Paid parking is being considered as an option to relieve rising congestion in the Werribee city centre.
Wyndham council is surveying residents about their parking habits and asking the best ways to manage car parking in the area, including their views on paid parking.
The results of the survey will be used to develop the council’s new city centre parking strategy.
As well as the possibility of paid parking, council chief executive Kerry Thompson said a range of options was being investigated as part of the parking strategy.
“Paid parking will be one of the many methods looked at as part of the process,” she said.
“Wyndham City welcomes the views of the community on paid parking and all parking issues to help inform the development of the parking strategy.”
The survey comes three months after the council bought the former site of Werribee Hyundai on Cherry Street to use as a
carpark.
The council says the 3200-square-metre block will most likely be used initially as a single-storey carpark.
But the exact nature of the park and what happens in the longer term will be informed by the parking strategy.
“No decision has been made in relation to paid car parking on the former Hyundai site or other parking areas in the city centre,” Ms Thompson said.
“Paid parking can play a role in the management of car parking, but there are other options to consider.”
Werribee Chamber of Commerce president Tonia Tribe fears the parking shortage is turning people away from the city centre.
“There just isn’t enough [car parking],” she said.
“You wonder if people avoid coming into Werribee because they know it’s difficult to find a carpark … and that’s unfortunate.”
Last year, a group of Watton Street landowners joined forces to urge the council to act “sooner rather than later and build a multi-storey car park in Comben Drive”.
