Katoomba Charrette Outcomes Report - Blue Mountains City Council

Katoomba Charrette Report & Town Centre Strategy
8.7.2 Lurline Street Improvements
Traffic needs to be slowed along Lurline Street, and pedestrian amenity and safety improved.
To do this, the eastern side of Lurline Street should be improved by means of constructing a
footpath along that side (there is one already on the western side), plus planting of trees in the
eastern parallel parking lane of the street to slow the traffic and improve amenity. While for
now, there may be less demand for parking in Lurline Street than Parke Street, due to the grade
to reach the Town Centre and limited access through private properties, the street trees in the
parking lane will themselves act to slow the south-bound traffic in particular.
Action 8.7.2 - Construct proposed Lurline Street improvements.
8.8 Car Parking Improvements
8.8.1 The Car Parking Context And Challenges for the Top End of Town
The Top of Town especially suffers from several inter-related car parking problems.
The Top End of Town is generally under-parked, compared to the lower end of the Town
Centre.
Present parking requirements are fairly onerous. For example, to change the use within an
existing historic building may require new additional on-site parking, or else contributions
to off-site parking fees at $15,000 per required space (the approximate cost of a parking
space in a multi-deck parking structure). Required parking ratios are applied presently,
regardless of the circumstance of the property involved, in terms of its size or its historic
importance. And there are no known significant car parking sites right in the Top of Town,
to which such off-site parking fees could be applied through a Council purchase and car
park development initiative, where they would actually do much good for the Top of Town.
Relatively ample parking north of the railway is hard to reach, despite its proximity to the
Top of Town, because of the ‘barrier effect’ of the railway itself.
The Top of Town is generally made up of small and historic parcels, being forced to comply
with the above parking requirements. This had made for a ‘Catch 22’ for improvements to
many existing buildings.
We have a ‘Catch 22’ where more car parking is needed, but, at the same time, parking
exemptions are needed for businesses in the Top of Town, because they cannot gain on-site
parking capacity due to generally small and cramped premises!
8.8.2 Proposed Strategies for Car Parking in the Top of Town
The Charrette proposed to accept the nearby parking shortage and instead to make the area
more attractive, so customers would be more willing to park in car parks slightly further away
and still walk to the Top of Town.
Reduced On-Site Parking Requirements
Key buildings like the Savoy should be encouraged to proceed with minimal or zero on-site
parking requirements, as peak parking demand for the Savoy would not likely coincide with
parking demands for most of the rest of the existing parking capacity in the Top of Town.
Cafes and restaurants should be encouraged to operate without parking requirements, again
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