Visitor pay smart parking is to be implemented in the Blue Mountains, after the Blue Mountains City Council adopted the Parking Strategic Plan 2023 at the February Council meeting.
The smart parking project is to be rolled out in stages, the first being existing time restricted parking locations in Blackheath, Katoomba, Leura, Wentworth Falls and Glenbrook town centres. The second rollout will be at high demand visitation sites.
The resolution followed community consultation about the Citywide Parking Scheme, where 71% of responders agreed that Council should charge visitors to park in the Blue Mountains to help pay for services, facilities and infrastructure.
Mayor, Cr Mark Greenhill, said: “We had strong agreement with the proposition that visitors should pay to park in key locations in the Blue Mountains. Many people responded by saying they were surprised Council had not done this earlier.
“Five natural disasters since 2019 have left have an extraordinary damage bill for our City. A visitor pay parking scheme will help generate income that our City needs to recover and continue to renew services, facilities and infrastructure. It will also take this burden off ratepayers.”
All residents of the Blue Mountains local government area will be able to apply for Resident Permits when smart parking commences in July 2023, which will enable them to park without paying throughout the City. These permits will be validated through the verification of a NSW Government approved license, that displays the place of residence. Residents will have to adhere to time restrictions in each location.
Employee and Business Permits will provide free parking within town and village centres to enable individuals to park for free near their workplaces, but will exclude tourist visitation sites.
“Most other Councils provide permits for residents at a cost, generally more than $100 each, and cap the amount of permits to two per household,” Mayor Greenhill said. “BMCC will not be implementing either condition, allowing each household to receive permits for every individual’s vehicle at no cost.
“We want to make this as easy as possible for residents, businesses and employees of the Blue Mountains, while at the same time generating income that our City desperately needs and managing the influx of visitor parking that continues to increase.”
Smart parking will be rolled out in existing time restricted parking locations at Blackheath, Katoomba, Leura, Wentworth Falls and Glenbrook over the coming months, and be operational by July 2023.
It is expected that high demand visitation sites will also have smart parking facilities (including sensors and parking metres) operational by November 2023, once a Parking Precinct Plan has been developed. These sites include:
• Cahill’s & Boar’s Head Lookouts, Katoomba
• Echo Point Precinct, Katoomba (expansion of existing)
• Katoomba Falls
• Gordon Falls, Leura
• Leura Cascades
• Wentworth Falls Lake
• Falls Road adjacent to Wentworth Falls Lookout
• Fletcher Street and Valley Road adjacent to Conservation Hut, Wentworth Falls
• Lincoln’s Rock, Leura.
Visitors will be required to pay to park at these locations – either via individual permits, or daily permits.
The Parking Strategic Plan 2023 was an update of the 2018 Citywide Parking Strategic Plan. It has also been informed by the Blue Mountains Integrated Transport Strategic Plan, the Blue Mountains Visitor Infrastructure Investment Strategic Plan (VIISP) and Council’s adopted and draft Town and Village Masterplans.
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