Beaches at Terrigal Beach, Avoca Beach, North Avoca, Macmasters Beach, Copacabana, Forresters Beach and Wamberal are on the list of Coast beaches earmarked for paid visitor parking.
Lakeside and other foreshore areas could include the Gosford Waterfront and Brisbane Water.
Central Coast Council will look for an external business willing to partner with Council to develop and deliver a visitor-based paid parking scheme at no cost to Council.
It will call for expressions of interest.
Council estimates the collective cost of planning, to the point of implementation, at about $411,120, but it said the figure would fluctuate based on the number of foreshore areas included in the scheme.
Administrator, Dick Persson, said ratepayers would get passes for free parking and there would also be the opportunity to buy passes from Council.
He said people renting could buy the passes or get them free from their landlords.
However the details are yet to be worked out.
Additional investigations and studies are required to determine the most suitable areas to be included in a visitor-based paid parking scheme as well as the sequence of introducing the scheme to these areas.
Factors to be considered include the existing parking infrastructure, line marking, suitability for installing parking sensors/CCTV cameras, parking meters, enforcement measures, and the management of the flow-on effect to neighbouring streets.
In a report adopted at its March 23 meeting, Council used the Terrigal foreshore area as a base model to forecast the potential revenue.
In Terrigal alone, revenue would be generated from about 590 “on grade” parking spaces and another 400 spaces at the multi-storey car park at Wilson Rd.
The revenue of more than $600,000 a year was based on about seven percent of cars being visitor parking and another seven percent being local cars that did not have resident free passes.
These figures came from a Central Coast parking strategy completed by Bitzios Consulting in 2019.
It assumed that the first two vehicles per residence are not charged for parking.
But statistics showed that 20.8 per cent of households in Terrigal own three or more cars.
Figures are not available for the Coast as a whole.
Council reckons the project could be financially feasible with a payback period of just over 8 years.
Other beaches in the region slated for inclusion are Ocean Beach, Soldiers Beach, The Entrance Beach, Shelly Beach, Toowoon Bay, Lakes Beach/Budgewoi, Patonga Beach, Norah Head, Killcare Beach, Putty Beach, Ettalong Beach and The Entrance North Beach.
Tuggerah Lake and Lake Munmorah could also be included.
Administrator, Dick Persson, said ratepayers currently carry the financial burden of visitors and in the current financial climate it was necessary to explore alternative revenue options.
“The Central Coast economy relies heavily on visitors and presently this group make no direct financial contribution towards foreshore infrastructure and services,” Persson said.
“Council staff have scoped the administrative cost of establishing a beach parking system that provides protection to ratepayers; estimated a potential projected revenue stream and timeline for implementation; and determined potential foreshore areas to be considered for this scheme.
“The next step now is to determine willingness for an external supplier to partner with Council so we can progress the scheme at no cost to Council.”
Merilyn Vale
Big ambitions from a council who outsource their current parking officers under the guise of ‘community safety officers’.
However it is a welcome relief the council is leaving the dark ages of outdated parking management and making redundant those responsible.
Like all council directorates, they need to flush out the dead wood administration and management and bring in a changed culture to progress this area.