11 September 2013

Have Your Say in Belconnen Town Centre parking planning

| Damien Haas
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parking

The Belconnen Community Council are conducting a survey to determine actual parking requirements in the Belconnen Town Centre.

We are holding a public meeting to begin our project to improve parking in Belconnen on Tuesday Sep 17th at Margaret Timpson park at 12.30PM. Look for the silver sculpture on the corner of Chandler St and Benjamin Way.

We are also conducting a survey to find out what future parking requirements are required. Please take our survey!

We want to hear from you if you live or work in Belconnen.

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The Belconnen parking issue will be discussed at tonights public forum of the BCC. It is on at 7.30PM at the Community Room above the Belconnen library.

Thanks to the over 200 people that have responded to the survey.

davo101 said :

Yes that was a particularly bright idea to replace the old-school bike parking with posts that are each fixed to a single paving stone.

The parking outside the Benjamin Way entrance is particularly poor. Two of those posts and one’s paver is loose Fortunately there is a set of U racks across the road from the corner entrance just along.

Deref said :

poetix said :

Deref said :

poetix said :

People dine in Belconnen?

Oh yes, Some of the best Asian restaurants in Canberra are in Belco.

I didn’t know, and it’s too far for a tipsy (bike-path) bike ride, as opposed to Dickson. What are the names of these restaurants?

Prince Palace is very good and the place next door (Too Yummy IIRC) is amazing! Monkey Magic’s good and across the road and upstairs there’s a Burmese place that’s absolutely delightful. Sorry to be so vague on the names. 🙁 But they’re all well worth the trip.

Monkey Magic has changed ownership and is now known as Hong Fa’s Palace…family run and the food seems very fresh. Across the road on the corner of Luxton & Josephson Streets is Phnom Penh Cambodian restaurant (not Burmese). Owner/chef, Sambat makes a wicked laksa. In the same block is Taj Agra Indian, well patronised and Canberra Cellars who have the best value Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (under $6). Best of all there is a free car park outside Taj Agra/Phnom Penh/Canberra Cellars.

Aeek said :

gasman said :

Think outside the square, make Belco a city leader in alternative transport, and decrease the reliance on cars.

where can I park my horse

gasman said :

At present, there is no safe way (continuous bike lane or bike path) to get from where I live to either Belco mall, Belco markets, CISAC or any of the Belco offices. I can get there by riding on footpaths, but that is an inadequate solution.

This is not just a Belconnen problem, in every other town centre the cycle facilities go as far the edge and then stop. They’re spending a bomb on fixing the problem around Civic but who knows how long it’ll take to do something at the others.

gasman said :

Belco mall has 3 sets of 5 bike parking racks, 4 of which have been vandalised.

Yes that was a particularly bright idea to replace the old-school bike parking with posts that are each fixed to a single paving stone.

gasman said :

Think outside the square, make Belco a city leader in alternative transport, and decrease the reliance on cars.

Thinking outside the box reminds me, that box has to go. The view from the lakeshore of the mall monolith is horrible. Westfield Mall needs to be demolished.

gasman said :

damien haas said :

The survey is going very well, over 100 responses so far.

Cyclists have been active on the survey, and we are not excluding their ‘rights’.
!

Its not so much about cyclists ‘rights’ (why did you put it ‘rights’ in inverted commas, by the way?).

Its more about thinking differently. By improving cycling infrastructure (which is comparatively inexpensive), you can reduce the need for extra car parking (comparatively expensive).

You can fit 100 bikes into 10 car parking spaces.

At present, there is no safe way (continuous bike lane or bike path) to get from where I live to either Belco mall, Belco markets, CISAC or any of the Belco offices. I can get there by riding on footpaths, but that is an inadequate solution. Ideally, I would like to ride my Danish cargo bike to do my shopping, but that is just not possible.

Belco mall has 3 sets of 5 bike parking racks, 4 of which have been vandalised.

By improving car access to any place, all that will happen is there will be more cars, until the increased capacity is also used. Back to original problem.

Think outside the square, make Belco a city leader in alternative transport, and decrease the reliance on cars.

We can take that feedback on board. Please fill out the survey and make that comment.

The public meeting went reasonably well considering it rained non-stop! We relocated to the walkway and attracted passing traffic. Yvette Berry MLA also attended and is keen to see the results of the survey.

damien haas said :

The survey is going very well, over 100 responses so far.

Cyclists have been active on the survey, and we are not excluding their ‘rights’.
!

Its not so much about cyclists ‘rights’ (why did you put it ‘rights’ in inverted commas, by the way?).

