HORSHAM council's "obsolete" parking meter infrastructure and city parking arrangements will be reviewed in a new plan.
Councillors endorsed the creation of a Parking Management Plan for the Horsham CBD at the council's January meeting on Tuesday.
The development of the plan will include a review of the council's current parking arrangements, infrastructure and operating financial model.
The review will look at parking occupancy rates; parking signage; disability parking provision, adequacy and location; longer vehicle parking adequacy and location; adequacy and location of all day parking for staff working in the CBD; and EASYPark and meter collection methods.
It will also look at short-term paid parking in the middle of the CBD and long-term free parking on the edge of the CBD.
In her report to the council, regulatory services manager Lauren Coman said council did not have a parking plan that could be renewed.
"Council's current parking meter infrastructure is obsolete and challenging to maintain," she said.
"The engagement outcomes report from the Horsham Urban Transport Plan identifies themes around parking that can be addressed through some further work in this project."
She said preparation of the plan would include "targeted and general community engagement".
Councillors unanimously passed a motion at Tuesday's meeting to give the development of the new parking plan the green light. Crs David Grimble and John Robinson were not present at the meeting.
Cr Pam Clarke said she supported the development of the plan.
"Having been on the parking committee on a number of occasions, we did projects ourselves where we looked at the traffic and had counts to see when the high usage times were," she said.
"We really tried to balance all the issues around parking, but I think this is a detailed look at the parking for our community and the infrastructure we have."
Councillor Josh Koenig said parking was a major concern for residents and that he was "looking forward to seeing some great solutions" come out of the plan.
Mayor Mark Radford said council looked into the possibility of a multi-storey carpark between 2009-10.
"We did a feasibility study into it, but there was a problem - it would have cost $8 per day to park in it," he said.
"Car parking is an ongoing issue. We have a strategy which says people who want to park for free can on the outskirts of the city, but people wanting to park in the city have to pay."
The council reviewed its parking strategy in 2016 which revealed that peak period parking occupancy was at 62 per cent. This was compared to the benchmark of 75 per cent occupancy set by other regional centres.
It was reported earlier this month that Horsham council had $2.817 million in its CBD development reserve - as of June 30, 2019 - from parking meter fees and fines.
Horsham council's Parking Management Plan is expected to be completed by June. The council budgeted $35,000 for the project.
What would you like to see in Horsham council's new parking plan?
Read council's full January agenda below:
While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox twice weekly from the Wimmera Mail-Times. To make sure you're up-to-date with all the news from across the Wimmera, sign up below.
