The City of Mandurah’s mayor has slammed a private land-owner for installing paid parking metres in the CBD, claiming the venture was “slugging people to make a cheap buck”.
Local businesses and customers could face fines of up to $77 a day if they stay in a car park located in Mandurah’s CBD too long.
Overnight, signage and a parking metre was installed at a private car park along Gibson Street, behind Mandurah Terrance.
Mandurah mayor Rhys Williams said the land-owner didn’t undertake any consultation with the council before erecting the pay station.
“This is private land and we don’t have any approval powers here, but I’m disappointed the land-owner hasn’t even had a conversation with anyone at council to talk about the reasons behind this,” Mr Williams said.
“We’ll go and engage with them and try to get an understanding of where they’re coming from, but the community can be reassured that council don’t have any plans for paid parking in our city.
“We want to be a city that is welcoming and enjoyable, and not slugging people to make a cheap buck.”
People will be able to park in the area for free during their first hour, however after that time fees are required.
For one to two hour stays drivers will have to pay $2, for two to three hours $3 will have to be paid and for longer than three hours $4 will be required.
According to signage in the area, any vehicle not complying with the car park’s terms and conditions will be issued with a non-compliance breach notice.
Business Foundations adviser for the Peel region Peter Bowler said locals would be appalled by the pay station and labelled it a “money grabbing” venture.
He said his job involved helping small and new businesses grow and making people fork out in the CBD wouldn’t help the economy.
“One step forward for us in trying to develop business and two steps back when this happens,” he said.
Signage in the parking zone provided a customer service phone number for a call centre operator between 9am-5pm (AEDT) from Monday to Friday.
Attempts have been made to contact the land-owner for comment.
