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Resident Parking Scheme Under Review

10/1/2020

FINAL OUTCOME: January 2020

"It's a good outcome", that's the general view of residents regarding the updated Manly Resident Parking Scheme, aimed at providing parking for residents in their nearby streets, and preventing the illegal on-sale of permits for a profit.

While each dwelling will still be entitled to apply for up to three permits main changes are:
* Two permits must be registered to the car's registration and owner's home address.
* A multi-purchase permit can be used for visitors, tradies, carers etc and will also be linked the the home address of the applicant.

Fees are proposed follows*:
1st Permit - $47
2nd Permit - $121
3rd Permit - $210
*The fees are are public exhibition until February 12.
You can make a submission here

The new scheme will be applicable as existing permits become due, as follows:
Little Manly Zone 1 February 2020**
Balgowlah 1 February 2020**
Isthmus 1 March 2020
Ocean Beach 1 April 2020
Tower Hill + 1 May 2020
Ethel Street 1 June 2020
Fairy Bower 1 July 2020
Ivanhoe Park + 1 August 2020

** Until the fees have been finalised both Little Manly & Balgowlah existing permits will be extended beyond the February 2020. Notification will be made via email when these permits are due for renewal.

The council is working towards introducing digital permits, which will also make the trade in permits even more difficult.
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UPDATE: December 2019
After extensive community consultation, the proposed Manly Resident Parking scheme has been rewritten, with many proposed parking permit restrictions scrapped. Manly residents will now be able to apply for up to two parking permits (which will be linked to vehicle registration and address) whether they have off-street parking or not. And they will be able to apply for a third permit "in extenuating circumstances". The "visitor permit" has been re-instated: one will be available for each household and it will now be linked to that specific residence, but not to a specific car. Linking permits either to a car or a household has been introduced to stop on-selling of permits, which has been a major problem.

Businesses can apply for permits, but they will be limited to one each. Some special issue permits will be available for schools, charities, clubs etc, but their numbers will be reduced and applications must be made in writing. Other changes from our existing system are that only motor vehicles (no boats, trailers or caravans) will be eligible for permits, and the price of permits will rise.

While Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) is pushing for changes to Manly’s non-compliant parking scheme (there are many more permits issued than street parking spaces available), the Council has recognised that Manly is different, and will now implement only small and gradual changes to the scheme.

The updated framework is on display on the Council's Your Say web page, and is open for comments until 24th November. After that it will go to Council for ratification.

You can download and view the proposed revised scheme below:

revised_manly_parking_permit_framework_fa.pdf
File Size:	126 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

19/4/2019 Post:
Those residents living in areas with restricted parking are about to have their parking permits reviewed in an effort by the Northern Beaches Council to bring the long-running scheme in line with Roads & Maritime Services Parking Permit Mandatory Guidelines.

Currently there are less than 5000 on-street parking spaces, with over 10,000 permits issued.

The ten areas affected are Little Manly, Balgowlah, Tower Hill, Tower Hill Extension, Ocean Beach, The Isthmus (CBD), Fairy Bower, Ivanhoe Park, Ivanhoe Park Extension and Ethel Street.

The Guidelines state that only residents who have no off-street parking (or a residence that could not be reasonably modified to provide on-site parking space(s), are entitled to an on street permit - and only one.

Also, the number of permits are not to exceed the number of spaces available!

This will be a big task for council staff who will explore the issues residents face in finding parking, while also providing parking for tradies and visitors and regular carers of the elderly or young children.

The first step will be consulting with existing permit holders as well as undertaking an audit of off-street parking options. Current permit holders will receive an email from Council in the coming weeks inviting their input, and face-to-face meetings will be available at the Manly Town Hall.

Mon 17 Jun, 9 – 11am
Tue 18 Jun, 3 – 5pm
Wed 19 Jun, 5 – 7pm
Thu 20 Jun, 12 – 2pm
Sat 22 Jun, 9 – 11am

A report is expected to come back to Coucil around August this year.
A copy of the RMS Guidelines are attached.

permit-parking.pdf
File Size:	394 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

20 Comments

DON WALKER

2/5/2019 07:31:52 am

Candy,

While I agree with this council proposal surely restricting these permits to 1 per household discriminates against families with no onsite parking available but are a 2 car family and with children there could be even more cars per household.

