MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors have been told that investigating dropping the car park near Flinders pier in a paid parking trial would have “serious implications” for the entire project.
Flinders, Sunnyside Beach, Mount Eliza and Schnapper Point, Mornington are the three car parks earmarked for the paid parking trial over summer.
Major project coordination team leader Marcus Harris, in a report to this week’s public council meeting (Tuesday 8 August) said excluding Flinders from the trial would delay quotes for the vehicle identification cameras to be used in the paid parking trial.
Harris said Flinders and Sunnyside car parks were chosen for the trial because of the “simple configuration” of their access roads. Schnapper Point “allows the testing of a broader range of business rules and impacts in a more complex situation”.
Flinders was seen as an “ideal pilot site” as it was separate from the town’s commercial area “and provides an opportunity to test if visitor paid parking in smaller car parks will generate revenue”.
“More importantly, it will be vital in helping council determine the viability of visitor paid parking within foreshore car parks on the Western Port side of the peninsula,” Harris said.
Councillors were given the opportunity to further debate the paid parking trial this week on the back of a notice of motion from Cr David Gill calling for an investigation into Flinders being excluded “because of the detrimental effect on local businesses and a lack of space for parking to make this a meaningful trial”.
An earlier notice of motion from Gill for Flinders to be “discontinued” as part of the paid parking trial was rejected by the CEO John Baker “on the basis that this will cost more than $10k”.
Gill’s efforts to exclude Flinders follow representations from residents opposed to the trial despite being offered free ePermits (“Call for answers on paid parking trial” The News 18/7/23).
One example given to Gill involved a man who had a disability permit and was supported – often on visits to Flinders – by four NDIS support workers driving their own cars.
He was also told that councillors “need to consider the ageing and disability population of people who live on the peninsula, some do not have mobile phone or use a computer … they pay rates and should be entitled to be encouraged to access our beautiful locations”.
In his report, Harris said the paid parking trial “is not solely about revenue”.
He said business rules, including staff and business permits, “will alleviate many of the concerns for businesses at Flinders and negate any perceived detrimental effect”.
“The pilot also aims to improve turnover, trial new technology and test business rules on a small scale before decisions are made on any further rollout.
“Should the pilot be a success many costs such as the ePermits system will see economies of scale moving forward.”
First published in the Mornington News – 8 August 2023
