By Luke Voogt
Almost 300 mostly-vacant car parks will become available to the public after hours in a council trial beginning this month.
The trial comes after the Indy in September revealed the 292-space unreserved permit zone of Civic Centre Car Park was mostly empty during non-business hours.
Little Malop St restaurateur Milton Mavromoustakos was thrilled council would begin trialing the “common sense” solution on 16 December.
“We’re pretty impressed and pretty happy,” he said.
“Getting another 292 car spaces will resolve big, big problems. And with the festive season coming up a lot of people will be coming down.”
Mr Mavromoustakos had previously urged City Hall to open up the carpark, telling the Indy in September traders were losing customers struggling to find parking.
“It was a good win,” he said yesterday.
Currently the car park offers free parking after 6pm on weekdays and all day on Saturday and Sunday on its ground level.
But the unreserved permit car parks on the top three levels are off limits to motorists without a permit, despite being mostly vacant after hours.
Recent monitoring by City Hall found an average of 75 per cent of the unreserved permit car parks, about 220, were vacant after 6pm on weekdays.
Under the trial, City Hall will allow central Geelong visitors to use the 292 unreserved permit car parks between 6pm and close daily.
The car park closes at 11pm, Sunday to Wednesday, and 1.30am, Thursday to Saturday, according a council website.
Unreserved permit holders, motorists who pay for a permit but not a specific space, will retain exclusive use of the area outside these hours.
The extra free parking would benefit businesses that experience a surge in trade during the summer period, including restaurants, bars and cafes, councillor Eddy Kontelj said.
“Business owners in our laneways were very keen to see this change and I’m glad we’ve been able to make it happen,” the Brownbill ward councillor said.
Cr Kontelj said the “common sense, proactive move” would attract more central Geelong visitors without inconveniencing permit holders who predominantly use the spaces during working hours.
“This should also see the exciting transformation of our laneway precinct continue as new businesses recognise it as a great place to be, and the social scene will be abuzz, particularly over the festive season.”
The change would not affect reserved permit holders, who would maintain exclusive use of their space 24/7, according to City Hall.
