Lobby group Commerce Ballarat has thrown its weight behind City of Ballarat's controversial plan to change parking rules to cope with burgeoning population levels.
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The measures, tipped to start on Tuesday, will see many new restricted spaces added to large sections of the city.
Commerce Ballarat chair David Wright said boundaries of the CBD had increased in recent years and parking rules ought to be tweaked accordingly.
“We’d all love to see multistory car-parks, but that’s just not going to happen right now,” he said.
“It’s a tricky issue, but we’ve got remember it mostly relates to Monday to Friday, 9am until 5.30pm.”
It comes after many residents used council’s announcement this week to voice their dissatisfaction with Ballarat’s parking restrictions, which have been a bone of contention for years.
Canadian woman Ti Frost, 31, has Hodgkin's lymphoma and said two-hour parking limits around Ballarat base hospital had been a problem since starting chemotherapy in February.
“My chemotherapy takes between three to four hours if they need to find a vein,” she said. “I can’t just leave in the middle of it to move my car.”
City of Ballarat’s director of infrastructure and environment Terry Demeo said 7000 spaces will serve the hospital precinct.
“The changes are intended to provide hospital patients and visitors the opportunity to park in close proximity to the hospitals,” he said.
A map developed by council to show the new parking restrictions, which is available to view on its website, reveals mostly two-hour and three-hour parking limits around the hospital.
The closest free all-day parking for patients near the hospital will now be at least two blocks away.
Ms Frost, who is receiving Centrelink payments, said she usually parked a few blocks away with her sister.
Meanwhile, some residents said there had been little consultation in the lead-up to the announcement, including Sturt Street trader Amanda Di Cesare.
Ms Di Cesare said free one-hour parking spaces outside were vital in drawing customers to her salon.
However, Mayor Samantha McIntosh insisted there had been sufficient consultation with residents, citing a survey council released that drew more than 1200 respondents.
Council also sent letters to the community, completed an audit of car spaces in the CBD and investigated how other cities manage parking.
