Mosman Council considers boat trailer permit scheme, designated parking zones for owners

A top Mosman chef has lashed a proposal to turn sections of a public carpark into a boat trailer parking zone as part of a council plan to stop trailers cluttering local streets.

Boat trailer owners could soon have to fork out hundreds of dollars a year to park in Mosman after relentless complaints from residents about bulky trailers blocking driveways and cluttering the area.

A new digital boat trailer parking permit scheme and designated boat trailer parking zones are among measures Mosman Council is considering to address the proliferation of trailers being left in residential areas.

The measures are included in a draft strategy which also proposes allowing local boat owners to park their trailers in front of their homes.

Boat trailers have caused complaints from residents in Mosman.

Current state government laws state boat trailers must not be parked longer than the 28 day time frame – after which they must be moved past the nearest cross street.

Failure to comply can lead to boats being impounded.

Council figures show local rangers carried out 380 boat trailer investigations from 2019 to 2022 – resulting in 280 boat trailer notices issued to Mosman residents along with 75 to owners outside the local government area.

Mosman councillor Libby Moline said the sight of trailers lining local streets has been a long-running issue for many residents.

Boat trailers are currently required to be moved every 28 days.

“Some of the trailers are enormous and when they have boats on them they can encroach onto the road and cause safety issues,” she said.

“Often they’re left in a single location for months on end and the problem is when you do manage to move one on, they just go somewhere else so all we’re doing is shifting the problem elsewhere.

“It’s also a time wasting exercise for rangers having to walk around the whole of Mosman trying to work out which trailers have moved and which ones haven’t. It frustrates everyone”

The council has investigated hundreds of boat trailer complaints over the last three years.

A council report shows the permit scheme could cost local boat trailer owners $616 per year, while non-locals could be forced to cough up $2124 per year.

Potential sites for designated boat trailer zones have been proposed for sections of Sirius Cove Rd, Avenue Rd, along with 35 parking spaces at Parriwi Rd and 10 at the nearby Spit West car park.

Alessandro Pavoni, owner of the Ormeggio at The Spit, said he was opposed to any loss of valuable carparking spaces in the area.

Alessandro Pavoni said the measures could impact his business.

“Most of our customers park there on the weekend and there’s also the sailing club, sporting events – the carpark already gets full – and a lot of our customers ring up and say they can’t come for their booking because they can’t find a carpark,” he said.

“I don’t see why if someone has a boat they need to put it in a council carpark. It doesn’t solve the issue.”

Mosman Council said the strategy would only apply to boats under 7.5m in length, with all those larger only allowed to park in residential areas for a minimum of one hour.

Surveys conducted by the council show about 27 per cent of trailers on roads are currently owned by residents from outside the local government area.

The draft strategy is due to be considered at this week’s traffic committee meeting and if supported would be tabled to a future council meeting for further discussion.