Parking in Alexandria
I refer to your email about parking conditions around the
ATP site in Alexandria.
I appreciate that parking continues to be difficult for
residents in streets surrounding the site. I asked Kim Yu, the City’s Area
Traffic Engineer, to investigate your comments and update me on the
situation.
Kim tells me that Transport and Urban Planning (TUP)
completed the final report of the parking study last year and that ATP sent the
City a copy in December. The report sought to assess parking conditions in the
streets surrounding the ATP site, including levels and types of parking, and to
make recommendations to the City to address residents’ concerns.
The report makes a number of recommendations, including the
introduction of timed permit parking with an exemption for residents with a
parking permit, No Stopping restrictions in narrow streets and at intersections
and the investigation of angle parking in specific streets. It also notes that
some residents would not support the introduction of timed permit parking as it
would negatively impact on residents without a permit and residents’
visitors.
As you say, the report doesn’t make any recommendations for
changes to the existing onsite parking at the ATP site. It does note, however,
that many submissions from residents commented that ATP should use incentives
(such as lowering parking costs) to encourage workers to either use the onsite
parking facilities or to use alternative forms of transport to get to work,
rather than relying on parking restrictions in surrounding streets. It also
states that onsite parking fees are in keeping with commercial practice and
needed to manage parking demand.
ATP has told City staff it supports the report’s recommendations
and doesn’t plan to invite further submissions from residents or hold public
meetings about the final draft report. City staff are now considering TUP’s
recommendations and will consult residents on proposed parking changes on a
street-by-street basis before carrying out final community consultation on
specific proposals (such as the introduction of timed permit parking). We
expect to start community consultations in May.
I understand the parking situation around the ATP site is
frustrating for residents. The City did not approve the ATP site and it was
assessed as a Part 3A project by the State Government. The City of Sydney made
a submission to the State Government expressing our concerns about the impact
on parking in local residential streets, however our concerns were not
incorporated into their parking design. Further, as the City was not the
consent authority, we cannot enforce conditions of consent, including those
about ATP’s onsite parking arrangements. I encourage you to contact Julie
Parsons, the Redfern-Waterloo Authority’s Community Relations Manager, with your
continuing concerns about onsite parking on 9202 9117 or at julie.parsons@rwa.nsw.gov.au.
If you would like to speak with a Council officer about the
community consultation for proposed parking changes, you can contact Kim on
9265 9333 or at kyu@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au.
Yours sincerely
Clover Moore MP
Lord Mayor of Sydney