Enforcement of parking rules in central Maitland is a joke, a major CBD property manager says.
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While last weekend’s Maitland Aroma Festival drew about 14,000 people into the city, many people parked in private car parks that should have been used by customers and clients of CBD businesses.
Pender Place property manager Sheldon Haydon said the shopping centre car park was commonly misused by people who attended events such as Aroma, Maitland Taste and Steamfest.
He said event weekends in Maitland were among the worst, in terms of trade, for his tenants and last weekend was no different.
“The feedback I have from the tenants is that the car park was full all weekend,” Mr Haydon said.
“We don’t see too much of an up side to these events for our centre at all.
“Because we are on private property, we have to police parking ourselves. But we’ve got other things to do than play parking cop.
“Council needs to employ more rangers to get out there, so we have more car parks turning over so more people can spend money. The way parking is policed in the CBD is a joke.”
Maitland Woolworths long life team manager Geoff Smith said last weekend was a bad one for trade.
“The main thing is we get customer complaints, during busy times, that there aren’t enough car parks,” he said.
The decision to hold Aroma in the Riverside Car Park again this year, rather than the shared zone in High Street, meant that 155 inner city car parks were unavailable to festival-goers.
But Maitland City Council erected signs that directed people to major car parks that were open in the CBD during Aroma.
The 130-space car park near Maitland Court House, 189 in the public parking lot opposite Pender Place and 120 under Maitland Leagues Club were open on the weekend.
A council spokesman said, aside from the additional signs, council provided parking advice on the Aroma website and on social media in the lead-up to the event.
“The multi-level car park off Ken Tubman Drive was the recommended parking location for visitors, with alternative parking suggested at the Elgin, Albion, St Andrew’s and Sempill Street car parks,” he said.
“The Pender Place parking facilities were not included in the promotion of Maitland Aroma.”
Mr Haydon estimated that tenants of Pender Place had experienced a drop in trade between 5 and 8 per cent since construction work on stage one of The Levee began last year.
“No one comes into the CBD to shop any more,” he said.
“To allow The Levee to go six months over and have such an open ended contract is ridiculous.”
