Bellarine Ti Times mes
Tuesday 20 September 2011
VOL 4. No 38
www.bellarinetimes.com.au
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C O U TA G LO RY ! It’s over! Queenscliff Football Club ended its 36-year premiership drought with an emphatic 39-point victory over Geelong Amateurs on Saturday. “We had worked really hard to get into the grand final and there was massive hype before the game, so to be able to handle that pressure and win the flag is a massive effort by the by the boys. Saturday was just reward for months and months of hard work.” - COACH HEATH JAMIESON
FULL STORY PAGE 106
NO PARKING Photo: PETER MARSHALL
Inadequate parking in Drysdale needs innovative solutions to fix the problem
BY DAVID FINLAYSON
CAR PARKING across the retail and business centre of Drysdale is inadequate to cater for the rapidly growing demand and potentially unsafe in its current design, according to the Committee for Bellarine. Committee representatives met last week with City of Greater Geelong officers to again highlight the problem and urge council to consider solutions. Committee for Bellarine executive director, Tom O’Connor, said there needed to be an examination of the entire parking issue in Drysdale. He said innovative approaches such as a community-style bus service to the shopping centre needed to be considered as part of any solution. “This is about the long-term planning to cater for the population and housing growth that we are
Su rf Forecast
seeing in Drysdale and surrounding areas,” he said. “It’s also about the design, practicality and adequacy of existing parking areas.” Mr O’Connor said the parking needs of those who worked within the Drysdale retail area also needed to be considered. “Consideration needs to be given to the safety of shoppers and to minimising the risk to shop owners and to improving access for the elderly and disabled,” he said. “For example, the dead-end section of Wyndham Street near the supermarket needs to be totally reconsidered. “At the moment there’s a mix of disabled and commercial vehicle parking in a confined little area with practically no room for either to manoeuvre safely.
“It’s impossible to turn a vehicle clearly in that confined area, with trucks and cars parked on either side. The shop owners have witnessed many accidents where cars have collided or taken out the bollards and mounted the footpath. “They have legitimate fears for the safety of shoppers and concerns of damage to actual shops themselves. “It’s only a matter of time before there is a very serious accident,” he said. Mr O’Connor said private land for parking in the immediate area needed to be secured to ensure future parking demand could be accommodated. He said he expected that council would produce a range of options for improvements to parking patterns and design in the area, which would then be publicly advertised to seek community and business comment.
CoGG manager engineering services David Hannah said that over the next three weeks council would review the parking arrangements in Wyndham Street. “We will also look at parking occupancy in that precinct,” he said. “Once complete we will be returning to the Committee for Bellarine with the findings of this review.” Earlier this year the committee also advocated for improved parking in Drysdale as part of a wider examination of traffic and retail centre parking issues across the Bellarine generally. Mr O’Connor said his committee continued to push the issue because it receives “constant complaints about the lack of parking in the shopping precinct”.
WED 2-4ft Inconsistent WSW 18º THU 3-6ft Easing WNW 18º FRI 3-4ft+ Clean W 18º SAT 2-3ft Easing N 23º
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