Visitors to Kiama may have to pay for parking under a proposal passed by councillors.
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At Tuesday's meeting Kiama councillors approved a motion from Cr Matt Brown to investigate installing parking meters in Kiama "with particular emphasis on areas of high tourist traffic and parking congestion".
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"What we can all see happening on the weekends, especially public holidays and weekends and when we have events, is we do have a lot of traffic in town," Cr Brown said.
"A lot of that traffic is visitors and a lot of that traffic are day visitors.
"The stress that places on our community is quite high. We still have to pay for the cleaning of the toilets and the running of those facilities, we have to collect the rubbish of these day trippers and that does put a financial burden on this council."
We are really only capturing the money from tourists.
- Kiama councillor Matt Brown on his proposal for parking meters.
Cr Brown said councillors had been encouraged to look for revenue opportunities and suggested the meters could bring in "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to council coffers.
"I think if we [invest] some resources into this it will pay for itself in the very near future," he said.
He did not expect residents would have to put money in the meters, suggesting Kiama adopt a procedure of Byron Bay Council.
In that local government area, ratepayers can register their vehicles. Then, when parking inspectors scan the number plates and find it is a resident, no fine for not paying is issued - however residents would still have to adhere to any timed parking limits.
"So we are really only capturing the money from tourists who are coming into our town," Cr Brown said. "And they love coming here, it doesn't have to be a disincentive."
Last year Cr Warren Steel had asked about introducing paid parking at Blowhole Point.
The response was that council would need to undertake a parking study to see if the area conforms to Transport for NSW guidelines.
It also stated a residents-exempt scheme would not fulfill those guidelines.
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