Its more about thinking differently. By improving cycling infrastructure (which is comparatively inexpensive), you can reduce the need for extra car parking (comparatively expensive).

You can fit 100 bikes into 10 car parking spaces.

At present, there is no safe way (continuous bike lane or bike path) to get from where I live to either Belco mall, Belco markets, CISAC or any of the Belco offices. I can get there by riding on footpaths, but that is an inadequate solution. Ideally, I would like to ride my Danish cargo bike to do my shopping, but that is just not possible.

Belco mall has 3 sets of 5 bike parking racks, 4 of which have been vandalised.

By improving car access to any place, all that will happen is there will be more cars, until the increased capacity is also used. Back to original problem.

Think outside the square, make Belco a city leader in alternative transport, and decrease the reliance on cars.

i just had a quick look at the survey – 142 responses.

35% of survey respondents park for 1-2 hours
42% park all day

The survey is going very well, over 100 responses so far.

We will have large maps at the meeting today where you can illustrate your thoughts (concerning parking).

Cyclists have been active on the survey, and we are not excluding their ‘rights’.

The meeting is on today in glorious sunshine! Bring your lunch and listen to earnest community activists!

gazket said :

damien haas said :

gazket said :

7. How many people (apart from the driver) normally drive to work with you when you park at work?)

There is no 0 option.

You can skip the question if it doesnt apply.

but when I get out of the car it doesn’t drive back home by it’s self. I park it in Belco town centre

Ergo you now can not tell the total number of cars parked at work each day in the Belco town centre. The large majority of cars i see on the roads have just the one person in them, most presumably going to work and parking in this area, but not counted in your survey.

Waste of time filling it in don’t you think…

damien haas said :

gazket said :

7. How many people (apart from the driver) normally drive to work with you when you park at work?)

There is no 0 option.

You can skip the question if it doesnt apply.

but when I get out of the car it doesn’t drive back home by it’s self. I park it in Belco town centre

pink little birdie2:31 pm 12 Sep 13

Masquara said :

What on earth is with question 7?
“How many people (apart from the driver) normally drive to work with you when you park at work?”
The options given are: “1,2,3,4,5, more than 5”
Um the majority of people drive to work alone, and they cannot even answer the question!
Survey designed by Belconnenites … need I say more!

Ummmm the Belconnen town centre has ABS in it. It’s where all the responses about weighting and improper question designs are coming from.
Though really what did the designers expect?

Martlark said :

Odd little survey. It just assumes that you want more parking and the only solution is more parking. Where is the option for less parking?

You can write that in the space provided for question nine or ten. I think its ten from memory.

Thanks to people for taking the time to complete it, well over 50 responses so far.

Martlark said :

Odd little survey. It just assumes that you want more parking and the only solution is more parking. Where is the option for less parking?

It’s one thing to state the current parking arrangements are sufficient, yet I would personally find it odd for a driver – who actually parks in the Belconnen Town Centre – to call for less parking availability. Perhaps this survey structure was designed to avoid anti-car votes, when the entire point of it seems to question what drivers think…?

Odd little survey. It just assumes that you want more parking and the only solution is more parking. Where is the option for less parking?

Belconnen will have a bigger parking problem in the future if car parks are continually sold off for apartments and there is not a viable alternative to pick up the slack. While the town centre is well serviced by buses, they are not always suitable. In the last few years the Cameron Offices car parks have been turned in to the Oracle apartments. The temporary car park on the old bus interchange site has become the Sentinel apartments. Half a car park opposite CISAC is being turned in to the Linq apartments and the car park behind the Labor Club has a sign saying the car park has been earmarked for future development. What plans are in place to deal with the closure of these car parks or to provide or promote alternatives?

poetix said :

Deref said :

poetix said :

People dine in Belconnen?

Oh yes, Some of the best Asian restaurants in Canberra are in Belco.

I didn’t know, and it’s too far for a tipsy (bike-path) bike ride, as opposed to Dickson. What are the names of these restaurants?

Prince Palace is very good and the place next door (Too Yummy IIRC) is amazing! Monkey Magic’s good and across the road and upstairs there’s a Burmese place that’s absolutely delightful. Sorry to be so vague on the names. 🙁 But they’re all well worth the trip.

poetix said :

Deref said :

poetix said :

People dine in Belconnen?

Oh yes, Some of the best Asian restaurants in Canberra are in Belco.

I didn’t know, and it’s too far for a tipsy (bike-path) bike ride, as opposed to Dickson. What are the names of these restaurants?

