A 12-MONTH trial of first-hour free parking in Launceston City Council-owned multi-storey car parks has been recommended not to go ahead due to the cost.
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A decision on the matter will go before the aldermen at Monday’s meeting.
General manager Robert Dobrzynski, facilities management director Rod Sweetnam and acting parking and Carr Villa manager Melissa Carlton made the recommendation.
Their 10 reasons for not recommending it include an expected revenue loss of $720,000, that other services or projects would need to be cut to make this up and that two hours of free parking (3.30pm to 5.30pm) is already offered each day.
As it is, the report states that the most recent shop vacancy survey in the central business district, found 65 shops, or 13.7 per cent, empty in the Cityprom area.
And although some traders felt a trial would draw shoppers back to the CBD, the report states a previous one run over seven months in 2006 did see an increase in people using the car parks but they also left within the free period.
In June, the council, following discussions with Cityprom, was set to consider a Super Tuesday, offering one hour of free parking between 1pm and 6pm.
However, a decision on this was deferred when a member of Cityprom, Jim Hughes and Sons’ Robert Turner, said the trial was doomed before it began, as a survey he conducted showed many wanted it to be a daily offer.
Mr Turner said yesterday the council staff argument for not recommending the trial was pathetic.
‘‘How many empty shops do we need before they do something?’’ he said. Mr Turner said businesses would only suffer further if nothing was done and appealed to the aldermen to vote against this recommendation.