Car Parks

Asset Management Plan – Car Parks

Car Parks This Supporting Section should be read in conjunction with Council’s Asset Management Plan, the Asset Management Policy (which sets out Council's philosophy of asset management) and Council’s Asset Management Strategy (which provides Council with a clear direction and goal for managing the community's $1.185 billion (as at June 2010) worth of assets).

1

Current Asset Base

The condition of Council’s assets has been audited as part of the asset inspection regime, rated against the asset condition reference sheet and captured in Council’s electronic mapping system. The condition of all Council’s assets is rated from excellent to very poor. The colours on the following map indicate the condition of the asset, as detailed in the below table.

1 2 3 4 5

Excellent Good Average Poor Very Poor

Dark Green Green Yellow Orange Red

Map The following table lists the proportion of the car park network in each condition ranging from excellent to very poor across the Wagga Wagga Local Government Area (LGA).

Excellent

10.6%

16,379m2

Good

26.3%

40,464m2

Average

49.0%

75,480m2

Poor

14.1%

21,684m2

0.0%

0m2

Very Poor

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Car Parks The following map indicates the location of car parks across the Wagga Wagga LGA.

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Car Parks Size of the Network Council owns and maintains 53 car parks across the Wagga Wagga LGA, 21 are located in the Central Business District (CBD).

Challenges of the Network Car parks are places where security is a high priority, therefore it is important to control vegetation and ensure adequate lighting at all times.

Car parks see pedestrians and vehicles share a fairly confined space. This presents a challenge to the management of this asset type because pedestrians are watching for traffic as well as any trip hazards. Therefore even minor potholes, lifting and cracking of the wearing surface pose a risk to the safety of pedestrians.

Given the fairly confined space for parking it is important that the line marking is clear. When the condition of the line marking is poor cars tend to be parked in a less orderly fashion and there isn’t a clear break between car parking bays and pedestrian areas.

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Condition Assessment

Condition Ratings Reference Sheet The condition of car parks is audited against a rating scale which ranges from excellent to very poor. This scale is used as the basis of all assessments of car parks by Council’s Surveillance Team. The rating scale forms the Condition Rating Reference Sheet below.

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Car Parks Intervention Levels To guide Council’s response to customer requests a set of reactive triggers has been developed for each asset category. These triggers are called intervention levels and include expected response times. The following tables detail the intervention levels and response times for maintenance of the car parks.

Car Park Intervention Levels Potholes less than 75 mm deep, or less than 300mm diameter

Corrective weeks

action

taken

within

Potholes greater than 75 mm deep, or greater than 300mm diameter

Corrective action taken within 2 days

Graffiti

Remove within 2 working days

Vandalism/breakage

Repair within 2 working days

Rubbish/illegal dumping

Remove within 3 working days

Missing/damaged signs

Replaced within 1 month

2

Condition Assessment Inspection Regime The condition and risk of the car park network will be assessed simultaneously as part of the Condition Inspection Regime. This inspection will audit the condition of each car park against the Condition Rating Reference Sheet and also assess the risk based on location and usage. The entire car park network will be audited every year.

The inspections will be in the form of a GPS audit routine for all car parks in the Wagga Wagga LGA. The inspections will identify:    

areas of damage untidiness graffiti and faded line marking

Ad hoc inspections will be conducted in response to customer requests, on a needs basis and where the asset degrades due to un-foreseen or unusual circumstances, like a storm event. These inspections are done onsite by trained Surveillance Officers and the results are captured in Council’s electronic mapping system (ArcGIS).

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Car Parks 3

Life Cycle Management

Life cycle management details how Council plans to manage and operate the asset category at the agreed level of service while minimising life cycle costs throughout the useful life of the asset.

For most local government assets there are four key phases to the life cycle, namely: acquisition, operation and maintenance, renewal, and disposal.

Costs occur in each phase of the asset life cycle. It is important to attribute these life cycle costs to each phase to allow for effective decision making about how the asset will be managed.