Surely it would be easier and cheaper for council to have the vehicle registration details on these parking permits which could be automatically linked to the RMS system to identify the residential address of the permit holder.

Thank you for once again keeping the community informed.

Don Walker

Candy Bingham

6/5/2019 11:31:05 am

Thanks Don. Agree with idea of linking registration to permits.

Linda Monty

2/5/2019 10:23:53 am

Wow what a disaster this would be.! As we discovered in our back lane, the turning circle that was required to access the garages being built negated more street parking spaces than the garages provided parking for! I live in Kangaroo Street and the parking is much worse during the day. ..which has led us to guess that there are a few parking passes being onsold to commuters or people who work locally perhaps.

Meg Morgan

2/5/2019 12:02:16 pm

We live in an apartment block of 3, with 2 car stackers (for 2 cars each) and 2 single garages. We therefor don't need stickers for ourselves, but we do have 1 for tradies, cleaning staff, gardeners and visitors. What will happen in our case? Trucks do not fit in our stackers.

6/5/2019 11:32:55 am

Agree that one-off permits needed for visitors and tradies. This will need to be included in the review.

Joy Middledorp

2/5/2019 05:27:36 pm

One major aspect of the problem is not having a good commuter parking or visitor parking stations. Therefore there is so much more pressure on residential streets. We despair at having guests try to park especially in summer.

Christina. Turner

2/5/2019 07:51:24 pm

So if you need maintenance on your house tradesmen will think twice about coming because they will be no sticker to give them.
I think the Council is being unreasonable so what happens when something special is on &you have family & friends over?
Our rates are fairly high compared to a lot of other suburbs so the issues of stickers ,hands off.

6/5/2019 11:34:03 am

Clearly the matter of visitors and tradies will need to be included

Amanda

3/5/2019 10:21:22 am

Whilst I understand the need for review, having an apartment in Manly centre with two cars and no off street parking, We are already challenged to have visitors. With only one permit.

We have challenges now finding parking on Whistler St, and note that shared parking spots and changes in signs, have reduced spots for residents already over the past 2 years.

I would be keen to work on how we maintain our parking arrangements, and what can be done to reduce how the system is abused by non-residents, selling permits etc.

Thanks Amanda

Linda Stephens

3/5/2019 11:15:47 am

Hi Candy

Are the Guidelines referred to above the RMS Permit Parking Guidelines 26 October 2018? On page 13-14 it says in brief:

• A maximum of ... two permits per household... In
exceptional circumstances, the number of permits may be increased
• ... residents who have off-street parking, the number of permits which may be issued is the difference between the maximum number per household in the scheme and the number of off-street spaces available to the household.
• Where ... requests for permits exceeds ... available on-street parking spaces ...applications should be prioritised as follows:
° No off-street parking space
° One off-street car space
° Two or more off-street car spaces.

So wouldn't this mean that residents can have 2 permits if they have no off street parking, 1 if they have one space and none if they have 2?

If everyone was limited to at most 2 permits except in exceptional circumstances would the scheme still be over-subscribed?

These guidelines also provide for business permits for tradies (p13) and visitor permits (p14 although the restrictions on these are a bit severe if read very literally if you live in a large block of units with only one visitor space).

I've just found the council summary of the guidelines which match the above (but the link provided to the full guidelines doesn't work so I can't confirm).

So I agree with the comments already made, that moving to none or one permit per household as outlined in the introduction would make life very difficult for most residents, but the guidelines appear to offer greater flexibility which if implemented would reduce many of these concerns.

Ramping up public transport (frequency and routes including greatly expanding the Hop Skip and Jump local service) would also make the changes much easier for residents.

Kind regards
Linda

Eric Baer

13/6/2019 12:26:22 pm

Great reply. The guidelines do offer a lot of flexibility. Sadly the council's response to many problems is to restrict and regulate residents more than they already are! The problem is too many cars and too few parking spaces. The council should come up with thoughtful solutions both in the short term and long-term. When the tunnel is built, the Manly area will be flooded with cars from all over Sydney. Where are they doing to park?? I'd like to see the council come up with short and long-term innovative proposals which dont simply try to penalise residents as an easy default option.

6/5/2019 11:42:21 am

Thanks Linda for your well researched comments. I think the biggest issue we have is that so many apartment blocks in Manly have no on-site parking at all as they were built in the 1930s.

