20 July 2012

There goes the parking in Dickson as the biggest car park becomes a supermarket

| johnboy
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block 21, section 30

To great fanfare this morning Andrew Barr has announced nothing much we didn’t already know.

The site for the second full-line supermarket at the Dickson Group Centre has been released for sale.

The site is the car park adjacent to Woolworths and the library. The development will also include the construction of an Aldi supermarket.

This project will help realise the vision that was outlined in the Dickson Master Plan, which has been enthusiastically supported by the community.

It will bring more places to shop, more parking and more residents to this very popular group centre, giving it a new lease of life.

The development will more than double the car parking currently available on the site, and will also include a residential component above the shops.

Many people have long complained about the lack of competition at Dickson, and a second full-line supermarket, plus an Aldi, will ensure that shoppers will have more choice.

The final winning bidder will be announced in February 2013. Andrew is promising “alternative parking nearby”, but we’re hard pressed to see where they’re going to replicated the biggest parking lot in the area that is right next to the Woolies.


UPDATE 20/07/12 15:38: The Greens are expressing concern about the pressure this will put on Northbourne Avenue. I for one plan to rat run through Lyneham to get there.

The Greens have welcomed additional supermarket competition in Dickson, but say this growth must go hand in hand with improving transit and housing down the Northbourne Avenue corridor.

“The Greens support another supermarket in Dickson, but this must be linked to fixing the congestion in Northbourne Avenue,” Greens Planning Spokesperson, Caroline Le Couteur MLA, said.

“A revitalised Northbourne Avenue will have a rapid public transport system to cope with the additional transport demands of more supermarkets. The revitalised Northbourne corridor will also, over the next 10 to 20 years, house the additional residents who will shop in the expanded Dickson retail centre.

“The funds the Government raises from this sale of land should be earmarked for public transport improvements along Northbourne Avenue.

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rommeldog56 said :

Nah, I would imaging that they will paint pedestrian crossings or put pedestrian lights on Northborne Ave so that tram passengers can get from one side of Northborne Ave to the other. Or they will build pedestrian flyovers or underpasses ? Will be interesting to see how they handle pedestrian traffic to/from the tram if it runs down the middle of Northborne Ave.

More obstacles and delays for drivers. Flyovers and underpasses are expensive, especially if they have to be wheelchair-capable.

Majura Park is a valid option now for the weekly shop. The Woollies there is far bigger than Dickson, the parking is free and there are some major shops there. Apart from filling up the tank with cheap petrol.

So far Terry Snow has demonstrated that he is more than a match for government. His airport development is a textbook case of private town planning. If it comes down to attracting shoppers away from a congested and expensive Dickson, my money’s on Mr Snow to come out on top.

rubaiyat said :

johnboy said :

Andrew Barr has had this to say on Facebook:

There will be no net loss of parking to the public during the development of the Dickson supermarket site, with alternative parking to be provided nearby. The Crown Lessee of the site will be required to implement a parking strategy, and develop and implement a temporary traffic management plan before construction starts.

Which neither defines “nearby” nor magics parking next to the Woolies out of thin air.

And lets not forget the Light Rail only a 10-15 min walk away across several lanes of busy Northbourne Ave! Passengers will enjoy the even LESS convenience of it all!

Has anyone walked from Dickson to Civic to check if there is any difference to making your own way rather than getting to the Light Rail stop to wait for the next tram?

Nah, I would imaging that they will paint pedestrian crossings or put pedestrian lights on Northborne Ave so that tram passengers can get from one side of Northborne Ave to the other. Or they will build pedestrian flyovers or underpasses ? Will be interesting to see how they handle pedestrian traffic to/from the tram if it runs down the middle of Northborne Ave.

johnboy said :

Andrew Barr has had this to say on Facebook:

There will be no net loss of parking to the public during the development of the Dickson supermarket site, with alternative parking to be provided nearby. The Crown Lessee of the site will be required to implement a parking strategy, and develop and implement a temporary traffic management plan before construction starts.

