Some say the tree roots will rip up the street, others welcome the idea of a greener main street. 

This idea and others, set to revamp the city’s CBD, will now be explored after councillors voted in favour of some of the recommendations put up by general manager Warwick Bennett at Tuesday night’s Goulburn Mulwaree Council meeting.

Mr Bennett explained the changes were an attempt to beautify and revitalise the main street, as well as ease parking pressure, slow traffic down and facilitate pedestrian movement into Belmore Park. 

“Auburn Street looks like a concrete jungle. It needs to become more environmentally friendly,” Mr Bennett said. 

“Trees in the main street will create an ambiance and get rid of the grey, concrete look as well as reduce carbon emissions.” 

After varied discussion, councillors approved in principle the removal of the median strip between Montague and Clifford Streets and the planting of trees and landscaping. 

Approval needs to come from Roads and Maritime Services, which owns the street. 

A report will come back to the council on the final design with costs. 

Another suggestion was the closure of Market Street at the Auburn Street end to “enhance the connectivity to the park from Auburn Street.” This would involve removing the old amenities block in the park to allow the construction of a cul-de-sac. 

Councillors were again vocal on this idea, demanding public consultation before proceeding.

Cr Margaret O’Neill said many people used this area for parking to attend the Soldiers Club, Goulburn Club and the Fireside Inn. 

“Let’s engage in public consultation and at least we will have evidence of what people want,” Cr Alf Walker said. 

“It won’t affect business,” Cr Leah Ferrara said.

“You’ve got to be joking,” replied Cr O’Neill. 

‘Public consultation’ would entail a public meeting on the proposal. 

The council aims to free up 100 extra parking spaces in the CBD every five years.

To achieve this parking space target, councillors authorised Mr Bennett to enter into negotiations for the lease and/or purchase of private land adjacent to the Cartwright Place car park. 

They also authorised him to enter into discussions with the owners of land off Sloane Street and Blackshaw Road, adjacent to the railway line, to determine if land is available for sale or long-term lease for car parking purposes. 

Other measures to ease parking and traffic include not introducing parallel parking into areas of the CBD where 45-degree parking currently exists, and not introducing bike lanes in Auburn St. 

Discussions will be also be had by the council with bus companies and taxi operators over reducing the number of spaces they have in the area.

These amount to 11 bus stops and 10 taxi ranks. The council will also discuss the introduction of 45-degree angle parking for taxi stands and the opportunity of combining taxi stands and bus stops. 

The introduction of two disabled parks in each block of Auburn St will be included in the 2019/20 budget for consideration. 

The speed limit will be reduced to 40km/h in the main street as well. 

Roundabouts were also proposed for the intersections of Clinton/Sloane Streets and Bradley/Sloane Streets, with authorisation for the general manager to discuss and negotiate with the State Government and the RMS about this.

In relation to removing the median strip and planting trees, Cr Margaret O’Neill queried whether the trees would be planted in planter boxes or straight in the ground. 

“In the ground,” Mr Bennett said.

“The roots will rip up all the concrete then,” she replied. 

To beautify the area, allocation will be included in future budgets for street furniture and public consultation will be undertaken for designs and options. 

Street art and further lane-way improvement allocations will also be included in future budgets.

In an attempt to bring some order to signage in the main street, councillors authorised Mr Bennett to prepare a draft signage strategy and bring it back to the council. 

Following completion of public consultation, the general manager will report back to the council with all submissions and a priority list of works.

Before the decision, resident Barry McDonald aired his views on the proposals in public forum.

He argued against: 

In relation to a proposal for 30-minute timed parking, he said statistics quoted to justify it were irrelevant. 

“There is nothing wrong with the current one-hour time limit, which the council simply needs to enforce.  I use Auburn street for parking every week and my observations are there is a high level of compliance with the current time limit,” he said. 

“About 18 years ago there was a similar proposal to reduce Auburn Street parking to 30 minutes and it was rejected by the council at the time - citing impact on the restaurant and cafe businesses along Auburn Street. 

“People like to park close to their intended destinations and really don't want the council telling them to park (up to) several blocks away and walk.” 

Not all recommendations were endorsed. 

The recommendation to put a 30-minute limit on parking in Auburn St was knocked back.

Another idea to “raise crossings for pedestrians as a traffic calming measure,” was also defeated. 

After the meeting, Mayor Bob Kirk said the recommendations were based on 12 months of feedback and consultation with the community. 

“There were plenty of ideas in there but not all were adopted. I am not a fan of considering parallel parking any further,” he said.  

“In relation to 30-minute timed parking, there are a lot of reasons why it would have been good, say if people wanted to park quickly and duck into the chemist or newsagent or whatever, but there are also those who want to stay a bit longer to have lunch, for whom the hour is better.

“I think we have enough capacity for parking at the moment but at the rate we are growing it is not to say we won’t have to revisit this, and I expect we will.”

“I would be surprised if the Market St closure got up, but we have not considered all the pros and cons yet.”