A car park in North Hobart has been approved after ‘frustrating’ delay
A new car park is set to be built in North Hobart after a development application was approved on Monday. Owner of the lot shares his thoughts on the development process. FULL STORY >>
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A new car park will be built in North Hobart after a development application was approved on Monday, but the owner of the lot says the process has been too slow.
Quinten Villanueva said his family suggested the land be used as a carpark back in 2018.
He said the progress to get to the point of approval had been slow.
“To see it was stagnant without anything happening for sometime was quite frustrating,” Mr Villanueva said.
“If it were not for the new CEO and newly appointed director, I fear that this proposal would never have come to fruition and the North Hobart precinct would have continued to decay.”
Mr Villanueva said when he asked what the hold up was, he was told Covid was to blame.
“My family own the property so we leased that to council in 2019 so they could redevelop it as a public carpark.
“They’ve been paying rent since 2019 and the car park hasn’t been used.”
He also said the was a personal reason he wanted to see something built.
“My family and my wife’s family, they were first generation Greek migrants, they owned the first fish and chip shop in North Hobart.
“This was part of their legacy.
“I’d hoped before they passed away, they’d be able to see this redeveloped and cement their legacy in the precinct.
Last year North Hobart shop owners and restaurateurs voiced concerns around the lack of parking spaces after new meters were installed along the strip.
Hobart City Ald Marti Zucco said while the development would only provide 35 car spaces, it would have made a difference to the community if approved earlier.
“This is one component to solving the problem, it’s only 35 extra spaces, there’s a lot more that need to be done to solve the problems for the residents and traders,” he said.
“The question is why was it held up and who held it up.”
Mr Zucco said the longer it stalled, the higher the cost to ratepayers.
“The council has had to pay a lease on this property since we signed the contract with the owners in which it was a waste of ratepayer funds
“The cost to the ratepayers would be in their thousands.”
Hobart lord mayor Anna Reynolds said part of the delay came from the rezoning process.
“This project has been unanimously supported by all elected members and of course its disappointing that the Tasmanian Planning Commission process to rezone this land takes a long time,” Ms Reynolds said.
“I know council staff have worked hard to progress this and many other council projects through difficult years, it’s disappointing to see parties that will ultimately benefit from this project lashing out unfairly on council staff.”
FREE PARKING: Candidate’s radical idea to get city moving
A Hobart City alderman who is running for mayor wants to completely overhaul Hobart’s parking system to offer free on street parking in the CBD.
Marti Zucco wants to make parking free for the first hour on all on street spaces which are currently metered.
Under his idea, the council would use sensors to track how long a car is in a space and charge drivers $5 for staying in the space for longer than the allocated time of the space, with a grace period of three minutes.
“Once the $5 is charged for the first hour, if the vehicle is not moved within 10 minutes of an overstay, another $10 is charged for an overstay with no immediate fine.
“This is similar in an off streetcar park. The longer you stay, the more you pay.
He said after another ten minutes, cars would receive a fine.
In the last 12 months, the City of Hobart raised more than $1.75m from parking metres in the CBD and in Salamanca.
It also collected $2.2m in fines in the same areas over the same time frame.
Mr Zucco said his idea could mean a potential loss in revenue, but the idea would encourage more shoppers in Hobart.
“The City of Hobart should embrace shoppers to come to the CBD and move in and out of the city to conduct business,: he said.
“Every dollar spent in our city is a dollar well spent.”
Mr Zucco also said revenue raised from street parking should be used to pay for city infrastructure.
He said the council should also invest in new parking meters.
“Hobart ended up with dud meters,” Mr Zucco said.
“I say this because many of the meters have a very small screen, many in black and white, and when the sun shines, on can barely read them.
“The to actually pay for parking it’s like watching grass grow.
“The meters in Melbourne, they are fast with larger screens.”
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