The angled parking spots on Meninya St will remain.
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
During Murray River Council’s January meeting, Meninya St business owners successfully pleaded their case to retain angled street parking.
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Parking has been an ongoing concern for the business owners after council proposed to remove the parking spots as part of the wider Meninya St Precinct Project.
Before the motion was put to a vote, Cr Geoff Wise stressed the necessity of the parking spots for the businesses.
“The current plan in place for the streetscape of Meninya St will have a dramatic flow-on effect on moving customers away from retailers who currently exist and rely on parking in close proximity to satisfy their customers’ needs,” he said.
“If we lose our retailers in the area and we have vacant shops, no-one [will want] to come.
“We need those parking spots desperately... we really, really need these guys to survive.”
Business owners said the parking spots were vital to their success.
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
The motion was unanimously supported by all councillors, earning applause from the business owners who attended the meeting.
Moama Bakery owner David Wegner said the businesses were happy with the result.
“It was fantastic, it was a great result for everyone,” he said.
“We were very delighted that the council have listened and voted in favour of revisiting the plans to retain our angled parking.
“I spoke on behalf of the traders and got the main points across, which was to retain the angled parking and that we are all for the beautification of Meninya St, but not to the detriment of our trade.”
Meninya St business owners were happy with the result.
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
During the meeting, Mr Wegner estimated the removal of the angled parking would result in 60 per cent less traffic along Meninya St and an estimated 50 per cent drop in turnover for his business.
Other businesses along Meninya St also rely on the accessibility of the parking spots for their customers, such as the Moama Washouse where customers need to carry laundry to and from.
Mayor John Harvie said the decision took into consideration all those affected by the removal of the parking spots.
“Following further discussions with the local business community and consideration of the concerns of over 700 community members provided by way of a petition, council determined that replacing angle parking with parallel parking would be detrimental to local businesses, the elderly and those with a disability,” he said.
Moving forward, council plans to develop an updated streetscape plan that will keep all existing angled parking spaces.
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