Have your say about proposed parking plan

A motorist pays for his parking to a parking marshal. Picture: Matt Dix

Residents have until Friday December 13 to have their say on proposed extended managed parking services in busy business and tourist areas such as the CBD, Gardens and Camps Bay.

Managed parking refers to charging a tariff for the use of a parking bay and implementing time restrictions.

The purpose is to ensure a turnover of parking bays so that visitors have the opportunity to access popular destinations and facilities during business hours.

This follows requests by sub-councils, business owners and residents for the City of Cape Town to intervene in some CBDs and popular recreation and tourist areas.

The City said the demand for on-street parking in these areas had increased noticeably and this demand is aggravated by an increase in private vehicles using parking bays for extended periods of time.

The City’s mayoral committee member for transport, Felicity Purchase, has urged residents to weigh in on the matter. “I encourage residents to please participate in this process. We want to know your views, and want as much input as possible so that we can determine the need and the support for the proposal.”

Ms Purchase said the City had been requested to intervene. “In some areas like Camps Bay residents have been complaining about informal car guard activity. The same applies in Muizenberg where the local business community, sub-council and residents requested us to intervene due to the informal car guard presence and anti-social behaviour.”

She said business owners had also asked the City to expand managed parking to more streets in the CBDs in other areas across Cape Town because their clients could not find parking. “This often happens because those who work in the business areas occupy on-street parking bays for the whole day,” she said.

It is proposed that those who park in CBDs are charged per 15 minutes and visitors to recreational areas be charged per three hours. The management times are from 8am to 5pm on weekdays, and from 8am to 1pm on Saturdays.

Weighing in the matter, the City Bowl Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association (CIBRA) said the residential areas on the periphery of the business areas in the city already had a problem with business employees and customers parking outside private houses.

“As you are probably aware some residences get used as businesses which compound the problem.

“Converting the existing public parking in streets such as Kloof Street will force more parkers further up into the residential areas,” they said.

They added that many of the older residential areas had houses with no garages and some streets were already fully parked.

“This leads to inconsiderate parking practices such as parking on the pavement, parking on yellow or red lines, parking in fire hydrant space, across corners, and even in the driveways of private houses.

“We understand the City may wish to increase revenues or to assist businesses faced with all-day parkers, but there are the unintended consequences mentioned above.“We should also mention the increasing number of developments requesting departures from the City planning regulations to have reduced parking, or in the case of the 711 on the corner of Kloof Street and Firdale Avenue, no parking at all for six new flats instead of the regulation 12 bays. CIBRA has assisted local residents in objecting to such requests for departures as allowing it will exacerbate existing traffic and parking problems.”

Comments, input and recommendations can be submitted as follows:

Email: parking.info@capetown.gov.za

Handwritten: deliver to any library or sub-council office within your area

By visiting: www.capetown.gov.za/haveyoursay