Plans to finalise a state-funded project for 1,000 new car parking spaces go before council next week - and as costs mount there are questions over how the proposal will meet its target number of new spaces.
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Agenda documents published for the August 12 council meeting outline how funding has already been spent to replace spaces lost at the Civic Hall site due to the GovHub redevelopment.
They also publicly reveal for the first time the full cost of the delayed Creswick Road car park. At a total of $850,000, that structure cost the equivalent of $3035 per car parking space.
The figure is considerably more than the $714,481 cited in an Ombudsman's report released in May. That investigation highlighted the absence of any tender process for building the car park, despite it being in excess of the threshold required for tenders.
Without formalisation of car parking in the area or the protection to significant tree plantings, vehicles are occupying any space that they can achieve, proving detrimental to the health and wellbeing of the trees in the area
- City of Ballarat report
According to a council officer report published in next week's agenda, there is now a balance of $728,000 from $2 million of state funding left for 430 car parking spots.
The Soldiers Hill precinct, which is mostly residential, is earmarked for the installation of those remaining places.
A total of $1,272,000 has been committed so far for 570 spaces. This includes $850,000 for the Creswick Road Car Park, where there are 280 car parking spaces, and $412,000 for the Eastern Oval Car Park, which has a total of 176 spaces for off-street car parking.
The report also shows 114 spaces on the Creswick Road service road are being included as new car parks.
The service road was already widely used for all-day parking, but the area has now been "formalised" by installing line markings.
The markings - which cost a total of $10,000, according to the report - were installed at the same time as new two-hour timed parking restrictions were introduced along the same strip.
The report outlines two separate options for installing the remaining car parks, which would also be in areas already used informally for car parking.
The streets earmarked are all in the Soldiers Hill precinct: Seymour Street, Clarendon Street, Armstrong street North, Neill Street, Ligar Street and Doveton Crescent. All lie within 500m of Govhub as specified within the agreement.
Both options would involve delineating the car parking spaces in the area, but have quite different costs.
The option recommended by council is to spend $750,000 of the City of Ballarat's own infrastructure funding in addition to the remaining money for a more robust, higher quality process that would reduce the need for long-term maintenance.
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A cheaper option involving lesser quality spray seal, which could be done within the remaining budget, is also set out.
The officer reports says: "Without formalisation of car parking in the area or the protection to significant tree plantings, vehicles are occupying any space that they can achieve, proving detrimental to the health and wellbeing of the trees in the area."
Commuters, workers and residents are frequently in conflict over what constitutes a car parking space, often with council officers left to determine outcome
- Council officer report
At the moment, the Creswick Road car park is free to use, although it was originally intended as a paid car park, while the Eastern Oval car park remains free.
The focus on Soldiers Hill for the remaining car parks was due to "significant constraints to the east, west and south of Civic Hall.
The allocation of the $2m of state money is being overseen by Regional Development Victoria. On its website it specifies there would be 1,000 additional car parking spaces installed.
The delivery of the Creswick Road Car Park was by far the most high profile of the projects and took much longer than originally planned. It was scheduled to open in late 2018 but works did not finish until October 2019. The land upon which the car park is built was formerly a service station. A three-year lease for the site at an annual cost of $200,000 ends next year.
A council spokesperson said the disparity between its $850,000 figure and the figure in the Ombudsman's report would need to be checked with the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman has previously said no further comment would be provided as the report was published under parliamentary privilege.
The state government also made a separate $14 million election promise in 2018 to install 1,000 free car parks in the CBD. There has not yet been any confirmation of the location nor the timeframe for this project's delivery.
The topic of parking has been a hot topic in recent years, with the council's Smarter Parking Plan initiating last year as a means of modernising parking in the city following a long consultation process.
It is unclear whether the car parking plans might eventually be revisited due to changes brought about by the pandemic. How much time people spend commuting and working in offices - and therefore parking - could fundamentally shift due to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
The options proposed for the further car parks will be considered by councillors at the ordinary council meeting next Wednesday.
- Read the council agenda here
- Read the Ombudsman's report here
THE CRESWICK ROAD CAR PARK TIMELINE
May 2018: Construction begins
June 2018: Car park site only leased for three years
Jan 2019: Opening date confirmed
July 2019: Further delays
September 2019: Tet more delays
October 2019: Annual report released, shows car park did not go to tender
November 2019: Car park finally opens
November 2019: Hardly any cars in car park
December 2019: Car park goes free
May 2020: Ombudsman cites cost of Creswick Road car park
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