Yarra Council pushes on with parking cash grab

Yarra Council is moving ahead with its controversial plan to slug cafes and bars $5000 for outdoor dining after a deciding vote by the mayor.

Yarra City Council has again pushed forward with its controversial plan to charge businesses up to $5000 to convert car parks into outdoor dining areas.

During a heated meeting on Tuesday night in which councillors, Yarra residents and business owners clashed over the proposal, the council remained divided over the plan which would determined how much businesses paid for a ‘parklet’ depending on what type of street they were on.

The council was deadlocked, four votes for and four votes against, the plan with Mayor Gabrielle de Vietri casting her deciding vote in favour of upholding the motion.

Cr de Vietri proposed an alternative motion that would maintain a layered fee system that would take into account the state government’s announcement that $54 million would be added to the Small Business COVID Hardship Fund.

“There is a motion that comes after this, that we’ll see fees waived until June, but not the entire destruction of the scheme and the certainty of the future of the program,” Cr de Vietri said.

“That really is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

“And it’s totally unnecessary.

“It denies local businesses the certainty that they need to make an informed decision about taking part (in the parklet scheme).”

Councillor Stephen Jolly had put a motion to waive all parklet fees until July in a bid to secure state government funding following fears businesses would miss out.

But Cr de Vietri said: “This motion seems to contribute to an unfair attack on the council rife with misinformation and it’s disguised now behind a funding announcement, and further whipping up fears of ineligibility.”

Cr Jolly, who voted against the plan, said the current fee structure was a “regressive” approach that would slow down the recovery of local businesses.

“People have talked about certainty for businesses,” he said.

“Let’s look at certainty. It’s certain that we won’t get the money ... if we don’t lift the fees.

“If you’re a cafe on a major street, a small cafe on a major street like say Brunswick St, Smith St, you will pay more money for your parklets than if you’re a massive pub on a side street, that’s not a progressive fee.

“That’s a regressive fee.”

Katie Marron of Miss Katie's Crab Shack. Picture: Mark Stewart

Hospitality worker at Fitzroy eatery Miss Katie’s Crab Shack, Ellie Fenton, said the fee system was unfair and could spell the end of many businesses.

“This tier fee structure could see the downfall of small businesses,” she said.

“You’ve got rideshare companies such as GoGet only paying a few hundred dollars a year for the same type of space on tier one streets,” she said.

The council sparked widespread condemnation this month after passing a motion to charge businesses up to $5000 to convert a single car space into a dining area.

The move was slammed by businesses, ratepayers, the state government and federal senator Jane Hume who called on the council to reverse its decision.

While celebrated as a “huge step” for business by Yarra’s mayor, irate business owners dubbed the move a greedy cash grab.

The council had been forced to wind back the plan or forfeit its share of a $54 million business support package to help businesses set up outdoor spaces announced by the state government on Monday.

Small Business minister Jaala Pulford warned the business grants would only be provided where councils guaranteed not to increase fees on participating businesses.

“Last year there was one council that was, perhaps, a little less enthusiastic about supporting their local traders than the rest, and this year we’ve had the same. But these are, thankfully, really isolated incidents,” Ms Pulford said.

“Overwhelmingly councils have been very supportive. Government’s across the world have had to do some very significant things to support communities, health systems and businesses throughout this extraordinary 20 months.”