Item 9.10 features the ongoing saga of parking around the town hall and Caulfield Hospital. After months of supposed ‘negotiation’ with the hospital to close a gate, there is still no outcome. Councillors have thus been offered 3 choices. They are:
- Continue With The Current Restrictions – since (a) there is plenty of available parking in the streets and (b) that time should be given for council to complete its ‘municipal wide’ parking strategy in order to reach a ‘more balanced and consistent framework’.
- Reinstate The Previous Restrictions (pre-June 2016) – this would however force cars to park in nearby streets so the ‘problem’ would only be passed on to surrounding areas. One paragraph from this option deserves citing in full –
Community criticism over the lack of consultation in the recent parking restriction changes is acknowledged. Given the potential for increased parking demands on Glencoe Street, Garrell Street, and Dunbar Avenue, it is recommended that the residents of these streets be consulted prior to any decision to remove unrestricted parking from: Hillside Avenue, Harcourt Avenue, Gerard Street, Hartley Avenue, Sylverly Grove, and Alfred Street.
- The third option involves having small sections of the street (ie 4 car spots) earmarked for unrestricted parking – but this also requires consultation.
The upshot of all this is, let’s do nothing, or let’s delay some more. Council keeps presenting the argument that it is working on a ‘precinct wide’ traffic management plan. The Planning Scheme review stated that parking precinct plans would be introduced for its activity centres. The streets mentioned above ARE NOT included in any major activity centre, nor are they part of any neighbourhood centre. All council comments related to parking apply only to their ‘structure planning’ – ie As part of the structure planning process, parking and traffic movement will be reviewed with the potential for new traffic measures and controls to be introduced. (April, Glen Eira News).
No specific timelines are provided. Since only structure plans for Bentleigh, Carnegie, Elsternwick, and now Virginia Estate will be done in the next 18 months we have little confidence that parking will get a look in elsewhere – especially since council is now not promising structure plans for its other districts but an ‘Activity Centre Strategy’!
Residents are being given short shrift in our view. Council needs to be upfront and inform residents exactly what it plans to do about parking everywhere. Timelines are required as is a waterproof policy that is up-to-date and which initiates action now and not years down the track.
Glen Eira Debates 
April 29, 2017 at 11:28 AM
Seems like another kick the bucket down the road approach. Please new Councillors ask what resourcing and timeframes exist for the “precinct wide” traffic management plan. If you are not happy with the answer, say so and ask how the recommendation is in the best interests of residents.
April 29, 2017 at 1:09 PM
The inconsistency of council is unbelievable. First they argue that changing parking doesn’t need consultation because its not introducing parking restrictions. Now they rightly apologise and want more consultation even though it’s not what they said before and what the policy says if you want a literal interpretation. They argue what they want to suit themselves.
April 29, 2017 at 1:21 PM
2 hour parking restrictions are there for a reason, otherwise it wouldn’t be put in. Someone determined that parking is a problem and the solution is 2 hour parking. Removing the 2 hour parking on one side of the street and making the other side all day parking has to be sheer madness when parking shortages forced the introduction of 2 hours to begin with. No logic in anything this council does.
April 30, 2017 at 10:37 AM
The problem is caused by the Hospital charging for parking. The Hospital is running a commercial carpark in their grounds and ruining the surrounding streets. Answer? Make the Hospital provide free parking for staff and visitors.
April 30, 2017 at 12:07 PM
The hospital has a staff parking scheme where the staff pay on a monthly basis. This does not work for itinerant staff of which there are many They chose to park in the nearby streets instead of paying $6 for all day parking. Locking the gate will stop this. The hospital needs to install a parking system that is smart and flexible so staff can be charged in a more flexible way. I don’t think the council has done its homework on this. Council should pressure the hospital to try harder.
April 30, 2017 at 12:32 PM
This is bigger than the area around the hospital. Remember some pretty upset people in Phillip street when council came in and changed 2 hour to all day on one side to accommodate nearby shopping centre. Same with streets near town hall. To accommodate council staff. Both didn’t have anything to do with the hospital. Ad hoc decision making without consultation time and time again. How much are these bozos being paid?
April 30, 2017 at 1:46 PM
I see your point, Plenty of self interest in regard to parking near the town hall.
April 30, 2017 at 7:49 PM
Parking is becoming a real mess in many places in Glen Eira.
Living standards and living densities have changed.