Which neither defines “nearby” nor magics parking next to the Woolies out of thin air.

And lets not forget the Light Rail only a 10-15 min walk away across several lanes of busy Northbourne Ave! Passengers will enjoy the even LESS convenience of it all!

Has anyone walked from Dickson to Civic to check if there is any difference to making your own way rather than getting to the Light Rail stop to wait for the next tram?

watto23 said :

dungfungus said :

rommeldog56 said :

Skyring said :

p1 said :

The development will more than double the car parking currently available on the site, and will also include a residential component above the shops.

Forgetting for a moment the year or two it will take to build – how much of this doubling of parking is left after the resident of the flats above the shops, and the employees of the new shops, each park in their space?

Exactly right. The effect will be that there is less parking available.

But that’s what the Greens want. They want to force us to abandon our cars. It’s becoming more and more difficult everywhere. Parking is becoming more expensive – and scarce, speed limits are dropping, and fees rising.

Presumably each unit will have one underground parking spot in the new complex. No doubt, many will have 2.

When built, how many residential units are now proposed Vs no. car parking spaces ?

Perhaps the upsde is that not every unit will have allocated car spaces in the new development. Won’t the tram will take away the need for a car anyway ! Pigs might fly too.

Car parking will be available but it will cost more. This is what “value adding” is all about.

dungfungus said :

rommeldog56 said :

Skyring said :

p1 said :

The development will more than double the car parking currently available on the site, and will also include a residential component above the shops.

Forgetting for a moment the year or two it will take to build – how much of this doubling of parking is left after the resident of the flats above the shops, and the employees of the new shops, each park in their space?

Exactly right. The effect will be that there is less parking available.

But that’s what the Greens want. They want to force us to abandon our cars. It’s becoming more and more difficult everywhere. Parking is becoming more expensive – and scarce, speed limits are dropping, and fees rising.

Presumably each unit will have one underground parking spot in the new complex. No doubt, many will have 2.

When built, how many residential units are now proposed Vs no. car parking spaces ?

Perhaps the upsde is that not every unit will have allocated car spaces in the new development. Won’t the tram will take away the need for a car anyway ! Pigs might fly too.

Car parking will be available but it will cost more. This is what “value adding” is all about.

And people have the right and ability to not shop there. That is the thing with inner city and suburban living. Its not a right to live there. People are free to shop somewhere with free and copious amounts of empty car parks if they want to. Of course people also want free parking, lots of it within 5 minutes of where they live. We can’t have everything! I bet Dickson still gets plenty of shoppers afterwards. There are supermarkets in other cities that a 30 minute park is $5 and then stay for an hour and its $30!

You are totally correct but the car parks I was commenting on were ones that will be part of the new residential unit developments along Northbourne Avenue.
My guess is that the Governmnet will soak this valued added fantasy as much as they can by creating separate titles for car parks under units.
This will accelerate cash flow and create something else to levy annual rates on. The government is expecting wealthy people to move into this precinct so they will have no issue with buying a secure car park for the Audi which they can use when they don’t want to catch the tram.
Car parks can then be traded like low digit number plates.

dungfungus said :

rommeldog56 said :

Skyring said :

p1 said :

The development will more than double the car parking currently available on the site, and will also include a residential component above the shops.

Forgetting for a moment the year or two it will take to build – how much of this doubling of parking is left after the resident of the flats above the shops, and the employees of the new shops, each park in their space?

Exactly right. The effect will be that there is less parking available.

But that’s what the Greens want. They want to force us to abandon our cars. It’s becoming more and more difficult everywhere. Parking is becoming more expensive – and scarce, speed limits are dropping, and fees rising.

Presumably each unit will have one underground parking spot in the new complex. No doubt, many will have 2.

When built, how many residential units are now proposed Vs no. car parking spaces ?

Perhaps the upsde is that not every unit will have allocated car spaces in the new development. Won’t the tram will take away the need for a car anyway ! Pigs might fly too.