Therefore we are faced with the guideline that "where the number of requests for permits exceeds the number of available on-street parking spaces, only residents who do not have access to unrestricted parking along their kerbside are eligible to apply for a resident parking permit.

Applications should be prioritised as follows:
° No off-street parking space
° One off-street car space
° Two or more off-street car spaces."

Anyway the reason for the review and consultation is to see what solutions can be found and then Council can make a case to RMS.

regards
Candy

Peta Butson

8/5/2019 09:27:05 am

I read that many people have two cars and no offstreet parking.
Council has recently approved the addition of 4 x 3 bedroom apartments on the top of Heritage Building at 31 Victoria Parade Manly. Council and was fully aware of the offstreet parking shortage in this area yet agreed to a possible 8 extra cars. Where is the concern for Residents in Victoria Parade whose family like to visit occasionally or street parking is needed for a daytime carer?

David Taylor

28/5/2019 04:04:00 pm

The RMS Guidelines referred to - and they are only Guidelines - can be read here.

https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/business-industry/partners-suppliers/documents/technical-manuals/permit-parking.pdf

They state, not as in the article but that;
Eligibility criteria includes "Inadequate off-street parking and no potential to modify premises or create off-street parking", and

In regard to Resident Parking Permits
"A maximum of one permit per bedroom in a boarding house, or two permits per household. In exceptional circumstances, the number of permits may be increased.
• When issuing permits to eligible residents who have off-street parking, the number of permits which may be issued is the difference between the maximum number per household in the scheme and the number of off-street spaces available to the household"

Marty O'Donnell

4/6/2019 04:33:33 pm

Maybe charge $25 or $50 for the first parking permit and then more for any additional permits so that people will only apply for what they need. It seems necessary to have some restriction to limit the number of permits handed out. Would think that a small charge for a permit would make all of us think if we need it and hopefully limit the permits given out to only those who need it. If each permit had the person's name or number plate on it this could stop them from being hawked around to people outside the area concerned. Best of luck with decisions to be made.

Eric

13/6/2019 12:19:44 pm

I dont think another restriction is needed, just a smarter way to allocate permits to those who need them. Send ten one day permits to all residents every year so that some resident dont 'bank' them for casual needs. Ask residents to explain why they need the permits in their application as this will discourage some from taking permits which are not needed. Encourage people to park in their drives, provided they are not blocking the pavement. Automate the system to eliminate the black market for permits. The council/RMS already have the systems which link regos to residents and their addresses.

Julie Bakalor

6/6/2019 04:47:21 pm

Candy, I agree with Joy above. Manly is a major transport hub, providing the perfect access to the CBD. The number of bicycles parked each day at the wharf is witness to the benefit.

But there's no commuter parking! So the non-cyclists put pressure on our local streets (and try to buy parking permits). Could not one of the council car parks be nominated as a commuter car park, and weekly/monthly/annual passes made available and promoted?

11/6/2019 06:23:11 pm

The entire system is antiquated and needs to be revamped. Some homes have a legitimate need to two or more off street parking spaces. Some homes have two onsite parking spaces, but taking away their annual permits does not necessarily increase the number of available parking spaces (which they may only use on a casual basis)! The whole system should be linked to regos and fees should be determined by the length of permit, thus limiting the illegal trade of permits. It should allow electronic printing of casual parking permits at reasonable rates. This will stop many people who (like my grandmother) who dont need annual permits, from buying them. Application for 2nd or 3rd permits should require an explanation of need. If there is a genuine need by a resident, then it should be granted. The council should stop booking cars parked in a driveway (if its not blocking the foot path). These cars are not taking up a street car space and not causing a nuisance! The proposed solution is overly simplistic and overly regulated and will penalise residents who already pay high rates, high rents and high property prices. Over the longer term, local government should be developing schemes for reducing car ownership – car sharing, etc. The government should step up its game – embrace creative solutions and technology. BTW, when the tunnel is built and the car traffic into Manly triples, this will all seem quaint.

Pam

26/8/2019 05:53:18 pm

It is essential that Council requires that adequate car parking is mandatory in EVERY proposed development before approval can be granted. The parking situation in Manly has been made worse by an increase in the number of residents accommodated in new developments without the equivalent increase in onsite parking.

sticker printing link

13/10/2022 02:45:44 pm

Impressive! Thanks for sharing this.

Resident Parking Scheme Under Review

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