in car parks.
“The aim of the policy is to be consistent, to be equitable, logical for visitors, businesses and residents, to give people a fair go, to maximise utilisation of those spaces and provide efficient access to utilities and businesses,” he said.
“Due to the increased parking pressures now, which will increase as visitation and population increase, it’s important that we include this document as soon as possible on that basis, this is a draft and it encapsulates parking restriction strategies and hierarchies from our unrestricted areas right through to our paid areas, which we are now running a pilot out in Warburton,”
“The draft to me seems comprehensive and clear, though not perfect, it covers the wide diversity of situations that behoves Yarra Ranges and all the needs of residents and visitors right across the Shire from urban out to our rural areas.”
Survey data gathered on weekends and weekdays will help guide when the Council takes action to change restrictions, occupancy of 80 per cent and above during peak periods will instigate a review or increase in restrictions while occupancy below 20 per cent is when a reduction will be considered.
Cr Fullagar said the most important thing is a common sense approach.
“That there are timely responses to changes as and when they’re needed because, without those timely changes, they can be quite destructive to businesses in various areas,” he said.
“To those listening tonight and those affected by parking issues, and I know that’s quite a pertinent question out there at the moment, there’s now a potential for further feedback and we welcome it, there is room for more polishing as always, but I support and am comfortable releasing this draft for release tonight.”
There are five parking management controls in the framework; Unlimited parking, Time restricted parking, Allocation to specific users, digital parking solutions and paid parking.
Unlimited parking applies to areas with limited demand such as residential streets or smaller shopping strips.
Time-restricted parking (e.g. 30 minute, 1, 2 or 4 hour) are to enable a greater turnover of vehicles and traffic flow in areas such as a shopping precinct, near train stations or near schools.
Allocation to specific areas includes marked parking zones such as Accessible Parking, Loading Zone, Taxi Zone, Electric Vehicle Charging Zone or a Resident Permit Zone.
Real time digital parking solutions and signage will be considered for townships or key destinations where there are multiple on or off-street parking areas.
Paid parking will be for town centres and recreation precincts where there is a high demand for parking from tourists during peak periods.
Chirnside Ward Councillor Richard Higgins said it’s really important that they get this right.
“This strategy has actually done that extremely well because it adapts as it changes and looks at different areas, it looks at the areas where the tourists are there all the time, clogging up the streets, making it so the locals can’t do things, it does that and it addresses ways to get a solution,” he said.
“We then move on to the urban areas and it gives again locals the ability to actually look at it and say what’s going wrong in their area, it’s very important that it’s not just about a penalty or a fine or all that stuff, that’s just a little part of it, hopefully, there won’t be any,”
“The good thing about it is I love the idea that local residents are all permitted and we don’t have to pay for parking which is great as long as you don’t stay too long and muck up everybody else’s day.”
A parking pilot trial is set to be tested out in Warburton in late 2024 with altered parking restrictions (already introduced), paid parking for tourists and a permit system that will ensure Yarra Ranges residents aren’t charged to park in the town.
Yarra Ranges Council Mayor Sophie Todorov said recently they’ve had a lot of feedback from our local businesses around parking management, particularly in Lilydale.
“Importantly for us is also to address safety first and foremost, which also means you know practical traffic egress, parking and fairness,” she said.
“I actually look forward to the next stage of this plan if adopted and after consultation to actually review the Lilydale parking precinct plan as well in conjunction with this as noted we’ve got urban areas and we’ve got our rural areas,”
“I’m really interested to see how we go with Warburton with the pilot paid parking over there too but certainly it’s a step in forming that overall parking management framework and then breaking it down into the separate needs of all our different wards.”
To provide feedback on the draft Parking Management Framework, visit shaping.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/draft-parking-management-framework.