Wonder Meals is pretty good. Chapters is great.

Masquara said :

What on earth is with question 7?
“How many people (apart from the driver) normally drive to work with you when you park at work?”
The options given are: “1,2,3,4,5, more than 5”
Um the majority of people drive to work alone, and they cannot even answer the question!
Survey designed by Belconnenites … need I say more!

I had look at the results so far and 19 people have skipped the question. This indicates to me that if you are the only person in the car you would realise this doesnt apply, and umm skip the question.

What on earth is with question 7?
“How many people (apart from the driver) normally drive to work with you when you park at work?”
The options given are: “1,2,3,4,5, more than 5”
Um the majority of people drive to work alone, and they cannot even answer the question!
Survey designed by Belconnenites … need I say more!

Deref said :

poetix said :

People dine in Belconnen?

Oh yes, Some of the best Asian restaurants in Canberra are in Belco.

I didn’t know, and it’s too far for a tipsy (bike-path) bike ride, as opposed to Dickson. What are the names of these restaurants?

I agree with Tara that the design of this study will skew results toward promoting additional car parking availability. I live in Town Centre, and have my street perpetually clogged from ~8am to ~6pm with workers’ cars (on weekdays) and shoppers’ cars (on weekends), filling car parks meant for recreational users of the lake, parking illegally (on nature strips and urban open space) and taking a gamble in 2H parking. My preference would be for there to be significantly *less* unmanaged parking in TC, much stricter control of that which is there presently, and greater options for public transport. The car parking dilemma represents a significant and unaccounted-for externality on residents. As it stands the survey doesn’t give me this opportunity to express these views – it effectively asks me how much more parking I want.

poetix said :

People dine in Belconnen?

Oh yes, Some of the best Asian restaurants in Canberra are in Belco.

in_the_taratory6:15 pm 11 Sep 13

I agree with the sentiment and what you are trying to do, but I respectfully suggest that the BCC not put a great deal of weight into the results of this survey in its current form which, by its very design, is going to paint an inaccurate picture of parking in the town centre.

in_the_taratory said :

The BCC wants to hear from people who live and work in Belconnen, but the survey is geared almost entirely to people working in Belconnen? People don’t just work in the town centre; some live there, and many are there for recreational reasons (eg lake, parks, dining, shopping). Parking is not only an issue during work hours (evenings, weekends). Perhaps the survey could be amended to be more encompassing to get a more accurate picture of the entire parking problem, rather than just for workers? As it currently stands, you will get a skewed result.

This survey is aimed at town centre parking, we have plans for other surveys and other campaigns.

There is latitude in the survey for people to tell us why they are parking, that do not just include workers.

One step at a time.

gazket said :

7. How many people (apart from the driver) normally drive to work with you when you park at work?)

There is no 0 option.

You can skip the question if it doesnt apply.

in_the_taratory said :

The BCC wants to hear from people who live and work in Belconnen, but the survey is geared almost entirely to people working in Belconnen? People don’t just work in the town centre; some live there, and many are there for recreational reasons (eg lake, parks, dining, shopping). Parking is not only an issue during work hours (evenings, weekends). Perhaps the survey could be amended to be more encompassing to get a more accurate picture of the entire parking problem, rather than just for workers? As it currently stands, you will get a skewed result.

People dine in Belconnen?

in_the_taratory4:55 pm 11 Sep 13

The BCC wants to hear from people who live and work in Belconnen, but the survey is geared almost entirely to people working in Belconnen? People don’t just work in the town centre; some live there, and many are there for recreational reasons (eg lake, parks, dining, shopping). Parking is not only an issue during work hours (evenings, weekends). Perhaps the survey could be amended to be more encompassing to get a more accurate picture of the entire parking problem, rather than just for workers? As it currently stands, you will get a skewed result.

The new 40 area in Lathlain st.
1. There is no signs warning of the new speed cushions which seem to be placed in a random spot why aren’t they in the obvious spot near the pedestrian crossing .
2.The 40 kph speed signs are inadequate. One is on a post at the North end 2/3 times the height of a normal speed sign up in amongst the shop front awnings at Westfields. The others I haven’t spotted them yet .

Some painted speed signs on the road would be far more effective, maybe a zig zag line or something
The 40kph town centre speed limit has been set up on the cheap . The TAMS must have spent 2k max on peoples safety.

7. How many people (apart from the driver) normally drive to work with you when you park at work?)

There is no 0 option.

We would appreciate people working in the Belconnen Town Centre emailing their co-workers the survey link or meeting information.

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