THE new vision for St Kilda Triangle has been criticised for falling short of parking spaces for Palais punters.
Released by Port Phillip Council last month, the St Kilda Triangle 2012 draft document outlines a vision to provide approximately 200 car parking spaces in the shadow of the Palais Theatre, with the potential to create additional parking underneath the Esplanade slopes.
But critics say the amount of spaces is not enough to cope with the volume of patrons attending concerts at the iconic 2896-seat theatre.
The site currently has 316 parking spaces.
John Webster, of the St Kilda Liberal Party Branch, said: “I don’t agree with what the council is proposing with the car parking spaces.”
“I’m not a traffic expert but it seems the new plan hasn’t enough car parking spaces for people coming to concerts. It’s a recipe for disaster.”
Port Phillip mayor Rachel Powning said the parking area shown in the St Kilda Triangle 2012 document was based on feasibility studies undertaken by ARUP, which tested different sized car parks.
“What the document does show is how much of the site a one-deck car park of around 200–250 spaces would take up,” she said.
“This was to test community views about car parking, as well as the possible size of a car park on the Triangle.”
As part of the implementation of St Kilda Triangle 2012, Cr Powning said further work would be undertaken to understand where the Palais patrons came from and how many car parks were needed to support it operating into the future.
Community consultation on the draft vision will close on Friday.