Mornington Peninsula defers decision on paid parking until after 2024 council elections
The local council is refusing to rule out charging $19.50 a day to park at beaches from Mt Eliza to Portsea despite a recent trial causing “total mayhem”.
South East
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The Mornington Peninsula has refused to rule out a “paywall” at bay beaches despite the “angst, confusion and total mayhem” caused by a recent paid parking trial.
Local councillors were on Tuesday expected to decide if the pilot, which charged visitors $6.20 an hour or $19.50 a day to park at Mornington, Flinders and Mt Eliza beaches, should be expanded.
Instead, they voted to defer their decision until after the council elections in October.
In the meantime, council officers would develop a paid parking policy for the shire.
The decision to defer was taken after meeting chair Mayor Simon Brooks chose not to allow a motion by deputy mayor Antonella Celi calling for paid parking to be abandoned.
Ms Celi said there was no support for paid parking in the community and the pilot had caused “angst, confusion and total mayhem”.
She said a deferral was “kicking the can down the road”.
However, Mr Brooks elected to allow another motion from councillor Despi O’Connor asking for a deferral.
Ms O’Connor said paid parking was needed to pay for coastal infrastructure and the extra services ratepayers funded for the eight million visitors the peninsula hosted each year.
Delaying a decision would allow the council to put in place what it had learnt from the trial and “move forward”, she said.
Mount Martha beach advocate Lisa Francis was appalled by the council’s “tone deaf timing”.
“The day after our beautiful coast was smashed, battered by storms with beaches disappearing, boat sheds collapsed and a fishing boat sunk, Mornington Peninsula Shire has the arrogance to pursue a zealous program of charging people to visit beaches that no longer exist or can’t be accessed,” Ms Francis said.
“What’s next? A visitor tax to enter and leave the peninsula?”
Mornington trader Paul Pingiaro was disappointed the councillors did not “make a solid decision now” instead of leaving businesses and residents in limbo.
However, he said the deferral was a “temporary win”.
“I’m hoping traders will now have a chance to have some proper input should the next council decide to proceed with paid parking,” he said.
Mr Pingiaro is standing for Tanti Ward in the upcoming council elections.
“Paid parking is very much still an election issue,” he said.
The deferral was narrowly passed by six votes to five.
Mayor Simon Brooks and councillors Despi O’Connor, Sarah Race, Debra Mar, Steve Holland and Kate Roper voted in favour.
Ms Race said the proposal “needs more time” and the council “can’t just throw it out”.
Councillors Susan Bissinger, Antonella Celi, Anthony Marsh, Lisa Dixon, David Gill and Anthony Marsh voted against the deferral.
Mr Marsh said the trial had “failed miserably” and he was “sorry and ashamed” by how paid parking had impacted businesses in Mornington and Flinders.
The cost of rolling out the scheme was also “mind boggling”, with projected figures revealing the council would have spend $18m and wait three years before making a cent, he said.
Ms Bissinger said paid parking would “take away a day at the beach” for families struggling to make ends meet during the cost of living crisis.
She did not support the “extremely exorbitant” $6.20 an hour parking fee and compared it to “putting a pay wall on community assets”.
The trial sites at Schnapper Point, Mornington, Sunnyside North Beach, Mt Eliza and Flinders Pier will be switched off at 8pm on Saturday, September 14.