A plan to ask Hume residents to pay more than $1200 to install a car parking space in narrow streets has been labelled “unjust” and a knee-jerk reaction.
Broadmeadows Progress Association member Sonja Rutherford said Hume council had failed to inform the group of its draft parking in narrow streets policy, or of an online survey asking for community feedback.
The survey closed on Monday.
The draft policy was created to address parking shortfalls on some of Hume’s narrow estate streets where parking on either side of the street blocks through traffic.
It also aims to stop residents from parking on nature strips, which is illegal under the Victorian Road Safety Road Rules (2009).
The draft policy includes options to address parking shortfalls, including installing restricted bays on one side of a road or, where the demand for on-street parking exceeds the space that is available, installing indented parking on one side of the street.
Half of the cost of the parking bays would be paid for by the council, and the other half by property owners. The cost of a single bay is about $2500.
“My mouth dropped … I couldn’t believe it,” Ms Rutherford said after having read the policy.
“They’re just side-stepping the issue and passing it onto landowners. It’s not the responsibility of the existing landowner, and people won’t be able to afford it.
“This is just a knee-jerk reaction to a very serious problem,” Ms Rutherford said.
The Broadmeadows resident said the issue in Hume was due to developers being given planning approval to build roads that are too narrow for cars to park either side.
She said multi-unit developers are also building without adequate parking spaces.
Sunbury Residents Association president Bernie O’Farrell said the council had failed to inform his association of its draft policy.
He said there might be some residents prepared to pay for indented parking bays.
“But in my view, most people would object.”
Hume council’s acting city infrastructure director David Fricke said council is happy to talk about on-street parking options.