Car parking will be available but it will cost more. This is what “value adding” is all about.

dungfungus said :

rommeldog56 said :

Skyring said :

p1 said :

The development will more than double the car parking currently available on the site, and will also include a residential component above the shops.

Forgetting for a moment the year or two it will take to build – how much of this doubling of parking is left after the resident of the flats above the shops, and the employees of the new shops, each park in their space?

Exactly right. The effect will be that there is less parking available.

But that’s what the Greens want. They want to force us to abandon our cars. It’s becoming more and more difficult everywhere. Parking is becoming more expensive – and scarce, speed limits are dropping, and fees rising.

Presumably each unit will have one underground parking spot in the new complex. No doubt, many will have 2.

When built, how many residential units are now proposed Vs no. car parking spaces ?

Perhaps the upsde is that not every unit will have allocated car spaces in the new development. Won’t the tram will take away the need for a car anyway ! Pigs might fly too.

Car parking will be available but it will cost more. This is what “value adding” is all about.

And people have the right and ability to not shop there. That is the thing with inner city and suburban living. Its not a right to live there. People are free to shop somewhere with free and copious amounts of empty car parks if they want to. Of course people also want free parking, lots of it within 5 minutes of where they live. We can’t have everything! I bet Dickson still gets plenty of shoppers afterwards. There are supermarkets in other cities that a 30 minute park is $5 and then stay for an hour and its $30!

rommeldog56 said :

Skyring said :

p1 said :

The development will more than double the car parking currently available on the site, and will also include a residential component above the shops.

Forgetting for a moment the year or two it will take to build – how much of this doubling of parking is left after the resident of the flats above the shops, and the employees of the new shops, each park in their space?

Exactly right. The effect will be that there is less parking available.

But that’s what the Greens want. They want to force us to abandon our cars. It’s becoming more and more difficult everywhere. Parking is becoming more expensive – and scarce, speed limits are dropping, and fees rising.

Presumably each unit will have one underground parking spot in the new complex. No doubt, many will have 2.

When built, how many residential units are now proposed Vs no. car parking spaces ?

Perhaps the upsde is that not every unit will have allocated car spaces in the new development. Won’t the tram will take away the need for a car anyway ! Pigs might fly too.

Car parking will be available but it will cost more. This is what “value adding” is all about.

Skyring said :

p1 said :

The development will more than double the car parking currently available on the site, and will also include a residential component above the shops.

Forgetting for a moment the year or two it will take to build – how much of this doubling of parking is left after the resident of the flats above the shops, and the employees of the new shops, each park in their space?

Exactly right. The effect will be that there is less parking available.

But that’s what the Greens want. They want to force us to abandon our cars. It’s becoming more and more difficult everywhere. Parking is becoming more expensive – and scarce, speed limits are dropping, and fees rising.

Don’t worry.. saving the planet is more important than spending time with your kids!
/sarcasm

Skyring said :

p1 said :

The development will more than double the car parking currently available on the site, and will also include a residential component above the shops.

Forgetting for a moment the year or two it will take to build – how much of this doubling of parking is left after the resident of the flats above the shops, and the employees of the new shops, each park in their space?

Exactly right. The effect will be that there is less parking available.

But that’s what the Greens want. They want to force us to abandon our cars. It’s becoming more and more difficult everywhere. Parking is becoming more expensive – and scarce, speed limits are dropping, and fees rising.

Presumably each unit will have one underground parking spot in the new complex. No doubt, many will have 2.

When built, how many residential units are now proposed Vs no. car parking spaces ?

Perhaps the upsde is that not every unit will have allocated car spaces in the new development. Won’t the tram will take away the need for a car anyway ! Pigs might fly too.

p1 said :

The development will more than double the car parking currently available on the site, and will also include a residential component above the shops.

Forgetting for a moment the year or two it will take to build – how much of this doubling of parking is left after the resident of the flats above the shops, and the employees of the new shops, each park in their space?

Exactly right. The effect will be that there is less parking available.

