An artist’s impression of the Kiama Village Shopping Centre carpark from the DA lodged ahead of the 2023 upgrade. Photo: ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects.
All-day free parking at Kiama Village Shopping Centre will soon become a thing of the past with Kiama Council approving the application for a new number plate reader and boom gate system designed to deter non-customers from taking up spaces needed by those wanting to access the shops.
A proposal for new ticketless carpark management for the Terralong Street shopping complex will finally be implemented after months of being knocked back by Kiama Municipal Council amid concerns of congestion, chaos and unfair costs.
The site operators finally convinced councillors the move was not a cash grab.
“It’s not about income for us; it’s about a deterrent for people parking there all day,” Woolworths Group Property Development State Manager Wesley Dose said. “The revenue is irrelevant to us.
“If we try to make money out of the shopping centre or a carpark system like this all we’re going to do is deter our customers, which is the community coming to our shopping centre, and that’s not what we want to do.”
The group agreed to extend an initially proposed two-hour free parking period to three hours, with staff working at the centre to be allowed to stay beyond that threshold without incurring costs.
“90 per cent of customers that use that carpark are actually there for less than three hours so this should have minimal effect on most people,” Wesley said.
“As part of our proposal those people (staff) will be able to continue to park there for longer periods of time; they’ll have a pass to get in and out.”
The motion was passed by council six votes to three, with those in favour of approving the application like Councillor Mike Cains satisfied the applicant was acting in good faith.
“This is not some sort of slippery slope towards paid parking for the entire district,” Cr Cains said. “This is simply the owner of the building wanting to ensure that people wanting to shop, can shop.”
But some, like Councillor Imogen Draisma opposed the idea, given the effort being invested into an issue that was identified as only impacting a minimal number of the population.
“I just can’t support something that just seems to be wasting a lot of people’s time,” Cr Draisma said. “It costs a lot of money for them to put in a boom gate to stop people who are definitely not parking beyond three hours from parking at the centre.
“It just seems quite ridiculous and I think it sets a pretty negative precedent for the community about how we manage parking matters at the centre and elsewhere in the LGA.”
The new system will use number plate readers to monitor how long vehicles park for, with the entry boom gate to always be open during operating hours.
Wesley said the organisation could also explore allowing the utilisation of the carpark on special occasions outside of this to help the community during major events like New Year’s Eve celebrations.
The potential for faster EV charging was also flagged, so shoppers aren’t forced to pay parking fees because their vehicles aren’t charging quickly enough.
“For a regional location like this we have seen a desire for more fast chargers for people who may be stopping by on the way through on a longer journey or something like that and want to do some shopping get more substantial charge during that time,” Wesley added.
While Wesley said there would be minimal disruptions to the street, the group is looking to make some changes to the carpark to make visibility and access easier and safer.
“When you come to the top carpark that is a bit of a blind spot when you come around the bend there so we’re looking at pulling that wall back and lowering the height and those sort of things,” Wesley said.
“They’re all feedback points that we’ve received from the community and we’re really keen on getting this right for the longer term.”
