Poor parking availability in central Ballarat could soon be relieved with a new car park on Creswick Road.
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Ballarat City Council has been in negotiations to lease a vacant block of land next to Officeworks in the city’s north.
The state government announced earlier this year it would give council $2 million to spend on increasing parking in the Ballarat central business district.
It will offset the loss of hundreds of car parks due to major redevelopment on Mair Street and at the Civic Hall precinct.
The state government-led GovHub project will see an office building for 100 workers built next to Civic Hall, on Mair and Armstrong streets.
However to fit the new development, a large number of car parks will be removed.
Ballarat City deputy mayor Daniel Moloney said said the parking plan required council to find additional options.
“While that location won’t serve your short term shoppers, it does offer potential for all day workers,” he said.
“Especially those at the government’s glass house building, temporary workers on a future GovHub site, and even potentially for a medium or longer term solution as well for GovHub workers.
“It also has the potential to be used as an additional area for railway station commuters.”
VicRoads has also planned to realign parts of Mair Street for better traffic flow, which will also see parking along the length of the street lost for drivers.
Council will also seek expressions of interests from developers willing to invest in multi-story, private car parking in the Ballarat CBD.
No preferred site has been identified, however it would most likely depend on the expressions of interest put forward by a developer.
We are reaching the point where not everyone can park outside the shop they want to go to, we need to be a smarter city.
- Cr Daniel Moloney
Cr Moloney said Ballarat’s rapid growth meant there had to be a change in the way commuters traveled to the business district.
“We are reaching the point where not everyone can park outside the shop they want to go to, we need to be a smarter city offering a range of transport options,” he said.
“There has been criticism of bringing in 1000 jobs and not offering 1000 car parks, but that doesn’t happen in any development.
“It is like suggesting Her Majesty’s Theatre needs 900 car parks out the front for its 900 seats.”
