Not enough car parks for units

ALMA Street residents are worried a revised application for a multi residential housing development in their street will endanger the lives of children.

ALMA Street residents are worried a revised application for a multi residential housing development in their street will endanger the lives of children.

Residents had fought against a proposed boarding house development in the street last year but now the developer has revised his application and is seeking approval to build a 12 unit complex on the site.

Concerned resident Andrew McLaughlin said the new application would not have enough car parks on site to ensure the safety of children at the nearby community kindergarten.

He says the extra traffic from the development would increase an already problematic parking situation.

“The main problem is council is considering relaxing the onsite parking requirements,” Mr McLaughlin said.

He said the town plan recommended the development should have 1.5 car parking spaces per unit on site, which was 18 car parks.

“If council relaxes that, it will exacerbate parking problems in the street,” he said.

“It is chaos at kindy pick up and drop off time and this development will only make things worse.

“The street is narrow, uneven, has concealed entries and poor visibility for parents picking up children. There is insufficient space for two cars to pass safely when vehicles are parked on either side of the street. There are no clear speed restrictions or traffic calming devices.

“Any increases in street parking places children and guardian at further risk,” he said.

Mr McLaughlin said he was not against multi-unit developments in the area but they needed to be planned properly and have adequate parking and access.

He said the traffic report given to council was misleading. Alma Street pre-prep school has 500 signatures on a petition to stop the development in the street and is hoping the Gympie Regional Council will think hard before giving the development the go ahead.

Originally published as Not enough car parks for units