Glenelg traders fear reducing parking spots on Jetty Rd will force businesses to close
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/messenger ... 9f3d5a2beb
GLENELG traders say their businesses could be forced to close if a plan to cut the number of parking spaces along Jetty Rd goes ahead.
More than 100 business owners, landlords, tenants and workers came out in force and packed the Glenelg Community Centre during an emotion-charged meeting last week.
The traders expressed strong opposition to a Holdfast Bay Council proposal to reduce parking as part of a major revamp of the Jetty Rd precinct.
Under the draft masterplan, about 30 spaces in the area would be removed to allow for wider footpaths and increased outdoor dining along the strip.
Developer and property owner Andrew Taplin, who called the meeting, said losing on-street parking around Jetty Rd would be an “economic disaster”.
“There are enough problems at the moment facing business and we want to put up another barrier to give a another reason not to come to Glenelg by removing or reducing car parking?” he said.
“The reality is, if you don’t have convenient, accessible parking, people will just go somewhere else.”
Extreme Boardriders owner Greg Payne said removing parking spots to make the street more walkable was too great a risk to people’s livelihoods.
“Businesses will close if this goes ahead,” he said.
Cheap As Chips managing director Shane Radbone said shoppers were driven by convenience.
Keeping the parks was important, he said, given the area’s growing older population.
The draft masterplan, released in September, revealed 38 carparks would be lost across the precinct — but this would be partly offset by nine new spots on Waterloo St, which would become a one-way road.
Most of the cuts are proposed for the Moseley Square end of the street.
Consultation results from the draft masterplan will be presented to Holdfast Bay councillors on December 12.
Changes could then be made before a final plan is considered in January 2018.
Traders at last week’s forum overwhelmingly voted to present their position to the next council meeting under the catchcry “carparking in the commercial district is maintained at all costs”.
However, Holdfast Bay chief executive Justin Lynch said the other aspects of the masterplan were dependent on some parking being removed.
“Our capacity to achieve the potential benefits outlined by the masterplan (including wider footpaths, greener public spaces and more trees) would be severely compromised if we were to retain all the carparks on Jetty Road,” he said.
Holdfast Bay mayor Stephen Patterson and six councillors attended the forum.
Mr Patterson told the CoastCity Weekly there had been an “overwhelmingly positive response” to removing the carparks to gain wider footpaths and increase the tree canopy.
He said the council conducted three phases of “extensive” consultation between March and November, including discussion with Jetty Rd traders.
Jetty Road Mainstreet Committee chairman Mark Faulkner was one of just two traders to vote against the “maintain the parking” demand.
He told the forum he was in favour of losing some car parking to make Glenelg a place where people would stay longer and spend more time and money.
“If we can make our precinct — and this has come from high streets in London — more of a ‘staying and strolling environment’, your economy increases,” he said.
Landlord Mark Harrington disagreed, saying: “We are not London, we are not New York.”