Many young Indian men in the flat and unit filled streets near the rail station are living 4,5,6 or more per flat or a unit.
As little as ten years ago it would have just two people living there with the max of 2 cars per dwelling.
Cars are become a big problem as the number people owning cars per dwelling is out-stripping what any of the past planners ever envisioned.
There is a living lesson to learn here, if they wanted to open their eyes and learn, but who cares, people are parking on the nature strips, in the school no parking zones, over driveways etc. rarely, if ever, does a parking officer make an appearance to support the local bylaws.
If Melbourne is heading for 8 million people it’s also heading for the world’s most unlivable city.
I’m beginning to think it may be cost effective to just sack the traffic planners and many other bureaucrats in the planning departments as it appears they have been educated into a fait accompli mindset of inaction of having no answers, no solutions and no resolve. We may be better off, or at least no worse off without them.
May 1, 2017 at 11:54 AM
The Glen Eira Planning Scheme has over 600 references to “parking”. It has polices and strategies and “further work”…and an utter lack of plans. I don’t even see a set of guiding principles. How about fairnessand equitability? Large institutions, because they create concentrated demand, have special responsibility. Put a councillor on-call on a rotating basis to take complaints from the community when parking issues arise out-of-hours, like when somebody parks across my driveway.
To what extent is it reasonable to rely on on-street parking for overnight and long term parking needs? Just because somebody is close to public transport, is that sufficient to justify waiving parking provision requirements? Wouldn’t we rather cars be kept off streets when not used so the streets can perform their primary function safely?
Why is acceptable to have VCAT order permits to be granted for developments with inadequate parking provision, when VCAT itself provides carparking for its members in an area rich with public transport options? For that matter why does Council provide parking for its employees when it is at the confluence of multiple modes of public transport? It’s almost as if they don’t believe in their own policies.
May 1, 2017 at 3:13 PM
Drove down Hawthorn road this morning. Traffic stopped because of development. Two huge trucks stuck in the middle of intersection of Hawthorn and Balaclava and another one parked near corner on Hawthorn. Cars parked everywhere and traffic stopped for about 5 minutes blocking traffic in both directions. A real joke.
May 2, 2017 at 4:32 PM
Yet another problem in Glen Eira is that developers don’t necessarily have traffic management plans when required to do so, or don’t comply with them, or gull council officers into granting permits for outrageous behaviour. Council’s internal systems are in a shocking state such that few people even know what permits have been issued and what additional conditions [if any] are on them.
Even the financial side is essentially f–ked. A Hoarding permit has a fee of $2.50 per square metre of occupied space per month. A Road Closure permit, which covers footpath occupancies, has a fee of $2.50 per square metre per DAY. Developers rarely obtain a Road Closure permit before blocking off footpaths, paying a trivial amount for a Hoarding permit instead.
Development at 54-56 Rosstown Rd is a classic example. It has NEVER complied with its Hoarding permit, but it also occupies an excessive amount of public space because they pay so little for the occupied area. Having never complied, when the developer asked for a second permit to cover an additional 6 months, Council granted it rather than insisting on compliance first. Naturestrip has also been ripped up and replaced with concrete, so that apparently is the preferred neighbourhood character and new standard Council is setting for residential areas.
At least 54-56 Rosstown provides a strip of concrete for pedestrians. At 110 Mimosa Rd the developer blocked off the entire footpath including naturestrip, then planted a huge waste bin on the roadway adjacent to the fence so pedestrians are forced to walk around it down the middle of the road. Remains to be seen what action, if any, Council will take but the total closure has been going on for months now.
Just how much revenue has Council foregone by failing to send an appropriate price signal to developers for footpath occupancies, charging ratepayers for the shortfall instead?
May 3, 2017 at 9:29 AM
It doen’t mean the developer are not paying, its likely the payments are not going through the books, but into the pockets of crooked bureaucrats.
Corruption with developer and council workers has been riffe in councils for over 100 years,
Nothing has changed.
Developers are now the largest single donor group to political parties, this buys the “blind eye” at the highest levels of government , the trickle down effect smooths the way for over development and larger profits and more cash to grease the system.
Sloppyness, lack of proper process flaunting of rules and lack of concern, failing to act on complaints, are hallmarks of corruption.
May 2, 2017 at 7:02 PM
In a street meeting last week,a resident asked why do the same councillors want to stand every term. What attracts these unqualified clowns to make decisions on our behalf?