Park Parade may go one-way

Park Parade residents face frustration if plans to turn the thoroughfare into a one-way street are implemented.

The proposal to turn the street into a one-way artery comes as a reaction to the Waverley Pavilion upgrade at Waverley Oval which local councillor and chair of the Waverley Traffic Committee Tony Kay says will bring more traffic to an already over-parked area.

The plan would see Park Parade become a one-way street with southbound traffic flow and parallel parking along the entire eastern and western sides of the street – except for a ‘kiss and drop’ zone of 150m on the north end of the road and another ‘kiss and drop’ zone on  the northern side of Birrell Street.

A spokesperson for the Penkivil precinct committee described residents’ concerns over the proposed changes to Park Parade as diverse but said people would be impacted.

“If they make Park Parade one-way there’s going to be a ‘kiss and drop’ area where people will be queuing up behind anyone waiting to get into the area. Park Parade will get banked up and driveways will get blocked off,” the spokesperson said. “These are some of the concerns being raised by residents.”

Cr Kay said he was happy to hear from the community and that if they said no to the plan, he would review the parking situation after the Waverley Pavilion was finished.

“Currently it is really difficult to park in Park Parade so it made sense to have it one-way,” Cr Kay said. “I believe that the functions of the new pavilion will attract many more people to the facility and thereby cause much more occupancy of parking spaces.”

Community consultation is due to start this month to give residents their say on the proposal.