But that’s what the Greens want. They want to force us to abandon our cars. It’s becoming more and more difficult everywhere. Parking is becoming more expensive – and scarce, speed limits are dropping, and fees rising.

watto23 said :

Maya123 said :

dkNigs said :

Oh look, more customers for Majura Park.

Are you sure!
That’s a long way to go for the ‘weekly’ shop and would use a lot of petrol, although true, some people do forget to factor that in, plus the time factor getting to Majura Park and back. I had a look at Costco, for instance, the other day. Unless you are feeding a large family the sizes of the the items for sale are too big for the average Australian household of 2.6 (in 2011) and getting lower, and I would imagine that the demographics about Dickson might make that figure lower still. (So pleased I checked out Costco before wasting my money and joining.) There are closer alternative supermarkets, including in Civic. I’ve never had a problem with getting a park in the Civic mall multi-storey car park, although I admit I haven’t parked there for sometime, as I find the bus very convenient to get to Civic. More convenient than driving. There are convenient buses from the north side suburbs to Civic too, if the building work at Dickson makes getting to Dickson a problem, making Civic a more convenient shopping destination, with a larger range of choices, than Majura Park.

So its about 20km return trip to Majura from Dickson. Assuming your car uses say 10l per 100kms, that 2 litres of petrol. So it would cost around $2.50 in petrol.
Now given you can save ~20 c a litre for petrol at Majura and on say a 50L fuel tank, thats a savings of $10.

Looks like its cheaper to go to Majura IMO.

How much is your own time to drive there worth?

Maya123 said :

dkNigs said :

Oh look, more customers for Majura Park.

Are you sure!
That’s a long way to go for the ‘weekly’ shop and would use a lot of petrol, although true, some people do forget to factor that in, plus the time factor getting to Majura Park and back. I had a look at Costco, for instance, the other day. Unless you are feeding a large family the sizes of the the items for sale are too big for the average Australian household of 2.6 (in 2011) and getting lower, and I would imagine that the demographics about Dickson might make that figure lower still. (So pleased I checked out Costco before wasting my money and joining.) There are closer alternative supermarkets, including in Civic. I’ve never had a problem with getting a park in the Civic mall multi-storey car park, although I admit I haven’t parked there for sometime, as I find the bus very convenient to get to Civic. More convenient than driving. There are convenient buses from the north side suburbs to Civic too, if the building work at Dickson makes getting to Dickson a problem, making Civic a more convenient shopping destination, with a larger range of choices, than Majura Park.

So its about 20km return trip to Majura from Dickson. Assuming your car uses say 10l per 100kms, that 2 litres of petrol. So it would cost around $2.50 in petrol.
Now given you can save ~20 c a litre for petrol at Majura and on say a 50L fuel tank, thats a savings of $10.

Looks like its cheaper to go to Majura IMO.

dkNigs said :

Oh look, more customers for Majura Park.

Are you sure!
That’s a long way to go for the ‘weekly’ shop and would use a lot of petrol, although true, some people do forget to factor that in, plus the time factor getting to Majura Park and back. I had a look at Costco, for instance, the other day. Unless you are feeding a large family the sizes of the the items for sale are too big for the average Australian household of 2.6 (in 2011) and getting lower, and I would imagine that the demographics about Dickson might make that figure lower still. (So pleased I checked out Costco before wasting my money and joining.) There are closer alternative supermarkets, including in Civic. I’ve never had a problem with getting a park in the Civic mall multi-storey car park, although I admit I haven’t parked there for sometime, as I find the bus very convenient to get to Civic. More convenient than driving. There are convenient buses from the north side suburbs to Civic too, if the building work at Dickson makes getting to Dickson a problem, making Civic a more convenient shopping destination, with a larger range of choices, than Majura Park.

Oh look, more customers for Majura Park.

Great to see development in the area but PLEASE do something about the beggars, drug addicts/dealers, alcos, etc. who use the shopping centre as their place of business and/or lounge room. The social problems in-and-around Dickson must be addressed if the area is to move forward.

