HIGH DIVIDE
TRADERS SPLIT OVER BELMONT BIKE LANE PLAN
BELMONT traders and bike riders are divided over a controversial plan to build protected bike lanes along the High St shopping strip, removing a third of on-street carparking spaces.
Geelong council has begun a tender process to deliver stage 2 of the bike project to link the CBD to Waurn Ponds via Belmont.
BELMONT traders and bike riders are divided over a controversial council plan to build protected bike lanes along the popular High St shopping strip, removing a third of existing on-street carparking spaces.
The City of Greater Geelong is seeking community feedback on its TAC-funded $6.3m Building Better Bike Connections project for paths connecting the CBD to Waurn Ponds via Belmont, and to Herne Hill via Geelong West.
Councillors approved a tender process in March to deliver stage 2 of the southern link – the only section yet to be completed.
It would involve building a protected bike path from the Barwon River to Waurn Ponds via High St, Belmont.
Under the Belmont plans, one-way separated bike paths would be built on each side of High St, with about 30 carparking spaces removed from the existing 83, and the potential to double the number of trees along the strip.
Loss of parking has been widely criticised by opponents of the project, but a CoGG FAQ page noted there were about 1100 carpark spaces in the High St area.
Traders’ views on the project are mixed, with some declaring it will kill off businesses in High St, while others say it will improve the area.
Joker Shoppe menswear owner Vincent Albanese said he would be pushing for the council to abandon the planned works and criticised previous consultations organised by the CoGG since 2018.
“The consulting was just done to railroad the decision, to put it in,” Mr Albanese said.
“I reckon about 80 per cent of people are against it for the simple reasons it’s dangerous, it removes parking and it’s harder to go shopping.”
Geelong Travel director Stuart Coffield said the project would damage businesses via the loss of on-street parking.
He has written to councillors, appealing for the project to be abandoned.
“If there is no parking, there is no shopping,” Mr Coffield wrote. “If people can’t come into my business to book in, they’ll just drive by.
“There will be limited car parks in High St so my prospective clients will drive past to Waurn Ponds shopping centre, where there is ample parking. You have destroyed the city centre, from Gheringhap St to Moorabool St.”
Bicycle Centre Belmont staff member Sam Furphy supports the plans, as a local worker and a cyclist who frequently rides along High St.
“I reckon it’s a great idea,” Mr Furphy said.
“(Part of High St) is pretty steep, but I think that’s only part of the issue. The other section of High St is a lot flatter, and the changes would help to go in and out of shops and be sort of more pedestrian-orientated.
“The plans would make the shops accessible for pedestrians or cyclists to come from the residential part of our neighbourhood, and cruise down to their shops and have a coffee and that sort of thing, treat it more like a mall or shopping strip, rather than such a thoroughfare of how it is at the moment with cars.
“There’s plenty of parking there for people to use, and then use the street as more of a mall.
“Even though it does seem like you can’t just park directly out the front of your shop, often you can’t do that anyway.”