Two proposed government agency buildings slated for Morwell’s Princes Drive could leave people scrambling for limited car parks, according to Latrobe City councillors.
Council received an application for a Support and Safety Hub at 161-163 Princes Drive, the former Furniture One site, but deferred a decision until they could properly ascertain its impact on surrounding parking spaces.
Councillors were also concerned about the potential impact on surrounding parking of a second proposed government hub that would employ 300 people.
Cr Graeme Middlemiss said he understood that the state government had also purchased the neighbouring block to build a GovHub that was promised last year as part of a local transition plan.
“This [Support and Safety Hub] proposal on Princes Drive will cut out half of the available parking on the north of Princes Drive. It will force the closure of a large, private car park there at the moment and move 30 to 40 cars out into the street,” Cr Middlemiss said.
“If we allow this proposal to proceed with the current parking plan, we will end up with parking chaos in that area.”
At Latrobe City’s May meeting on Monday, Cr Middlemiss called for the Latrobe Valley Authority, VicTrack and other government agencies to discuss how to solve parking problems in relation to the two developments.
The proposed Support and Safety Hub would include 66 work spaces with 32 parking spaces but the applicant has applied to drop 12 of these car parks from its plans.
There are 90 on-street car parks in the vicinity to the proposed development which is also within 200 metres of the train station.
Cr Alan McFarlane stressed that he supported the need for a Support and Safety Hub but said there needed to be “a coordinated approach to parking”.
He said he was concerned that if the development got a green light, it could mean only 30 car parks were left on the street without room to move for future developments such as the GovHub.
Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing said she wanted to see council make a prompt decision about these developments.
She said a developer and site for the GovHub would be revealed in coming weeks. “I would like to see council’s cooperation to expedite planning approvals to enable incredibly important infrastructure investment to proceed, that will deliver jobs for the Valley,” Ms Shing said.
