Carparking audit needed

The draft Drouin Township Plan has identified the need to undertake an audit of all carparking in the Drouin town centre to understand current capacity and future demand.

Tract Consultants listed a number of key actions relating to carparking in the town, saying there was a need for more shortterm parking spaces to increase turnover and more enforcement of parking time limits.

The plan also suggests creating “dynamic signage” to allow people to quickly identify if spaces are available.

The township plan aims to reduce the demand on parking through a range of solutions including creating a more pedestrian friendly network to encourage a ‘park once’ mentality.

The use of the Civic Park carpark for all day council staff carparking should be considered in light of the best long-term solutions for parking in Drouin.

There also is an opportunity for council to consider a mobility hub as a way of managing parking problems and community expectations.

“A mobility hub is a place where multiple transport options come together. These include available car parking, bike parking, pedestrian networks and shared transport modes specific to local contexts.

“In the context of Drouin a mobility hub might be designed to provide a precinct parking area - an alternative location for car parking and allow for interchange to other modes,” the plan said.

A parking study was conducted in Drouin in 2014 that found, in general, the town’s parking supply was adequate, with general occupancy rates at about 48 per cent.

The 2014 study concluded there was a need for behavioural changes to reduce the number of vehicles overstaying within the high turnover area on Princes Way and areas immediately adjacent to the main street.

Alterations to existing time restrictions and parking arrangements were proposed to provide more applicable time restrictions to suit nearby business needs, while providing an increase to unrestricted all-day parking.

In 2018, council noted a number of changes had occurred including the development of new businesses, overall population growth, and the relocation of council’s head office to Drouin resulting in increased demand for all day car parking.

Average occupancy across all the surveyed zones grew from 48 per cent to 57 per cent between 2014 and 2018.

Publicly available parking in Drouin is located on-street in angled or parallel parking spaces or within four main off-street carparks at Civic Park, Woolworths (front and back), and on the Coles site.

The study found these spaces catered for people accessing shops and services within the retail core.