The life cycle costs of assets include:       

initial capital investment operation and maintenance refurbishment and renewal administration, overheads and taxes depreciation capital use rate charges or rate of return and disposal of the asset at the end of its useful life

The initial capital or investment cost of a new asset is a significant cost and often dominates the decision as to whether to acquire the asset or expand the infrastructure network. However, it is important to include all the costs associated with each phase of the asset life cycle, including ongoing operation and maintenance, future renewal and disposal.

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Car Parks Target Maintenance Events The following table details the target maintenance events associated with car parks annually.

Car park Target Maintenance Events Event Target Maintenance Events per Year Grading unsealed car parks Once per year

Renewal A detailed work plan for the renewal of the car park network is developed annually to support this Asset Management Plan. This renewal program is prioritised based on condition and risk.

Disposal Currently, Council includes the cost to dispose of an asset in the unit rate of that asset type. As Council moves towards strategic asset management this cost will be captured separately. The Asset Management Plan will be updated to reflect this change as it occurs across the asset types.

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Car Parks 4

Level of Service

The Asset Management Plan for 2011 has been developed based on data collation, research outcomes and the results of Council’s internal stakeholder engagement process.

The next stage of the process is to ask the community to identify which asset condition is satisfactory to them. This will begin with an extensive community consultation process. The consultation will be in the form of a community survey which will be conducted online, at community gatherings, through focus groups and stakeholder meetings. The survey will use new technology, be based on images and a simple selection process. The outcomes of the consultation will form the foundation for true community engagement to occur in relation to the management of infrastructure across the Wagga Wagga LGA, in particular the development of agreed levels of service, supported by Council and the community.

As Council gathers data from the community about the level of service for each asset category the outcomes will be integrated into the Asset Management Plan.

Until the outcomes of the community engagement are known Council will provide costings to achieve an average condition for each asset category and use this as the satisfactory level of service.

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Financial Considerations

The following graph details the proportion of the car park network in each condition.

Council’s current liability in relation to the infrastructure network is the sum of all asset units which have a condition rating of poor and very poor. The current liability of the car park network is estimated to be $137,000 (in 2010 dollars). The following table provides the details of the car park network current liability.

Asset Condition 4 – Poor 5 – Very Poor Total Current Liability

Amount

Estimated Cost in 2010 dollars

21,684m2

$137,000

0

0

21,684m2

$137,000

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Car Parks Projected Annual Maintenance Costs For Council to achieve the intervention levels as detailed in Section 3 of this Asset Management Plan and the target maintenance events as detailed in Section 3, the projected annual maintenance budget for car parks is estimated to be $105,733 (in 2010 dollars). This estimate was developed by Council’s Asset Management Planning and Program Integration Teams in 2010. It is a first principle estimate and is expected to vary as Council improves its asset management process and strategies. The following table provides further details of the maintenance costs associated with maintaining the car park network each year: Car park Network Projected Annual Maintenance Costs Event Projected Annual Maintenance Sign maintenance $7,500 Pothole patching $51,237 Sweeping $33,672 Restitching shade sails $4,000 Grading unsealed car parks $8,822 Fettling unsealed car parks $503

Required Increase to Annual Maintenance Budget per Additional Unit As the asset base increases it is important to ensure that the annual maintenance budget also increases. The following table details how much per unit the annual maintenance budget for the car park network should increase as it expands.

Required Increase to Maintenance Budget for Car Parks Car Park Type

Maintenance Costs per Year per Car Park

Concrete sealed car parks

$144 per car park plus $0.26 per sqm and $200 per shade sail

Sealed car parks

$144 per car park plus $0.66 per sqm and $200 per shade sail

Unsealed car parks

$144 per car park plus $0.41 per sqm and $200 per shade sail

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Assumptions

There are some generic assumptions made in the management of assets in Wagga Wagga City Council, these are found in the Asset Management Plan.

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