Another No Stopping zone could be introduced on Kingsway at Caringbah as authorities grapple with the impact of the Sutherland Shire development boom on traffic and parking.
Sutherland Shire Council has asked Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) to introduce the restriction on a 300 metre stretch of the major artery between Taren Point Road and Carrington Avenue, opposite Sutherland Hospital.
Vehicles that are allowed to park on the street after 10am severely disrupt the afternoon traffic flow towards Taren Point Road.
The move follows the introduction of – or proposals for – No Stopping zones or clearways on several major roads in the eastern part of the shire, including:
- Kingsway, Caringbah: No Stopping periods were extended last year on the southern side between the shopping strip and Taren Point Road.
- Kingsway, Caringbah: RMS proposes to introduce a virtual clearway eastbound between the railway station and President Avenue.
- Taren Point Road, Taren Point: RMS proposes clearways on both sides seven days a week and during most daylight hours.
- Kingsway and Gannons Road intersection: Work has started on duplicating right turn, which will include the removal of 19 parking spots.
- Elouera Road, Cronulla: RMS proposes to remove 20 parking spaces next to Dunningham Park to create an extra right turn lane into Kingsway.
Bruce Heyward, a shire resident for 70 years, who lives on Kingsway near Carrington Road, says “a crisis is looming”.
“Council seems hell bent on approving multi-storey developments throughout the shire without much consideration for parking and traffic,” he said.
“Nowhere is this more more apparent than around where I live where one multi-storey development is nearly completed and others are under way or have been approved.”
Mr Heyward questioned how much off-street parking was required in the new medical precinct next to Sutherland Hospital, between Kingsway and the railway line.
He welcomed the council’s proposal for a No Stopping zone opposite the hospital, but will continue to push for Carrington Road, a narrow street, to be made one way south to close a “rat run”.
A council spokeswoman said a suggestion had been put to RMS that the No Stopping zone on Kingsway near the corner of Taren Point Road be “extended to a point west of where the vehicles queue, to reduce the number of vehicles using Carrington Avenue as a thoroughfare”.
“If RMS is unable to accommodate council's request, it may be possible, subject to the outcome of detailed investigation, to impose one way south-bound restrictions on the part of Carrington Avenue south of its southern intersection with Karoola Crescent to reduce the number of vehicles using this route as a short cut.”
On the issue of off-street parking in new developments, the spokeswoman said one of the objectives in the Development Control Plan (DCP) for the Caringbah Medical Precinct was to ensure sufficient parking was provided on each site to meet the demand of both the residential and medical components.
“For the medical component, the DCP requirement is one space per 35 square metres of floor area,” she said.
“For the residential component, it is one space per one bed unit, 1.5 spaces per two bed unit, two spaces per three bed unit and one visitor space per four units.”
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