Approach to fair parking in our main shopping and station areas

The supply and management of parking within the Ringwood Metropolitan Activity Centre has an important role to play in realising the vision of the Ringwood MAC. 

Parking cannot be viewed as a stand-alone issue but needs to be a key aspect of both transport and land use planning for the Ringwood MAC.

The Ringwood Central Activity District Parking Strategy 2009 lists a series of strategy policies and actions, to inform how:

• parking is considered for developments
• parking restrictions and controls are implemented and managed and where parking pressures have pushed beyond the defined activity centre boundaries
• parking permits are managed for these areas.

See the Ringwood Central Activity District Parking Strategy

At the May 2019 Federal Election there was a $30million commitment from the Coalition to build two new multilevel carparks that will serve:

• Ringwood Station - 482 spaces
• Heatherdale Station - 447 spaces.

Parking within the Croydon Major Activity Centre is generally shared between a wide range of users, therefore it is vital to ensure that parking in the centre is appropriately balanced to preserve the vibrancy of the area.

The Croydon Major Activity Centre Parking Strategy provides a range of policies and actions that address the current and future parking needs of the Activity Centre. The major focus of the Strategy is to ensure that car parking within the Activity Centre is appropriately balanced between the various user groups.

To achieve this, the Strategy lists parking hierarchies for on-street and off-street parking that establish a clear priority for the allocation of car parking spaces.

See the Croydon Major Activity Centre Parking Study & Strategy

At the May 2019 Federal Election there was a $15million commitment from the Coalition to build a new multilevel carpark with approximately 487 spaces that will serve Croydon Station.

The parking needs of shoppers and rail commuters impact the areas around the Ringwood East shops and station.

Parking in Ringwood East is mainly centred around the Ringwood East Station carparks, with large carparks off Railway Avenue and Patterson Street.

Along the shop side of Railway Avenue, there are predominantly angled 2P parking spaces.  There are also public carparks behind the IGA and next to the Scout Hall (off the laneway which can be accessed off Laurence Grove).  Most of the residential streets close to the station and shops have parking restrictions.  In terms of parking pressures, this area overlaps with the Maroondah Hospital area.

At the 2018 State Election the Labor Party committed $2million for carparking at Ringwood East Station.

Directly near commercial land use

When managing the parking in these areas, we first consider safety and the predominant land use, and then look at the following to decide the most appropriate parking restrictions.

In order of importance:

1. Accessible parking
2. Short-term parking (2P or less)
3. Loading zone requirements
4. Car share or alternative transport opportunities
5. Long-term trader parking
6. Long-term resident parking (where there is mixed use commercial/residential in a shopping centre)
7. Long-term commuter parking

Mostly residential

In areas that are mostly residential, or split between residential and another land use, the hierarchy for consideration is:

1. Car share opportunities
2. Resident parking, through short-term (2P or less) time-based restrictions with permits issued to residents exempting them from the restrictions, or resident permit zones where appropriate
3. Specific land use parking requirements other than residential
4. Long-term non-resident parking (including commuter)

Achieving a balance

To achieve a balance when applying these considerations, we also use the following management strategies:

• a mix of time-based restrictions (with permits potentially available to residents) and unrestricted areas.  This arrangement is warranted on busier roads, such as Dublin Road, or in streets where there are lots of units.
• exclusive Permit Zones or parking spots for Car Share
• targeted very short-term (less than 1P) time-based restriction (or other restrictions as required) to keep areas available at certain times of the day or evening
• No Stopping or part-time No Stopping zones

In these precincts, unless under special consideration, Council will only issue permits to single house residents.  See more information on Permits

Council officers may also consider event-type parking on a case-by-case basis, which may result in short term high demand for parking, or short-term changes to parking arrangements or parking allowances under traffic management.

The parking needs of shoppers and rail commuters impact the areas around the Heathmont shops and station.

Parking within the Heathmont shops and station area is generally confined to two distinct areas due to Canterbury Road and the Ringwood to Belgrave rail line forming natural physical barriers between the various parking areas. 

There is a large rail carpark off Heathmont Road and the residential streets near the station have a series of different parking restrictions. At the May 2019 Federal Election there was a $15million commitment from the Coalition to build a new multilevel carpark with approximately 300 spaces that will serve Heathmont Station.

Heathmont Shopping centre is split between three distinct areas, and each with its own carpark.  These carparks all have some form of parking restriction to enable continual turnover of shopping centre parking .

Directly near commercial land use

When managing the parking in these areas, we first consider safety and the predominant land use, and then look at the following to decide the most appropriate parking restrictions.

In order of importance:

1. Accessible parking
2. Short-term parking (2P or less)
3. Loading zone requirements
4. Car share or alternative transport opportunities
5. Long-term trader parking
6. Long-term resident parking (where there is mixed use commercial/residential in a shopping centre)
7. Long-term commuter parking

Mostly residential

In areas that are mostly residential, or split between residential and another land use, the hierarchy for consideration is:

1. Car share opportunities
2. Resident parking, through short-term (2P or less) time-based restrictions with permits issued to residents exempting them from the restrictions, or resident permit zones where appropriate
3. Specific land use parking requirements other than residential
4. Long-term non-resident parking (including commuter)

Achieving a balance

To achieve a balance when applying these considerations, we also use the following management strategies:

• a mix of time-based restrictions (with permits potentially available to residents) and unrestricted areas.  This arrangement is warranted on busier roads, such as Dublin Road, or in streets where there are lots of units.
• exclusive Permit Zones or parking spots for Car Share
• targeted very short-term (less than 1P) time-based restriction (or other restrictions as required) to keep areas available at certain times of the day or evening
• No Stopping or part-time No Stopping zones

In these precincts, unless under special consideration, Council will only issue permits to single house residents.  See more information on Permits

Council officers may also consider event-type parking on a case-by-case basis, which may result in short term high demand for parking, or short-term changes to parking arrangements or parking allowances under traffic management.

Parking can greatly impact the area around Maroondah Hospital.

Based on existing restrictions and past parking issues, the precinct can extend as far as 500m from the hospital.

At times, this precinct can overlap with the Ringwood East shops and station parking precinct, and includes the special care facilities in Bona Street and Patterson Street, the Old Lilydale Road Shops, and a kindergarten in Everard Road.

A map of the area is shown below.

In managing these streets and the areas for which Council is responsible, we apply a hierarchy of considerations to guide the most appropriate parking controls.

In areas directly next to the hospital and special care facilities, in order, the hierarchy for consideration will be:

1. Resident Parking (through time based restrictions, with permits issued to residents exempting them from the restrictions)
2. Short-term (2P or less) to medium term parking (4P), with medium term parking focused on higher order roads, such as Mt Dandenong Road and Eastfield Road
3. Long-term parking.

In residential areas in order, the hierarchy for consideration will be:

1. Resident Parking (through time based restrictions, with permits issued to residents exempting them from the restrictions, or resident permit systems where appropriate)
2. Visitor and short-term parking (2P or less)
3. Long-term Parking

See more information on Permits

Council favours resident parking in this precinct on the basis that it is unreasonable for all available on-street parking in the precinct to be mainly occupied by people working at or attending the hospital.

The Old Lilydale Road shops precinct sits with the Maroondah Hospital precinct.  In order, the hierarchy for consideration is:

1. Protection of environmental areas within road reservations
2. Accessible parking
3. Loading
4. Short-term parking (2P or less)
5. Medium-term parking (4P)
6. Trader parking.

The State Government will be constructing a new parking facility at the hospital that will provide an extra 500 spaces. Once completed, Council officers will then undertake a formal review of parking in the precinct.