North Borne is going to get jam packed !!!!

Each one of those car parks equals a number of bums on seats.

When people park during the day its normally one person per car. At night its a different story.

Theres a huge number of places opening up for food, so this development makes parking in dickson a pain. I’m sure the residents are happy to have less people in their neighbourhood but what about the pressure on shop owners.

No doubt that even if there are other parks made available during construction, people sure as hell will think otherwise and late night businesses will suffer.

Gone are the days where the best thing in town are surrounded by a sea of parks, but we’re yet to see a decent mass transit system.

You can’t have it both ways.. cars can’t be your cash cow (by avoiding decent PT) and you can’t force people to use public transport by dissappearing carparks!

Manual Xyrakis won’t believe his luck – parking at the Ainslie Shops is free, and his supermarket has just made room for expansion!

Dickson parking is much cheaper than Civic. I notice no guarantee that cheaper parking will continue in Dickson, from Mr Andrew “Hates Canberra Drivers” Barr.

Thank goodness, the sea of carparks of old should disappear sooner rather than later. Dickson is such a dodgy, dated looking place.

troll-sniffer said :

and as a bonus I get a range of less bogan-centric goods to choose from.

Yes, because it’s not like every shopping centre in Australia is now so homogenized that at times you can forget which city you’re in. Pretty much every shop that’s in Westfield Belconnen has a branch in the Canberra Centre, oh and one at Woden for good measure.

PS: nice troll.

troll-sniffer3:55 pm 20 Jul 12

qbninthecity said :

meh whats the big deal? I live in Braddon and do my grocery shop at Belco no biggy

I can top that. I live near Braddon and do my shopping at Supa Barn, thereby not wasting not only petrol but also valuable time, and as a bonus I get a range of less bogan-centric goods to choose from.

qbninthecity said :

meh whats the big deal? I live in Braddon and do my grocery shop at Belco no biggy

Congratulations!

qbninthecity3:31 pm 20 Jul 12

meh whats the big deal? I live in Braddon and do my grocery shop at Belco no biggy

PantsMan said :

And what’s the bet there will be some nice ‘n’ expensive high-rise pay parking?

Well, somebody has to cough up the money. Double the car park space don’t come for free.

My money is on that the clock will start ticking the moment you go through the boom gate.

johnboy said :

Well in a perfect world we’d build new parking first.

This was the original plan but as pointed out by the Shopping Centre Council this has been quietly dropped and I’m guessing it’s up to the bidders to come up with a plan to “magic” them in. Do we know if the call for expressions of interest will be public ie: will we be able to see exactly what will be required of the developer?

Dickson! The place with two supermarkets!

And what’s the bet there will be some nice ‘n’ expensive high-rise pay parking?

johnboy said :

Or be honest…..

That’s crazy talk!

Johnboy, are you really suggesting that because parking will be a bit of an issue during the construction of these two new supermarkets we should just stick with what we’ve got? Because personally I would take a longer term view – ie. a bit of pain in the short/medium term is worth it for some competition for Woolworths Dickson.

I’m not expecting anyone to be able to “magic” parking next to Woolworths out of thin air. But I don’t think that’s a reason not to go ahead with the development.

Well in a perfect world we’d build new parking first.

Or be honest that the parking is going to suck and the whole centre will take a hell of a whallop for years while we sort this out.

Andrew Barr has had this to say on Facebook:

    There will be no net loss of parking to the public during the development of the Dickson supermarket site, with alternative parking to be provided nearby. The Crown Lessee of the site will be required to implement a parking strategy, and develop and implement a temporary traffic management plan before construction starts.

    Which neither defines “nearby” nor magics parking next to the Woolies out of thin air.

The development will more than double the car parking currently available on the site, and will also include a residential component above the shops.

Forgetting for a moment the year or two it will take to build – how much of this doubling of parking is left after the resident of the flats above the shops, and the employees of the new shops, each park in their space?

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