Ignored parking ideas frustrate local resident
Out of date car parking signs are annoying a Warragul man who is frustrated that Baw Baw Shire Council is not addressing the issue.
Gerry Prestney used community question time at last week’s council meeting to ask council why it was doing nothing about the “out of date” signs.
“There is a well-known saying in government - if you don’t want anything done, form a committee and give it to them,” Mr Prestney said.
Mr Prestney advised council in writing 12 months ago of “out of date parking prohibition signs.”
He said he expected action would be taken to remedy the situation and provide extra parking at virtually no cost, and ahead of the busy 2014 Christmas shopping period.
He said council had a parking review committee comprising of numerous staff from planning, by-laws, engineering, and possibly other departments.
Mr Prestney last week asked why these parking restriction signs had not been updated in 10 to 15 years to reflect current adjacent land usage for large commercial sites in the central business district.
“Why is it that even after being alerted to this fact 12 to 13 months ago, nothing has been done to address the situation?
“How come the review committee or by-law staff have not acted of their own accord in 10 to 15 years instead of letting this situation perpetuate year after year.
Mr Prestney said his view was based on two long drawn-out experiences involving simple parking matters, which indicated council’s by laws parking section and parking review committee was not working.
Planning and economic development director Matthew Cripps said council’s parking review committee included staff from local laws and infrastructure planning teams.
He said it had the role of reviewing parking changes requested by the community or otherwise necessitated.
“Council recently undertook the Warragul Parking Study, adopted in August 2015. The study took into account a range of matters raised by the community throughout several rounds of community engagement and consultation.
“Those matters now form the basis of the recommendations of the report. Some of those recommendations will be able to be implemented in the short term while others will be subject to further investigation, as identified in the report.
“It should be noted that the implementation of any parking changes is subject to land use changes which occur from time to time and have a bearing on council’s ability to make changes to parking arrangements,” Mr Cripps said.