Employees at the Wyndham Civic Centre in Werribee are parking in nearby residential streets, because the council’s carpark has reached capacity.
The council’s response – a proposal to introduce parking restrictions in two affected streets – has angered residents.
In a letter to households in Princes Court and Queens Court, the council says it plans to implement two-hour parking along one side of both streets, between 11am and 5pm on weekdays. The letter states the increased demand for parking was due to the civic centre carpark “having exceeded capacity”.
However residents say they do not want the restrictions.
They claim the parking issue only started about two months ago, when council workers started parking in their streets.
Kevin Ryan, who lives in Queens Court, said he believed the workers were parking in residential streets because the council had introduced time restrictions in part of the civic centre’s carpark.
Karen Ryan (no relation), who regularly visits her elderly aunt in Princes Court, has started a petition to stop the restrictions being introduced.
Residents of both affected streets have so far collected 40 signatures on the petition.
Ms Ryan said having council workers park on both sides of the courts was making it hard – and sometimes impossible – for other vehicles to get in and out, including ambulances, fire-trucks, tradespeople and delivery drivers.
She said that instead of introducing parking restrictions, the council should build more carparks for its employees, possibly in an area of open space which backs onto Princes Court.
The council’s city economy, innovation and liveability director Kate Roffey said there were no plans to build any more parking spaces for council staff at the civic centre.
Ms Roffey said there were about 370 parking spaces at the centre, with 65 of these reserved for council’s operational vehicles and about 300 spaces for staff and residents.
She said the council installed 37 new parking spaces last month and also reserved spots for carpool vehicles.
