Residents of Fintonia Road in Noble Park often feel a parking pinch caused by a neighbouring nursing home.By Glen Atwell
PARKING permits could soon be issued to Fintonia Road residents in Noble Park to ease traffic congestion caused by a nearby nursing home.
Greater Dandenong councillor Maria Sampey said inadequate parking space at the Belvedere Aged Care nursing home meant staff and visitors regularly parked their cars on the street.
“This has been an issue for five years now and residents of Fintonia Road are fed up with the traffic problems being created by the nursing home,” she said.
When the Star recently visited Fintonia Road, cars parked on both sides of the two-way street outside the nursing home were bumper-to-bumper.
The nursing home car park was also full.
Cr Sampey said residents had trouble reversing from their driveways and visiting guests had to battle parking problems.
“Just picking up children from school turns into a hassle because of the cars parked on both sides of the road,” she said.
But Tina Thwaites from Belvedere Aged Care rejected Cr Sampey’s claims and said the matter was not really an issue at all.
“We have 60 residents here and about 20 car spots,” she said.
“The car park does fill up occasionally, but there is normally one or two spots available.
“There is absolutely no need to issue parking permits or implement parking restrictions on Fintonia Road.”
Ms Thwaites admitted that staff members were sometimes forced to park on the street and said that even two-hour parking restrictions would cause a headache for workers at Belvedere.
“Depending on how busy the car park is, sometimes staff have to park on the road,” she said.
“If two-hour restrictions are installed and a staff member has a six-hour shift, cars will have to be moved.”
Residents of Fintonia Road are divided on the issue.
“I don’t really think there is a problem,” one said.
Another resident, who did not want to be named, admitted to feeling the squeeze.
“When cars are parked on both sides of the road it causes a blockage.”
A motion surrounding the kerb-side chaos was successful at a Greater Dandenong council meeting in Springvale last week.
The motion moved that a report should be presented to council addressing the possibility of resident-exempt and time-limited parking restrictions on both sides of Fintonia Road, between Mihan Street and Lodge Street.
