Frustrated businesses are gearing up to challenge the Hobart City Council over its controversial plan to remove 49 car parks along both sides of Collins Street for a dual cycle lane trial.
The council’s decision to forge ahead with the project, despite the state government pulling $170,000 in funding due to “considerable concern”, has ignited fury among many.
Following a public meeting on Thursday evening, the Confederation of Greater Hobart Business is n0w threatening to move ahead with initiating an elector poll – which could potentially hit ratepayers with a $200,000 bill.
Jacques Cawood, the owner of Hobart Family Dental at the top end of Collins Street, was one of the many speakers upset about what he said was a lack of consultation from the council.
“No one ever came and asked us… How many patients do you see? What’s your turnover? Where are your patients parking? How are things going to change for you?” he said.
“How’s a 92-year-old lady in a wheelchair going to have access … we have lost all our car parks. The closest one’s going to be 250 metres away.”
“I think just effective use of the space and area is going to be a big detrimental factor for our practice as we go forward, just [from an] accessibility point of view.”
Bed Bath N’ Table’s store manager said they only received “an A4 piece of paper” outlining the project.
“I haven’t seen one person actually come into my store and speak to myself,” she said.
Fullers Bookshop owner Tim Jarvis said that unloading books would become “completely unviable” with the planned changes to loading zones, potentially forcing delivery drivers to do “12 trips with a trolley”.
He also fears the impact on evening events at his store, with the loss of parking creating further obstacles for attendees.
“It’s been a constant bug there for us that Centrepoint closes at 6:15pm. It means people can’t actually come to our events,” he said.
“Losing that much parking along Collins Street I think is going to be a real blow to this end of town.”
Also at the meeting was one of Tasmania’s richest men, Robert Rockefeller, who called for the Hobart City Council to be “put into administration”.
The property mogul said the community was “starting a political movement against absolute nonsense”.
“What it lacks, the bike lane, is the pub test, is the common sense test and that’s what people understand,” he said.
“It doesn’t even matter if you’re a bicycle rider or not. It doesn’t pass the pub test.”
In a statement to Pulse, City of Hobart chief executive Michael Stretton disputed what had been claimed at the meeting and said consultation was carried out.
“During the sustained engagement period, the City of Hobart held 65 face to face conversations, two business information sessions, conducted door knocking along all of Collins Street, sent emails and letters to all Collins Street landowners and tenants and also held two pop up information sessions on Collins Street,” he said.
“The City of Hobart received 44 emails and nine written formal submissions.”
“Ultimately while some changes were able to be made as the result of this feedback not all could be accommodated due to the temporary nature of the trial infrastructure and cost implications.”
“However, there is opportunity to help shape the design and determine what infrastructure should be included if it becomes permanent.”
The Confederation will now need to produce a petition with a minimum of 1,000 signatures from Hobart City Council residents and those on the General Manager’s roll to initiate the elector poll process.
