Traders talk up Bair Street
INTEREST in the changes to Leongatha’s Bair Street was high when the business community gathered to talk about the revitalisation project in Leongatha last Tuesday night, May 24.
In a show of hands from the 50 traders present, the vast majority were in favour of Option B while there appeared to be very few or no hands up for Option A.
Option B is the proposal which retains only a small section of median strip, provides raised pedestrian crossings, and alternates between angle and parallel parking right along the street.
The issue of parking was, as anticipated, one of the areas of concern. With Option B, Bair Street was looking at having 19 fewer parking spaces, down from 87 to 68.
Whilst the show of hands supported Option B, it was also asked could the number of pedestrian crossings be reduced by two to allow a few more parks to be retained. Doing this would save between six to eight car spaces per crossing depending on the parking configuration.
This could potentially pull back the lost spaces to between three to seven if council chose to take away two crossing points, or between 11-13 if one crossing point was axed.
One trader, Sandra Fleming from Hair Bairs, told of her frustration at business owners continually parking in front of their own shops, a concern also held by Leongatha Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Peter Watchorn.
Council’s planning manager Paul Stampton indicated once Bair Street was finished, council would ensure by-laws ramped up its enforcement of offenders parking too long in the street and they would be given an infringement notice.
Mr Stampton alleviated other concerns about parking when he indicated council would look at leasing further areas on railway land at the rear of Bair Street, which could add 50 spaces to the CBD.
Council would also establish a connection point for pedestrians in the form of a ramped up path to Bair Street, entering where the pedestrian bridge once was.
Other issues raised on the night included concern over the type of deciduous tree species proposed to be used, with the concern being they dropped a lot of buds and leaves over the footpath.
Council acknowledged this and said the species would be amended.
The other query was to make sure council was not using brick pavers in any of the areas as they are “treacherous” and became very slippery once leaves and water were in the mix. The areas in front of the memorial hall and Goller Lane were mentioned. Council confirmed no brick pavers would be used in the project.
Andrew Moyle, a landscape architect with MDG, was impressed by the large turnout and the interest shown in the project as he began his presentation of the two options.
Tonight, Tuesday, May 31, is the community’s turn to have its say about the Re-Imagining Bair Street project at the Dakers Centre, Leongatha from 5pm-7pm with a presentation at 5.30pm.
Huge interest: South Gippsland Shire Council was delighted when some 50 business representatives turned out for the Re-Imagining Bair Street presentation last Tuesday, May 24. Tonight, Tuesday, the community gets its turn to have a say.
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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on May 31 2016. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
