Parking Gold Coast: Boat and Caravan owners the target of new council parking crackdown

Boat and caravan owners who leave their pride and joy on the streets outside their house are in the crosshairs of Gold Coast City Council who have warned residents to keep their “big toys” in the garage.

THE council will launch a massive crackdown on the parking of caravans, trailers and boats on Gold Coast streets warning residents to “keep your big toys in your garage”.

Legal changes introduced by council could also prevent residents from moving their boats onto their front yards and enable officers to enforce multiple fines on repeat offenders.

Deputy Mayor Donna Gates has led the push for the crackdown and at a transport committee meeting successfully moved to have officers fast forward a report before Christmas.

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Deputy Mayor Donna Gates says on-street parking is “a joke”. Photo by Richard Gosling.

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Officers are seeking to frame a law which will prevent registered trailers, boats and caravans of an overall length of less than 7.5m being parked on streets for extended periods.

Cr Gates told the meeting her first concern was safety rather than amenity, aware that a young boy from Highland Reserve at Upper Coomera was “knocked over because he darted out behind one of those long trailers”.

“People are parking their massive boats everywhere. It’s absolutely out of control. People should not have to live with that sort of amenity in their street anyway. There’s plenty of storage places. It’s a joke,” she said.

Officers confirmed the laws had been changed by the State Government after a decision by the Ombudsman which enabled vehicles under 7.5m to be parked on local streets.

Council transport committee chair Pauline Young who has personally intervened after complaints and been unsuccessful in removing boats from streets urged residents to “keep their toys in their garage”.

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Councillor Pauline Young has warned locals to “keep your big toys in garage”. Photo: Jerad Williams.

“We spend our whole life telling our kids pick up your stuff and put it back in your room, the people who are purchasing their additional vehicles are storing them on the roads, and the roads are for public use,” she said.

“I think the biggest bugbear I get in my division, and I know it is in other divisions too, is the ones that don’t move. They’re there for a year, they are there for nine months and then they go away for a long weekend and store it on public roadways for 11 and a half months for a year.”

Boats are eligible for parking permits under council’s new parking scheme. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Cr Young told the Bulletin the challenge for council in policing the parking was at least half the garages in the city were full of storage or had become kids’ rooms.

“People aren’t using their garages for garaging of vehicles. They’re putting their own vehicles in the streets, and their toys as well. It’s a problem that got out of hand,” she said.

Veteran councillor Dawn Crichlow said the council was not easing the problem by approving for massage parlours to operate from garages.

“I think the biggest problem is we can only book them once and they can stay there for a year. If we can book them more often they won’t stay on the road,” Cr Crichlow said.

Council is cracking down on boats being left on the street. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Robina-based councillor Hermann Vorster cautioned that boats were eligible for parking permits under council’s new parking scheme.

“We may need to contemplate further changes to the local law that deal with parking permits that we have only just endorsed, because we’ve permitted it,” he said.

Cr Vorster said council officers had responded to complaints about boats parked in narrow streets in his division by conducting a doorknock with mixed results.

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Boats and caravans parked in West Burleigh and Miami suburbs. Picture: Tertius Pickard

“The boats have now ended up past the letter box on people’s front yards. Totally outside of our jurisdiction,” he said.

“It’s an interesting one, moving boats off of the street because some residents in Division 11 have happily moved their boats in front of their bedroom windows. We’ve ended up with no net gain to amenity. We’ve ended up with a boat yard on private property.”

Cr Vorster foreshadowed further talks with council officers where he would move to stop unregistered vehicles being kept on properties.

“We are getting a proliferation of unregistered car wrecks. They’re essentially turning a home into a wrecking yard,” he said.