Parking at heart of retail talks

By Melissa Grant
A PROPOSED $80 million retail development and parking issues dominated discussion at last week’s Pakenham Business Group meeting.
Cardinia Shire chief executive Garry McQuillan informed traders about the future of Pakenham’s retail heartland during an address to a 50-strong crowd at the Cardinia Cultural Centre.
Mr McQuillan said the council was in negotiations about temporary parking in the town’s main shopping area, as preparations get underway on the highly anticipated retail development.
About 280 car parks in the Treloar Lane car parking bay will be fenced off from mid-September as work begins at the site.
The development, to feature a Woolworths supermarket and Big W department store, is expected to create 700 jobs, including 200 during its construction.
The development proposal includes provision for about 1,150 public car parking spaces at ground level and underground.
Main Street traders are concerned about the provision of parking during the construction. They say temporary spaces should already have been organised with only weeks remaining before the council closes off the Treloar Lane parking area.
“It’s (retail hub) always been a long-term plan, no matter what happened they should’ve planned for it,” Toy Kingdom owner Rod Ferguson said.
Mr McQuillan said there was bound to be some disruption considering the scale of the project.
“There will be pain in the interim before it’s done but we’re trying to ease that as much as possible,” he said.
Construction of the retail hub is expected to take about 18 months.
The council will soon announce alternative car parking arrangements.