From my research, feedback from the community & seeing it every Christmas, Easter and Public Holiday, the Sorrento Traffic congestion & parking are inextricably linked. There would need to be three seperate actions that would see a vast improvement to the current situation – none of these are overly expensive.
- STAFF CAR PARKING – SEE BELOW
- INFRASTRUCTURE CHANGES AROUND THE ESPLANADE Slight infrastructure changes to Pt Nepean Road near at the Foreshore which is basically removal of an island & car parking spaces and repainting lines to show an extended turning lane into The Esplanade to accommodate 10-15 cars – it currently can hold 3 which backs up cars to Blairgowrie. This has been favourably discussed at the last DTP meeting
- COUNCIL CAR PARK Surrendering the council owned carpark for Searoad to manage for the few busiest days during the year. The ferry terminal holds approx 70 car spaces which is the capacity of the big ferries, but people panic and come early, leaving us with up to 140 cars for 70 spaces. The Sorrento pier carpark holds over 70 cars, this would fix that problem
SORRENTO STAFF CAR PARKING
Have you ever considered exactly how much customer carparking is taken up by retail staff in shops? I have asked around in less than 40% of retail stores to get an idea of the data, and it is surprising. In approx. 40 retail shops that I visited mid week, off season there is a minimum of 106 people at any given time in those 40 stores alone. We have almost 150 stores in Ocean Beach Road. Using the figures, conservatively we could say well over 200 staff in total, however this doubles and in some cases triples over summer. Please note that the numbers don’t include Hotel Sorrento or The Conti who both have alternate parking. They also don’t include those stores that have their own parking.
Currently Ocean Beach Rd staff are parking in:
- Morce Avenue carpark
- Side streets – George, Darling, Kerferd (near school), Pt Nepean rd service road up from Stringers
- Small Carpark near Sorrento Primary
- Footy Ground (very limited)
- RSL block next door
- Behind the Conti – these stores weren’t counted in the spreadsheet or the numbers, & are Conti staff.
Conti or Hotel Sorrento numbers were not counted as they use different options, Ocean Beach road isn’t used due to timed parking and hefty fines.
Potential off site car parking for retail staff & additional parking
- 88 paid parking multi storey spaces in Morce Avenue – (permanent staff parking?)
- Sectioned off areas in Footy ground for Staff parking inc CFA running track, this could include the site for netball courts and other places – not near the bowling club.
- Sectioned off areas in East and West caravan park (shuttle bus)
- St Josephs school asphalt area – used for parking during events
- Hotham rd, between Hotel Sorrento and the Footy Ground – measure road, maybe just line marking for angle parking until a more long term solution is available (removal/replacement of trees, parking in road reserve) $$ set up no charge parking
- Area behind the Building next to the museum (shuttle bus?)
- Check Parks Vic back beach parking occupancy, maybe a section there and a shuttle
- Area behind church in Kerferd
- Area behind masonic hall
As mentioned I only sought data from less than 40% of shops (106 car parking spaces required mid week off season), there is another 60% odd additional stores that I didn’t visit but are staffed. The most conservative figure would be approximately 250+ car spaces required for staff year round, this would at least double during our summertime. Is it any wonder we have interrelated traffic & parking problems, with visitors/customers driving around to find carparks that are already occupied all day.
Staff are our most vital component and Traders should be made aware that special car spaces are allocated over summer. Everyone must be mindful that any extra costs should not be worn by employees – we all know how hard it can be to retain staff!
This is all open for discussion