Parking after Five Storey Development

The Shire's new Amended Housing Strategy shows the plan for Beecroft Village, with the entire area being rezoned for five storey development. One assumes the single level of underground car parking beneath each new building will service the residents and shops and offices in the five storeys above, but not provide any parking spaces for the rest of the area.

At yesterday's Public Meeting about the rezoning of Beecroft Village, nothing was said about parking. However it was suggested that The Module could be the first place to be redeveloped. Yet the area above and around The Module provides approximately 100 car parking spots, which are used by customers of all the businesses of beecroft, not just those using The Module. So what happens to those other businesses while The Module is being bulldozed and rebuilt?

I asked Councillor Hutchence for his views on this and he responded:

"In progressing this or any other strategy it is up to us (the Shire) to ensure any DCP/Masterplan for the area does not make parking any worse than it currently is and if anything improve it. What some people may not realise is that if an entire area is marked for redevelopment it gives us the perfect opportunity to fix a number of issues such as parking, for example it may be appropriate to use some of the development space to widen Beecroft Road, it may be appropriate for us to demand public parking as per any DA which may be proposed for the site etc."

I suppose we just have to hope the Shire can hold back the stampede of developers until that master plan is completed and approved by the community.