New 30 minute parking zones are set to be implemented along Russell Street at Emu Plains, pending consent from police and the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).
Penrith Councillor Marcus Cornish sparked the discussion of half an hour parking on both the east and west sides of Russell Street, and also suggested leaving out a no stopping zone on the street.
“Once it went to unrestricted parking, there was an issue with one of the business owners using it as private all day parking,” he said.
“If you go 15 minutes then people will overstay. I want half an hour on both sides so business owners can’t park on the side of the road for free advertising.”
Cr Cornish said car users can access food at lunch time by parking in the fast food restaurant parking, but trucks don’t have the same luxury.
“A lot of trucks come along there because they’ve got the quarries down the end of the road, and a 30 minute limit stops someone parking there all day allowing different cars, large and small trucks or people with trailers,” he said.
“This is a matter for helping shopkeepers and ‘truckies’ that want to stop and get lunch and want to do it legally.”
Changes to the no stopping signs on the western side of the street would allow an extra seven metres of parking across a service station’s old driveway.
Executive Manager for Environment and City Development, Wayne Mitchell, said Council’s technical officers initially voted for unrestricted parking due to heavy vehicles creating visibility issues as people tried to get out of driveways.
“Longer term parking was a safer outcome in terms of less turnover of vehicles in those areas,” he said.
Along with Councillors Karen Mckeown, Michelle Tormey and John Thain, Councillor Greg Davies voted against the amendment to half an hour parking and said that experts originally recommended unrestricted parking.
“I understand where some people might have concerns, but we have experts such as the police and the Roads and Maritime Services who are qualified to give us an answer,” he said.
Councillors voted to refer the option of 30 minute parking to the RMS and police for their consent. A decision will be made in due course.
– Dale Drinkwater
